Dear Farm Friends:
With the Winter Solstice and the New Year of the Gregorian calendar approaching, we at Alemany Farm are taking time to remember our many accomplishments of 2011. At the same time, we’re thinking about all the work we want to do in the coming year — work that, like it or not, will require money.
And so we’d like to ask that you make a year end gift to Alemany Farm so that we continue our mission of boosting food security and promoting ecological education.
We grew literally tons of food this year. The late rains into June and July, combined with an usually warm spring and summer, helped give us a bumper crop of fruits and vegetables. We produced at least 4,000 pounds of organic fruits and vegetables. Much of the bounty went to the volunteers (that means YOU) who keep the garden and orchards thriving and came to the more than 100 community workdays we hosted this year. From June through November, a good portion of our harvests went to households in the adjacent Alemany public housing community via a free You Pick on Wednesday afternoons that we organized. If you value our mission to boost food security, please visit http://bit.ly/i2JOxV today to make a tax-deductible donation.
In 2011 we also increased San Franciscans’ awareness of what it takes to grow food. We hosted more than 50 field trips — from pre-schoolers to elementary school students to high school students to employee groups from PG&E and Google. No matter the age of our visitors, the newcomers to the garden got to learn about ecological horticulture, local food systems, and the importance of preserving native ecosystems. For the third year in a row we organized an 11-month course for adults eager to learn more about organic agriculture. Through our education programs we helped sow a new appreciation for urban food production.
As an all-volunteer organization, we have little overhead. But it does take money to run an urban farm. We have to pay for seeds, plants, irrigation equipment, and tools, as well as the community events we regularly hold to celebrate our community.
If everyone on this list were to donate $10 today, we would cover our budget for the next two years. Ten dollars — you can barely get an organic-local-sustainable sandwich for that much. So please visit http://bit.ly/i2JOxV today and make a tax-deductible gift.
We thank all of who have worked in the garden this year for the generous donation of your labor. We hope to see you at Alemany Farm soon.
The Farm Team.
PS: Please note our Holiday schedule
Monday, Dec 12, 1 PM to 5 PM
Sunday, Dec 18, Noon to 5 PM
Monday, Dec 19, 1 PM to 5 PM
* * * Please Note, we will be CLOSED on Dec 24, Dec 26, and Jan 1 for the Holidays • • •
Monday, Jan 2, 1 PM to 5 PM