Food not lawns

We're happy to announce another garden in the Mission!!

 As word begins to spread about and what we are trying to do, Mission residents are hopping on board.  On Monday we officially gained generous access to another garden.  Although small we're confident that we'll be able to make a great use of this space.  In addition to being generally beautiful it already has some apple trees that can be restored to health.  The residents were excited and eager to support us and participate with our project.  We share their enthusiasm and they have our deepest gratitude for their generosity.  

Early next week we'll start in on transforming this space into a super garden.  First we'll be taking a stab at the sod to get at the earth below.  It is good for us that it is mostly dead. This should make removal a bit easier.  After we get down and dirty with the sod, we'll have to send away that soil to ensure that it is healthy to grow in.  After that I'd like to invest in some perennial herbs to start planting back there so they get a good head start for spring.  In the mean time, I'll be drawing up some plans of what the space might end up looking like.  My initial guess is that it will be a good space for growing peppers, squash and tomatoes in summer.  Next week I should be able to post more pics of our progress.  

Fungus among us:

It seems that we've got some fungal friends popping up at our other garden.  The combination of the recent rains and the full shade we've been getting back there has encouraged some growth of some pretty great looking mushrooms that look to me like they might be Agaricus Californicus. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me when I discovered them so I don't have a photo.  If in fact they are Agaricus Californicus they are mildly poisonous and should not be eaten.  However, the good news is that it seems as though the garden will be a great habitat for some cultivated culinary mushrooms.  I plan to experiment with oyster and shitake mushrooms back there in the coming weeks.  We'll keep you updated as to how that pans out.  

Link of the week:

This week I thought that I would mention Local Foods Wheel.

The local foods wheel is a really creative way to have consumers be conscious of what they are eating.  It is 12" illustrated cardboard chart that informs Bay Area eaters what is in season when.  I think this is a great idea.  It is a really creative way to teach people to alter their palates with regards to seasonality.  Eating seasonally has many benefits that we know of not to mention many that, I am sure, await discovery.  Stay local, stay seasonal with the local foods wheel.  Check it out.  

Be well, 

David

Fatal Harvest

Wow! We had such a great harvest this week.  The onions and tat soi looked better than ever.  Sadly though, this may be one of the last for the remainder of the year.  Leave it to nature to keep teaching you lessons.  I believe that we have heard the call of Mother Nature to retreat and go back to drawing boards.  As an native East-coaster the idea of a California winter at one time was a laughable idea.  But now I see that, although subtle, the seasons here command humility as well.  In fact, the wintertime excites me.  It is far easier to make phone calls and sit in front of a computer when it is dumping rain. I am actually grateful for the respite to a degree.  

This week I finally got our volunteer Joel Scott to let me take his photo for the blog.  We're really pumped that he's so enthusiastic and eager to get his hands dirty.  His help during this week's harvest was invaluable as city farming proves to be more and more consuming.  An extra set of hands is almost always welcome.  I hope that he continues to stay around when it is time to prune the trees.  There are several overgrown shrubs and one tree in our garden that needs some careful attention.  (anyone out there a good arborist? we could use help with our pruning) We have a bougainvillea that has dominated the back 16Th of the space.  It is time for a trim.  Although beautiful, its pedals coat our lettuce beds.  Luckily it seems it doesn't really care when you prune it.  So I imagine we'll be doing that pretty soon.  

In other news we have maybe secured at least one more garden for Amyitis.  We'll keep you updated about things as they move along with it.  Hopefully we'll be able to start work there in the coming weeks.  

Link of the week

This week I had to spread the word about one of my favorite companies.  Although I generally don't love the idea of advertising for a company, this one for sure gets my seal of approval.  For those of you unfamiliar with Paul Stamets, he's a brilliant mycologist out of Northern Washington.  In addition to growing mushrooms and running a retail operation called Fungi Perfecti he's also a world renown researcher, speaker, author, and environmental activist.  Talk about busy!! He may be one of the more brilliant scientists I have ever heard and therefore I am excited to promote his wares.  Go to http://www.fungiperfecti.com and check it out for yourself.  This week Paul will be here in SF speaking at the SF Green Fest.  Be sure not to miss him this Saturday November 15th.  His knowledge, wisdom, and motivation are contagious.  

Best, 

David

p.s. we're still looking for back yards, rooftops, porches, and any potential growing space here in the mission.  Spread the word!!!!

Fall Back

 What's new:
As fall time truly sets in around the Bay area and rains begin to fall we're seeing the big changes we were expecting at the garden.  The end of a season is exciting.  It paves way for new ideas and fills us with inspiration.  It provides opportunity for improvement by forcing us indoors to reflect on the season.  

In the case of Amyitis, it provides opportunity for us to think about expansion.  We've had such a great response to our call for more space.  Marcia at tablehopper.com gave us a shout out that has produced some amazing results.  Already we've had a large group of people excited about sharing their space.  So, thankfully, as our garden grows more and more dormant over the winter we'll be free to plant and prepare more gardens for next season.  For now, I will be going from space to space to see what we can grow there.  Our 22ND street garden has shown us that it receives amazing summertime light but the surrounding houses block a lot of light in fall.  As the sun drops toward the horizon, in a city especially, all spaces will have these kinds of issues.  Our task this winter is predict what will do best in each space.  I now know that our 22ND street garden will be great for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and salad in summer and then continue to produce great looking salad all the way through November.  We'll still have to see about what will grow (if anything) over the winter.  I've planted a lot of salad mix and head lettuce with hopes that it will survive the low light times that lay ahead.  I am also experimenting with growing some culinary mushrooms in some of the shady areas around the yard.  Anyone with sawdust or wood chips out there? Come find us.  

Veggies in Action:

We've had a fun time with our veggies.  Every time we bring them to Weird Fish we are so excited to see them in action.  It is pure satisfaction to look at a plate with something you grew 5 city blocks away looking back up at you in such a beautiful display.  If I might wax poetically for a second, greens may be some of the most elegant food to eat.  They really tie any dish together and can easily become the focal point.  We had some fun with some of our 22ND street mizuna at a party we threw for a friend's birthday.  Above are some pictures of what we prepared for the event.  We topped some crackers with pureed steamed beets we'd gotten at Rainbow with some local chevre.  We then set them atop a sprig of our mizuna and topped it off with a thin slice of scallion.  Delicious!! The result was a slightly sweet, lightly cheesy, spicy little bite.  They were really easy to make and a hit at the party.  

Link of the week: 

A blog follower turned us on to this really cool link about someone named Fritz Haeg who has started a project called Edible Estates.  It looks very similar to what we are doing.  Here is the link Edible Estates.  As we've said before, we are so inspired by anyone doing this work.  The whole reason for doing this work is that it needs to be done for us to truly move to be more sustainable as a culture.  If we are to create cultural and environmental change it needs to start with ourselves.  We're excited to hear about anyone doing something similar to what we are doing.  Keep it up!! Support it!! Get involved!!!

best, 

David

Space Hunter

It is becoming more and more clear to me and Jessie that we simply need more space.  After all, more space= more food.  While being eternally grateful for the space we were given, it is simply not enough to really make the kind of dent we're hoping to make in the restaurant alloy.  With that now said, I do know that there is a way to make this happen without becoming a full scale farm.  With our garden project we intend not to sustain a restaurant entirely, but merely HELP to sustain a restaurant.  I have yet to be convinced that we need to move to the sticks.  All around me, in this city, there are spaces.  There are unused spaces that need food, and lots of food.  What if we all changed the way we thought about usable space? What about tearing up that inedible sod for a little arugula? I am sure that there are many San Franciscans with un- or underused spaces.  All we really need is a little more than we've got to really make things cook!  

So now we're putting out our feelers and looking for space.  We ideally would like to find people that have unused space that they would be comfortable donating.  I mean hey...free landscaping anyone?  Not to mention front row seats to the ever-expanding food sustainability movement.  In exchange for the space, the donors would have a weekly share of veggies and potentially some deals at the restaurants we serve.  Now that is community! a direct link between producers, farmers, and restaurants. 

So help us out.  We need all the community we can get.  IF you have space you'd donate, or know of space that is up for grabs, email us (email).  

Fighting with Phood!!!

And now a word from our sponsors.  Phood Fight Inc. is a company started by Peter Hood of Weird Fish, St, Francis Fountain, and Boogaloos.  The  Amyitis garden was initially funded by Phillip Bellber and Carolyn Blair but now Phood Fight is the company helping us to keep things going.  In a way Phood Fight manages the way these restaurants use their products.  We intend to insure that our restaurants are using the greenest and most sustainable solutions to restaurant materials and food.  Look at it as Green Management if you will.  We'll keep you posted on how it moves along.

NEW!!

I have decided to  add a link of the week.  We'll post links that we like related to local food related resources.  

This week we liked tablehopper.com.  Tablehopper is a really cool website for Bay area foodies, farmers and restaurateurs alike.  Check it out and find a new place to grub!!

Best, 

David

A little help from my friends

Now back from my epic journey, I have once again plunged into the garden with about as much abandon as I can muster.  Thanks to Jessie, the garden looks and feels lush and vibrant.  The rows that she planted are thriving in a prosperous fashion and are delicious.  Weird Fish, (18th and Mission) started by former Boogaloos Manager Timothy Holt and Boogaloos G.M. Peter Hood, has been buying the veggies from the garden wholesale as a way to cover our costs.  There is still some experimentation required to get the financial kinks worked through.  Getting costs covered during a start-up year for a garden is tough.  There are many little expenses, even when we are using a lot of recycled and found material for construction.  I'd say though that we are off to a good start.  The real challenge will be our first winter here in the garden.  Not knowing how much we'll be able to produce may lead us to be even more creative.  Only time will tell.  

It is becoming clear to me as this project grows how much we need community support.  Even with a small garden, we need all the hands we can get.  Holding down day jobs and producing food for restaurants is a tall order.  There never seems like enough hours in the day.  Luckily, we have the interest of some potential volunteers.  Each week we'll be welcoming the help of local volunteers to help with things like weeding and maintenance.  Boogaloos employee Joel Scott came out to help us this week with his pickup truck.  He helped me move organic debris and trash from the space as well as collect some wooden pallets.  We'll be using the wood from the pallets to build a compost bin.  Hopefully we'll use red worms to most efficiently compost the organic refuse.  More on that later. 

Go on down to Weird Fish to sample this week's harvest; Baby salad greens with Arugula and Mizuna, wild green onions, Baby Tat Soi and Baby Russian Kale.

Wish us luck

David

The vision

The very tiny community that has already grown up around this garden project has been really exciting. I'm amazed at the number of conversations I've had with people about what we are doing, considering that the garden is in someone's backyard- not exactly a very high profile spot. More exciting still, is how interested those people have been, and how willing to help. I have a growing list of volunteers- I only wish that we had a bigger space so that we could put all this energy to good use! From the tenants of the building, to the business owners downstairs, to the neighbor whose fence isn't too tall to see over, to the employees of the restaurants to complete strangers that engage me in conversation as I walk down the busy city street with armloads of salad greens, or shovels and compost- everyone has been really enthusiastic. And that has just been filling me with such joy lately.

The only thing that hasn't been bringing me joy in regards to this garden is the way the lettuce is growing, or in this case, not growing. I think that the seeds we have are not quite right for this climate but unfortunately, as things go with gardening, problems usually take a few weeks (at least) to identify and then attempt to rectify. So, the salad mix is heavier on the arugula and baby kale than I would ideally have it, but thankfully, those are some of nicest I've ever grown.

First Harvest!

Today was an exciting day. I got up early to go harvest before the strong September sun wilted all the tender baby greens. Luckily,  the yard stays pretty shady throughout the morning, so I had ample time. I had been anxious that we wouldn't be able to harvest enough at once from our small space to make it usable for a busy restaurant. But the dense planting was deceiving and in the end, I delivered 5 large, and full, bags! Hooray! And, I must say- they were beautiful greens. The insects haven't found us yet- one of the benefits of growing food amongst a whole lot of pavement. So, I was thrilled and skipped down the street with my delivery. From farm to table in under 5 minutes- not too bad.