|  On Saturday July 12th, Street Parks volunteers got to work at the Argonne Community Garden in the Richmond District. Local neighbors and volunteers got a huge boost from local Boy Scout Troop 17. Planning and supervising much of the project, Eagle Scout prospect Willie Ten led the charge to help build a beautiful new 45 ft boardwalk for the garden. The boardwalk will help gardeners move their wheelbarrows up this sandy slope with ease. No more being stuck in the sand! Other tasks included mulching, weeding and sprucing up the garden.
It was a great day to be in the garden, volunteers enjoyed a BBQ lunch and a few lessons about the ecological and neighborhood history of the garden. This now thriving food garden used to be entirely sand dunes. Volunteers learned a bit about how composting and soil remediation can turn sand into quality dirt. Volunteers also learned that Argonne Community Garden was one of the city's first, starting in the 70's.
If you missed our work party at Argonne Community Garden and still want to connect with this garden in the future, contact garden coordinator, Laura Del Rosso. Projects like this one are a great way to earn Eagle Scout credit or similar honors. If you would like to head a project like Willie did, contact us and we'll be glad to help.
Click here to see pictures of our volunteers in action.
Want to volunteer at another Street Parks Gardening Day? Contact Jasmine to learn more.
| TOOLSHED | | Q: What are some ways to get resources and support for my community garden?
A: You can tap into the SFPT's new Community Plant Bank and take the Street Parks survey and let us know what resources you need.
The Community Plant Bank is a fantastic new resource for local community green spaces. The premise for the plant bank is simple: to get free, high quality plants into the hands of people who beautify San Francisco by creating and maintaining gardens on public land.
The idea for the plant bank began last fall at one of SFPT's monthly Street Parks Volunteer Gardening Days, when the Sunset Community Garden coordinator requested that volunteers clear many vibrant plants to make room for new gardeners. SFPT program staff sent volunteers home with plants, but there were still many left over. We decided that it would useful if local gardeners had a space to share plants. SFPT has since secured a home for the Community Plant Bank at Alemany Farm, and received its first major plant donation from landscaping firm Frank & Grossman. The beauty of the plant bank is that local gardens and large landscape firms can donate to the plant bank. SFPT is seeking donations of native plants which are drought tolerant, and that can survive and thrive in less than ideal conditions.
Need other resources? As part of its efforts to increase and beautify public lands, SFPT is currently taking a survey of street parks and gardens. If you maintain a street park or open space garden, please visit sfpt.org to take the informal survey, share your experiences, and tell us your needs.
For more information about the Community Plant Bank, to schedule a donation drop off, or to request plants for your group, please contact Julia Brashares at julia@sfpt.org or 415-750-5110. |
| ABOUT TO SPROUT | | Join Street Parts volunteers in the Inner Sunset neighborhood on Saturday August 16th as we get to greening at the White Crane Springs Community Garden! White Crane is a scenic, wooded, plot style garden, so it makes a great Saturday escape. Come check out the toolshed built entirely out of natural materials.
Time: 10AM - 2PM
Location: White Crane Springs Community Garden on 7th Ave. and Lawton St. The garden is located just beyond the vacant dirt lot (where pumpkins and Christmas trees are sold). Walk through the vacant lot to the south end and you will see the garden entrance.
Be sure to RSVP by Wednesday August 13th to secure your space and your FREE LUNCH. Street Parks volunteers meet each month to enjoy good company and gardening. Drop in when we're in your neighborhood or join the Green Team and make a commitment to 4 Street Parks Gardening Days. In return, Green Team members receive cool t-shirts, special event invites and coupons for free classes at Garden for the Environment. |
| GET THE GREEN | | JOBS/INTERNSHIPS
ADULT
The Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC) seeks a full-time regional campus organizer to help strengthen their work with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and their surrounding communities. EJCC is a diverse, consensus-based group of environmental justice, climate justice, religious, policy, and advocacy networks working together to promote just and meaningful climate policy. Their mission is to educate and activate the people of North America towards the creation and implementation of just climate policies in both domestic and international contexts. Please call or e-mail Kari Fulton at 202-210- 1766 or kari@ejcc.org for more information
Community Educational Services (CES) is a non-profit agency that has provided educational, employment, and community involvement services to children and youth in San Francisco since 1969. CES' mission is to help young people transform their lives, school, and communities. CES seeks four Youth Program Coordinators to facilitate the empowerment of SFUSD school communities through environmental service learning. Environmental service learning is an educational pedagogy that advocates learning through serving the community, deepening connections between academic learning and the impact on the world around us, all through an environmental justice lens. To Apply: Fax (415-434-3128) or e-mail ( cesresume@yahoo.com) cover letter and resume to ESLI Youth Program Coordinator Search Committee, Community Educational Services. RESOURCES
Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) will be planting FREE TREES in Bayview Hunters Point on September 20th! In the last three years alone, with the assistance of community members, 628 trees have been planted just in the Bayview! Usually residents are asked to pay $165 per tree. Right now special funding makes trees free for the Bayview. For the first time, FUF is also offering fruiting trees in front yards, if space allows. If you are a Bayview resident click here to get your application for free trees. If you're not, then please help us spread the word.
Need money to fund your community project? Don't forget to submit an application for the SFPT Innovator Awards before the September 1st deadline. Awards are between $500 and $2000 for the purchase of equipment or site-improvements that will help increase park usership and strengthen programs. Contact Maria D'Angelico EVENTS
Aug 2: Urban Composting Workshop@ Garden for the Environment (map) 10AM - 12PM. Cost: Free
Aug 3: Jerry Day @ The Jerry Garcia Amphitheater (map ) 12PM - 6PM
Aug 9: Enlivening Soil Using Organic Fertilizers@ Ecology Center (map) 10AM - 1:30PM Cost: $15 general, $10 members
Aug 16: Street Parks Gardening Day @ White Crane Springs Community Garden (map) 10AM - 2PM
Aug 23: City Chickens! And Ducks Too! @ Garden for the Environment (map) 10AM - 12:30PM Cost: $15
Aug 29 - Sept 1: Slow Food Nation '08 Conference @ several locations around San Francisco (see website for details) |
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IN THIS ISSUE:
YESTERDAY'S HARVEST
Past Events
TOOLSHED
News You Can USE
ABOUT TO SPROUT
Upcoming Events
GET THE GREEN
Jobs, Internships, and Opportunities
EVENTS
August 16th - Street Parks Volunteer Gardening Day @ White Crane Springs Community Garden (map) 10AM - 2PM
 Gordon Jenkins
Content Coordinator of Slow Food Nation
 San Francisco is certainly a city full of food lovers, but these days it is important to be mindful not just of flavor but of sustainability too. San Francisco will host its first Slow Food Nation conference, Slow Food '08. Slow Food combines equal parts food, fun, and practical inspiration. Content Coordinator, Gordon Jenkins has been working furiously to help show San Francisco how to live Slow.
So what exactly is Slow Food Nation? Started in Italy, the Slow Food movement has become a global effort to make food and eating healthy for our bodies, our planet and its people. Gordon has helped to ensure that the conference has something for everyone. You can taste the best that local farmers have to offer at the Marketplace and Taste events, gain valuable knowledge reguarding food justice in a series of forums and lectures called Food for Thought, enjoy great bands like Gnarles Barkley at Slow Food Rocks and attend a host of other slow food fun activities all through Labor Day weekend. Slow Food events will take place at several locations throughout the city.
Gordon has also been putting in a lot of extra time to ensure that Slow Food '08 includes a significant youth voice. Through the Youth Food Movement, over a hundred young people from all over the country - young farmers in Georgia and Maine, activists in Oakland and Brooklyn, eaters from Chicago and Los Angeles - are coming to the event to contribute to discussions on how to build a sustainable food system. Additionally, some of the attractions, like the Food for Thought speaker series and Change Makers Day, address topics like school gardens, institutional dining, and the next generation of farmers - food issues impacting young people. For Gordon the content of the conference is just as important as the people attending it. "The important thing" he says, " is that young people be present and able to learn and inspire others." The Youth Food Movement at Slow Food Nation brings together students and aspiring young farmers, cooks, artisans and activists to share in the experience of Slow Food. Gordon hopes that this conference will give young people a forum to meet, find mentors, exchange ideas and build the networks in order to form a national Youth Food Movement.
Slow Food '08 is Aug 29 - Sept. 1. Click here to view the schedule and ticket prices
Want to be involved in the Youth Food Movement? Contact Gordon Jenkins. |
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