Please join us at our next monthly meeting:
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Place: Global Exchange: 2017 Mission Street @ 16th Street, San Francisco
Please bring a favorite dish to share if you can - Treats from your garden are always especially appreciated.
And come with us afterwards for a drink and great discussions at a local watering hole!
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Place: Global Exchange: 2017 Mission Street @ 16th Street, San Francisco
Please bring a favorite dish to share if you can - Treats from your garden are always especially appreciated.
And come with us afterwards for a drink and great discussions at a local watering hole!
Advocacy
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News
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Resources
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SFUAA/SFBC Growth Cycle Bike Ride is a great success
A wonderful account of our 2-wheel garden tour from a brand new SFer and fellow rider
 Growing Home Community Garden, SF
By Ryan Schnirel
Saturday morning and the group gathers for a cup of sustainably grown, locally roasted coffee at the Mojo Bicycle Cafe. I'm clearly surrounded by some of San Francisco's finest, and I'm fresh; only but twelve hours prior I called Boulder, Colorado home. I know I'm in for a treat. One of the leaders, Greg Richardson, makes an announcement and thirty plus smiling cyclists saddle up and drop down Divisadero to our first location. We arrive at the New Liberation Garden where Amy greets us with delicious snap peas. We talk soil and a book titled "The Soil Will Save Us," an important issue in the urban garden scene. The conversation addresses toxin removal and the side affects of a typical N.P.K regiment. We harp on relationships, community and investing in the space we live. It's a conversation that threads throughout the day, and an important one in a city becoming known for displacement. As the breeze blows through the narrow garden, the sweet fennel wafts us back to our bikes. We all have a book assignment and a deeper appreciation for the soil beneath our feet. Our legs churn again and we turn onto Page Street. I'm familiar with Page Street, The Zen Center, I've heard good things. We lock our bikes in the park and meander to the Page Street Community Garden. Here once stood a house, like so many others in San Francisco, but after a fire, the bio charred soil became a space for an organized urban garden. Beneath the plum trees, hops rise on ropes, tomatoes catch the sun spots, and Fava beans grow furiously. I'm impressed. Plants look healthy, crop consideration takes precedence, and the city gathers a point for continuing to support a space that could otherwise be a $800k condominium. We make our rounds and cross back to the Koshland Community Garden. We're back at summer camp, learning from our community activist, Barbara who bestows a history lesson upon us. Urban Blight should have destroyed this space, but the dedication to community prevails, and the youngsters who help maintain the plots are total rock stars. We see limes the size of softballs, raspberries for days, and onions just beginning to peak the soil. It's another lesson in teaching where food comes from. The word cupcake, on a white board webs to an array of sources, and clearly taught a group that eggs don't come from the grocery store but rather the chicken. An important lesson for children and adults. Back to the bikes, it's a real gathering at this point and new comers emerge. We check our tires and descend down the valley. We're headed to The Growing Home in Hayes Valley. Carol, a woman who has spent time in the earth reveals a marvelous space divided by city politics. Besides the amazing display of medicinal herbs, flowers, and food it serves as a retreat for people positioned on the streets. A place where a half hour conversation or a glass of water may mean the difference in a persons entire day. In a garden like Carol's, we're exposed to an alternative mental medicine, the healing properties of a garden. The lot needs support because it faces eviction. It's a heated debate, ill refrain from too much opinion, but rather ask you to consider the issues for yourself, and go visit Carol. We hydrate and nourish and pedal north... I think, still figuring out this windy bay. We find ourselves in a space designed for people who are Blind. The Please Touch Garden highlights a world of bees, chard, lemon verbena, all neatly tucked in the shadow of City Hall. It's a wonderful image. An urban garden, full of passion and commitment. I'm inspired to be here, grateful it exists, and blessed to be in a city where such a space matters. We learn of the clean up effort, some 2000 hypodermic needles extracted from the lot, the feet of soil excavated and reconditioned. It's a real community effort, and it shows. No single person offers more than ten hours a week, but the amount of labor appears tremendous. The garden follows a compost heavy, soil light approach. To plant a new squash, the soil isn't tilled, but rather the nasturtium is husked back and the seeds are dropped into place. It's a different approach for me, I'm use to the tractors on the farms of eastern Colorado, we're clearly not in Kansas anymore. The sun's high in the sky at this point as we round the library. The group's resembling a school field trip and everyone's experienced a memorable day. The Tenderloin People's garden although gated, gives a strong idea of how much food could potentially exist on every city street corner. The space is cranking kale, cabbage, chard and climbing basket house leeks, garlic, and onion shoots. Makes me wonder about the medians of our city streets. Could these be used as our kale farms and fruit fields? It's a conversation playing out across the world, especially in the United Kingdom, and one we may consider here in San Francisco. Our final stop ends with the Tenderloin National Forest. The doors are locked but between the brightly painted alley sits a hidden forest. Perhaps a question mark, asking us all to dig a little further, do our homework, and be the movement we wish to cultivate. A day on bicycles, touring gardens, learning, making new friends and lasting connections, not too shabby for an introduction to San Francisco. The tour introduced me to a new world of gardening, and enboldened my decision to uproot my life in Boulder and embrace the city. I expected a progressive spirit, but to witness it active in every neighborhood elicits genuine hope. San Francisco certainly faces an uphill battle, but like the bicycle, we must simply shift into gear and pedal into the twenty first century city. SFUAA Hosts its First Urban Ag Bike Ride!
May 2014
The SF Urban Agriculture Alliance and the SF Bicycle Coalition are extremely proud to present an edible cycling experience: Growth Cycle: An educational biking tour of SF urban agriculture Tour urban farms and gardens in the heart of San Francisco on May 31, 2014 with the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance and SF Bike Coalition. We will explore hidden nooks and crannies to uncover garden gems and learn how to grow food even in the densest parts of the city! This is the first SFUAA ride in an ongoing series of bike rides to urban farms in different neighborhoods of San Francisco. The rides are designed to introduce experienced and aspiring urban farmers to special gardens off the beaten path so we can all learn new ways of growing food in urban areas. This particular outing complements the SF Bike Coalition's "Pedals to Produce" ride. On this one we will visit the Tenderloin, Hayes Valley and Divisadero corridor to learn about the various gardens and communities that enliven these neighborhoods. Each stop will feature important topics like: how to grow veggies from seed; how to build great soil; what to do about pests; and how to grow edibles in containers. This is a great way to discover how to grow your own food in a limited city space and contribute to existing urban agriculture projects. The ride will be about 4 miles with a couple of moderate hills. We'll start at Mojo Cafe at 10:15 AM and wrap up at 2:00 PM near the Civic Center. We will visit: 1 The New Liberation Garden (Divisadero and Eddy) 2 Koshland Community Park and Garden (Buchanan and Page) 3 Growing Home (Page and Octavia) 4 Please Touch Garden (Grove near Van Ness) 5 Tenderloin People's Garden (Civic Center - McCallister and Larkin) 6 Tenderloin National Forest (Ellis and Leavenworth) Click here for a map of the ride. And if you're raring to go, sign up here! The SFUAA and SFBC will be hosting and co-sponsoring urban ag rides, so if you cannot make this one - don't worry, there are more coming! The Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Act (AB 551) Becomes Law
Governor Brown announced that he had signed the bill on September 28. The law will officially go into effect on January 1, 2014 (as is the case with most laws passed this session). Read more on our advocacy page.
Urban Agriculture Strategic Plan Released
On April 19th, the City Administrator submitted the strategic plan and evaluation for the new urban agriculture program to the Board of Supervisors. The plan recommends that the new program be housed within the Recreation and Parks Department, with one full-time staff person serving as coordinator. More details on our advocacy page.
Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Act Progresses!
On Wednesday, April 17, the Assembly Agriculture Committee voted unanimously in support of AB 551 – the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Act (introduced by Assembly Member Phil Ting)! There was no opposition voiced against the bill and numerous committee members spoke up in favor.
The next step for the bill is the Local Government Committee – which will take it up next Wednesday, April 24 at 1:30 PM. If you or anyone you know are still considering submitting a letter, they are still helpful! Letters from people in or near any of the following cities would be especially great: Arroyo Grande, San Rafael, Salinas, Gardena, Menlo Park, Lake Elsinore, South San Francisco, and Escondido. Revised instructions for submitting letters can be downloaded here as well as a sample support letter. The most recent version of the legislation is available here, and more information can be found on the AB 551 advocacy page. Update - Help Us Jump Start The UA Program!
After all of the work that countless individuals and organizations have put into creating an Urban Agriculture Program to support our needs, the process seems to have stalled in the City Administrator's Office. The report and strategic plan were supposed to be released at the end of 2012, but they have not surfaced and there has been no updated timeline. That's why it's time for us to raise our voices and jump start the process. You can help in two ways:
1. Write a letter to the Mayor and City Administrator by Apr 1st. Click here for a template letter and instructions to help you out. The more voices the better, so letters from both individuals and organizations are important. Use this opportunity to share why strong city support for urban ag is so important to you. 2. Spread the word! Please circulate this far and wide and encourage people to write letters. Gardeners, foodies, social activists, and farmers all have a stake in creating a well supported urban agriculture community. The program is already almost 3 months behind schedule, so the sooner we get them moving again the better! Click here for more information. Participate in the SFUAA SurveyThe survey that was mentioned at the last meeting is live! The questionnaire shouldn't take more than 10 min to complete and the answers will help guide the SFUAA in 2013 as well as help us find ways to make this organization work better for all of you. The survey can be found here. We encourage all those who are aware of the SFUAA to fill it out (whether you are a member or not).
California Homemade Food Act Signed Into LawCongratulations to everyone who worked to pass this legislation, making it easier for small-scale food producers to sell food made in their home kitchens. The law will go into effect in January, and the full bill can be downloaded here. For more information, and a summary of the bill, click here.
Urban Agriculture Legislation Passes Unanimously!Congratulations, everyone! Many thanks to all who turned out at the Land Use hearing and the 50+ people who sent in letters advocating for this much needed program in San Francisco. The SFUAA is only as strong as its members and this victory lends more evidence that when we speak in a unified voice we can actually affect change in our city. Also many thanks to Supervisor David Chiu and his staff for being the champions on the city side. We surely couldn't have done it without them.
As the strategic plan for the for the program is created over the next few months the SFUAA will continue to monitor, report back, and advise the city to help it become as useful and successful as it has the potential to be. Stay tuned for future updates! |
Current Announcements
Here is what is new and newsworthy at SFUAA. For a complete list of our announcements click here.
Urban Agriculture Event Calendar
SFUAA's new Urban Agriculture Event Calendar is up and running. Check it out here. If you or your organization has an event you would like added to the calendar, please email us at info@sfuaa.org.
SFUAA's Guide to Starting a Garden or Urban Farm
It is here! SFUAA has created its own guide to Starting a Garden or Urban Farm in San Francisco. The guide answers questions on finding land, permits, water hookups, selling what you grow and more. You can find a copy of the guide here.
