Foodshed Development Update 11.13.07

This is to update you on just some of the foodshed development happening in West Contra Costa County recently...

Berryland on the Richmond Greenway:
On Saturday, November 10th the 5% Local Coalition sponsored a workday at Berryland on the Richmond Greenway.

10 adult volunteers and 4 youngsters helped build, fill, and plant 4 more log planters. We moved approximately 3 yards of soil and compost and planted 30+ raspberry cuttings and 3 blueberry bushes. We also mulched new path areas and beds. Berryland is definitely starting to take shape; if we keep up the pace, there will plenty of delicious berries by next summer. Each raspberry bush should eventually 1 pound of berries per year. Blueberry bushes can live 75 years, producing hundreds of pounds of berries over their lifetimes.

Kudos to volunteers Stace, Colin (representing the Kensington Cub Scouts), and Everett, Bill, Nancy, Doria, Barry, Sharif, Jeff, Marilyn, Brian, Inoue(sp?), and Kai. The Friends of the Richmond Greenway also stopped by at the end of their Saturday Stroll.

Also, thanks to:
-Brian Kelley of East Bay Biofuels for encouragement and letting us use your restroom!
-Timothy Manhart of Catahoula Coffee company (artisinal coffee roasted right here in Richmond) for donating the delicious coffee (unsolicited even) and for on-going donations of spent coffee grounds for soil amendments.
-Tom and Shirley Butt for donating 30+ raspberry cuttings
-Paula Kristovich for donating 6 bags of compost
-Greg Hardesty,Tony Norris, and the rest of the Parks and Landscaping Division for wood chips, soil, logs, and general support and encouragement.
-Nancy Baer of Contra Costa County Health and Cheryl Maier of Opportunity West for donating snacks.
-Cassie Scott and Verde Partnership Garden for general support, encouragement, raspberry starts, and use of tools.
-Jayma Brown of the Richmond Garden Club for donating 3 blueberry bushes.
-The Friends of the Richmond Greenway for general support and encouragement.

Next Workday/Donations:
Foodshed Development Days at Berryland are the 2nd Saturday of each month. The next one will be December 8th from 9:30 to 12:00. We can always use cash donations (tax deductible), berry bushes and compost. We are also looking for a person or group to develop interpretive/educational signs for the various bushes. Contact Park Guthrie at (510) 691-5051 or park@urbantilth.org for more information.

Richmond High School Garden Workday
Not to be outdone, the Richmond High School YME Club sponsored a garden workday at Richmond High School on Saturday, November 10th from 9:00 all the way to 4:00. YME club president Alex Chavez, the YME Garden Committee (Erica Gonzalez, Aricelie Vasquez, Adriana Cerrano) and teacher Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl organized the effort. Approximately 25-30 students turned out for the event.

This is their 3rd garden workday of the year. They have been reviving the neglected garden, greenhouse, and creek model behind the portables near the playing field. They aim to create a place of natural beauty for the Richmond high students and to learn how to grow healthy, organic food for their community. Since the beginning of the year, they have built, filled, and planted several new raised vegetable beds, repaired and planted decrepit beds, cleared weeds, planted cover crops, installed irrigation, rebuilt a garden shed, and overhauled the pumps on the creek model. Rumor has it that they may soon add tilapia to the West County foodshed by stocking the creek model.

Donations Needed: They are always seeking donations of lumber/wine barrel planters, soil, seeds, seedlings, saplings, berry bushes, and organic soil amendments.

Their next workday will be Saturday, December 1st. The community is welcome to come by and check out the progress.


Verde Garden Market

The Verde Garden Market, launched by the Verde Partnership Garden last spring, continues to be one of the only sources of quality, organic produce in North Richmond with bargain basement prices to boot. On Thursday, November 8th, the 15 Verde Elementary student garden leaders and garden educators Bievenida Meza and Cassie Scott harvested and sold more than 25 pounds of fava beans, tomatoes, collards, green onions, basil, rosemary, and winter squash at the after school market on Verde Elementary campus. The Verde Garden Market is one of only a handful of school garden programs nationwide which impact local food systems by marketing produce grown by students on a school campus. Since April, the Verde Market has harvested and distributed more than 500 pounds of organic vegetables, as well as 90 bundles of herbs, greens, and flowers (Verde Garden Market Database 6.07 to 9.07) . Iyalode Kinney and the Transition Program students (Saechao, Jonathon, and others) as well as Park, Marilyn, Deborah, and Mary Lynn also regularly contribute to the Verde Garden Market Program.

The Lincoln Farm

The Lincoln Farm is a project co-sponsored by Urban Tilth and Lincoln Elementary School with support from Bright Futures afterschool program and the City of Richmond, Parks and Landscaping Division. The Lincoln Farm is located on the Richmond Greenway immediately adjacent to Lincoln Elementary School and just west of Berryland. 17 Lincoln student farmers (3rd graders in the afterschool program) led by Park Guthrie are developing and tending raised garden beds along the Richmond Greenway. So far, they have built 13 raised beds; 9 are filled and recently planted with fava beans, snap peas, mustard greens, garlic, radish, and cilantro. Eventually, we hope to develop 3 raised beds for each student farmer so they can grow enough to take home fresh, organic produce on a weekly basis. You can see the Lincoln student farmers in action on Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00 on the Greenway. A big thank-you to Will Plutte, Program Coordinator and Vivian Tran, Afterschool Coordinator at Lincoln Elementary for helping make this project happen. Also, thanks to Greg Hardesty and Tony Norris for on-going support, irrigation troubleshooting, wood chips, soil, and logs.

Today, we, in West Contra Costa County, like virtually all Americans subsist on food provided by a highly industrialized food supply. In terms of our food supply, we are the most dependent people in the history of humanity. Certainly, reliable, abundant supplies of relatively cheap food products are one outcome of our dependence on this industrialized food system. The amazing efficiencies of the industrialized food system also allow us to commit less time and energy, as individuals and as communities, tending to our food needs and to food production than ever before in human history. Other clear by-products of our reliance on an industrialized food system include:
•degradation of our farmlands and natural ecosystems;
•significant contributions to greenhouse gasses;
•the obesity and diabetes epidemic;
•increasing political power of multinational agribusiness corporations;
•the need to maintain power and influence in oil rich regions across the globe (we no longer have the ability to feed ourselves as a nation without a steady supply of oil and natural gas);
•a deepening divide between our culture and our food, land, and nature;

We do not have to be so reliant on this industrialized food system. The foodshed development activities over the past week are important on a number of levels. The bushes we planted and seeds we have sown will contribute hundreds of pounds of fresh, healthy food to our community. But perhaps more important than the yields, are the new community norms and local knowledge we are developing. Seventy-five more West Contra Costans know something more about food production than they did last week. Dozens of Richmond Greenway users now have an idea that public lands can, and perhaps should, be used for production of healthy foods. Dozens of Verde and Lincoln elementary students and their families now consider schools as one place to produce or purchase healthy foods. Dozens of Richmond High school students are now in the practice of committing free time to work together to create a source of healthy food for their communities. The knowledge and practice of food production is slowly working it’s way back into our local culture.

We have a long way to go to establish even a small measure of food self-reliance in West Contra Costa County. Even achieving just 1% food independence will require not only individuals, but also our basic community institutions such as schools, churches, hospitals, and city governments to recognize the power they have to become active producers in a local food system. We have a tremendous amount of work to do. But, blessed with a perfect climate, relatively large amounts of open space, and strong agrarian/gardening traditions in our people, West Contra Costa County can become one of the first communities in the nation to regain some measure of food self-sufficiency. We can become a community where all children have access to abundant supplies of fresh, chemical-free produce. We can become a community where our bonds to one another and to nature are strengthened by the food we produce and eat. We can create a more sustainable, healthy, and just community by working together to develop the West Contra Costa County foodshed.

If you would like to get involved in this effort, please join the 5% Local Coalition by registering at the Yahoo group at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/5percentlocal/ or by contacting Park Guthrie at park@urbantilth.org or (510) 691-5051. If you are already developing the foodshed in West Contra Costa County, please send me an email update. I’ll include your activities in the next Foodshed Development update which I hope to send out sometime in the next two months.