Urban and Community Agriculture

Occupy Moves Into Hayes Valley Farm, Declares Sovereign State, Plants Kale

A group of Occupiers has moved into the tract of land formerly known as Hayes Valley Farm and renamed it Gezi Gardens, in solidarity with the protests going on in Turkey. Hayes Valley Farm moved out of the space on June 1, in accordance with an interim-use agreement with the city of San Francisco, b ... More >>

Bloom Town

Just Do It

Kezar Gardens: Haight Recycling Center to Close This Week

In a move surely motivated by the Christmas spirit, the city's Recreation and Parks Department evicted one of the only recycling centers in Haight-Ashbury, Kezar Gardens. Last week, sheriff's deputies arrived to boot employees, marking the end of an 18-month fight to keep the recycling center open. ... More >>

Heart of the City Farmers' Market Finds

What: Heart of the City Farmers' Market When: Weds., 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Fri., 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m., & Sun., 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Where: UN Plaza (above the Civic Center Bart station) Heart of the City Farmers' Market started 30 years ago with just 15 farmers present, and has since grown into a large indepen ... More >>

Oakland Residents Generally Don't Want Their Neighbors to Slaughter Animals, Poll Says

Oakland backyards should be for grilling your meat, not killing your meat.A new poll found that majority of residents in Oakland's slaughter-happy council districts would really prefer if you didn't slaughter your rabbits, goats, and pigs right there in your backyard (It's an Oakland NIMBY!).But con ... More >>

Chickens, Bees, and Cheese

Occupy Refuses to Leave UC Berkeley Farm, University Officials to "Take Action"

University officials gave Berkeley's latest crop of protesters until Saturday to vacate the vacant tract of land the group had occupied last month, which they've used as an urban farm.On Friday, Berkeley officials issued a stern warning to the Occupy the Farm, demanding the group leave the 10-acre A ... More >>

Learn How To Raise Chicken In The City at 18 Reasons

What: Chickens 101: How To Have City Birds Where: 18 Reasons When: Tues., May 8, 7-9 p.m. Cost: $35 The Rundown: Nick Rupiper has raised chickens in Sonoma Valley for the last six years and will be teaching city dwellers all about his labor of love. Backyard flocks are increasingly common among ... More >>

Good Ol' Home Brewed Beer Flows to Fund Forage Kitchen

What: Brewtruc's Charity Beer Garden When: Saturday, April 28 from 1 to 7 p.m. Where: 246 Ritch Street Cost: $20 gets you a glass of ten beers The Rundown: This Saturday, Brewtruc is teaming up with Forage SF to support the construction of Forage Kitchen, complete with rooftop garden and nanobr ... More >>

Get a Burger Box at Mission Community Market's Opening Day

What: Mission Community Market's Opening DayWhen: Thursday, April 12 Where: The Mission District at Bartlett and 22nd Streets Cost: Admission is free... the fresh produce is not. The Rundown: This may be the third year of a weekly farmer's market-- but there's always something new going on at Mi ... More >>

Novella Carpenter and Willow Rosenthal Write a Primer on Urban Farming

​"There are so many books about how to farm and garden, so why'd we want to write another book?" says Novella Carpenter, co-author of the recently published The Essential Urban Farmer along with City Slicker Farms' Willow Rosenthal. "What we figured out, though, is that Wilow and I get q ... More >>

Is Animal Slaughter on Urban Farms Becoming a Problem? One Group Thinks So

​If you go to farmers' markets in the East Bay, you may have seen them: A group of activists from Neighbors Opposed to Backyard Slaughter handing out flyers raising concerns about Oakland's new Urban Agriculture Policy. "The last thing I want my daughter to see or hear are the sounds of an an ... More >>

Urban Gardening Classes Are Great Gifts for Green Thumbs

​What: Urban Gardening School Where: 18 Reasons When: Third Wednesdays and Saturdays, January-June Cost: Sliding scale: $350-$425 The rundown: 18 Reasons has compiled a series of new classes and owner Rosie Branson Gill says, "We think [they] would be excellent gifts this holiday season." ... More >>

Raising Farm Animals in Urban Settings Isn't the Idyllic Pastime It's Rumored to Be

​Other than the vegan and the ultra-pragmatic, who hasn't fantasized about raising chickens in their backyard? Or even having a big enough backyard to put a chicken coop in? The zeitgeist belongs to the urban farmers, the raisers of goats and tenders of beehives.Those living the dream, though, are ... More >>

On Sesame Street, One Muppet Goes Hungry

​According to the New York Times, Sesame Street will be airing a very special episode on KQED and other PBS affiliates this coming Sunday at 7 p.m. Titled "Growing Hope Against Hunger," it will introduce a Muppet named Lily who comes from a "food insecure" household.Elmo, Bert, ... More >>

UN Plaza Farmers' Market Invites You to Birthday Party

Heart of the City Farmers' Market​Heart of the City Farmers' Market 30th Anniversary Party Where: United Nations Plaza, Market at Seventh St. When: Weds., Sept. 14, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Cost: Free The Rundown: Established in 1981 as an oasis of food in what was (and still is) an S.F. food desert, ... More >>

Which Is Worse: Stealing Vegetables from a Community Garden, or Candy from a Baby?

​This question came up Friday on Twitter. We ran an item from the Bernalwood blog in Buzz Machine, our daily wrapup of local restaurant news, that someone had stolen vegetables from a community garden. We tweeted that we think this is worse than stealing candy from a baby. But readers disa ... More >>

Urban Gardens Are Hot, but What About Urban Pollution?

Oakland, like San Francisco before it, is rushing to accommodate urban gardeners by revising its regulations to allow people to sell produce they grow in the city. There's one catch, says East Bay Express's Nate Seltenrich: Much of the soil in West Oakland is contaminated with dangerous levels of le ... More >>

Otherwise, There Will Be Blood

Supes OK Farming Ordinance, Giving S.F. the Nation's Most Progressive Urban Ag Rules

davidsilver/FlickrUrban farms like Little City Gardens are now able to sell what they grow without having to obtain a costly zoning exemption.​After yesterday's unanimous vote by the Board of Supervisors, San Francisco now has the most progressive laws on urban agriculture in the nation. The n ... More >>

Tuesday: Supes Vote on Easing Restrictions for Urban Farmers

Little City GardensIf tomorrow's amended ordinance passes, it'll mean small urban farms like Little City Gardens will be able to sell produce without securing zoning exemptions.​In February, S.F.'s Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve new rules for urban agriculture, allowing small gro ... More >>

Sunday: Chez Panisse, Pizzaiolo Tag-Team for School Gardens

OBUGS school gardens in West Oakland.​OBUGS Fundraiser with Pizzaiolo and Chez Panisse Where: Pizzaiolo, 5008 Telegraph (at 51st St.), Oakland, 510-652-4888 When: Sun., Apr. 10, 6-10 p.m. Cost: $5 and up The rundown: If you aren't taking your Sunday supper in a bakery or a car showroom, Oa ... More >>

List: How S.F. Residents Want to Fix the City Budget

Get Your Farm On: Urban Ag Classes at BioFuel Oasis

Keoki Seu/FlickrOne of the happiest little co-ops in the Bay Area.​BioFuel Oasis may sound like opaque corporate doublespeak (see: Deepwater Horizon), but it's actually one of the happiest little co-ops in the Bay Area. Founded in 2003, this five-person Berkeley operation specializes in making ... More >>

Get to know S.F.'s community gardens with SF Refresh

Saul's Picks Up on Urban Beekeeping Buzz for Rosh Hashanah Talk

Saul'sA farkakta idea? Nobody ever got stung merely talking about beekkeping.​Those hoping to learn more about the honey they're dipping challah and apples into during the Jewish High Holiday season can do so at Saul's Adventures in the Honey Harvest next Tuesday night. Topics for discussion i ... More >>

Beyond the Cash Crop: The Economics of Urban Farming

ESLI SF/FlickrBig score at Alemany.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. At Grist, Tom Philpott reveals how the economics of urban farms can be trickier than navigating a city lot laced with lead. If you're laboring under some hippie idyll that places like Alemany or City Slicker could one day ... More >>

Food Fight

Ferment Change is Hosting a Cultured Dinner. Leave the Tux at Home

Ferment Change​When we envision a cultured dinner, we imagine a Thanksgiving meal at which Uncle Pruitt won't lift his half-slurped goblet of IPA, stare at it curiously with his one good eye, and exclaim, loudly, from the depths of his corn pudding-swathed belly, "This beer tastes like p***y!" ... More >>

Pretty Things

Can Technology Help Get Everybody Off the Corporate Food Grid?

Frog DesignTech-driven urban ag systems could bring Slow Food within reach of everyone in a city.​It's the sort of question guaranteed to surface at every Slow Food showdown, dinner discussion series, and urban farming tutorial in town: How can we make local food accessible, affordable, and ap ... More >>

Eat Their Vegetables

Are We Seeing the Ripening of the Educational Gardening Movement?

Produce to the PeopleProduce to the People's lettuce seedlings ready for planting in the field.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Edible city: At City Dirt, Ariana Reguzzoni pokes around the growing tangle of urban farms and gardens in San Francisco. She lists six, from Alemany Farm to Grow ... More >>

The Year Urban Farming Busted Out

CUESA/FlickrRaised beds at Alemany Farm.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Green city: At Bay Area Bites, Andrew Simmons muses on the city's dalliance with edible vegetation ― the urban farming movement that busted out in 2009 like fears about H1N1. What happened, Simmons suggests, is tha ... More >>

Thursday Night: Meat and Coffee on SFMOMA's Rooftop

artcar.blogspot.comThe perfect taste of coffee-inspired charcuterie?​Still haven't checked out SFMOMA's Rooftop Garden and Cafe? Thursday night's shindig with Meatpaper, Blue Bottle Coffee, and predicted warm weather just might be the perfect time. If you're into flesh, that is, for it is most ... More >>

Doggy Bag: The Farm Next Door

Little City Gardens​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Growing the green: Heather Smith, who wrote briefly for SFoodie last year, picked up on Little City Gardens, the backyard farm near Dolores Park whose efforts to expand Andrew Simmons has blog-chronicled here. Yesterday at Mission Loc@l, ... More >>

Urban Farmers Little City Gardens Planning a Move to a Bigger Plot

Little City GardensThe backyard garden produces as many as 25 varieties of herbs and salad greens.​Brooke Budner and Caitlyn Galloway are the guerrilla green thumbs behind Little City Gardens, a cherry tomato-sized urban farm in the Mission. Simultaneously a small salad mix business, a hub of ... More >>

Homegrown

Saplings of the City

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