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In This Issue...
I SPY...
What's up next for Street Parks Youth
Down & Dirty
Stories from the garden
Ground Breakers
Profiles of green professionals and activists
Seed Packets
Events, resume builders and volunteer opportunities
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Garden for the Environment
Suzi Palladino
Youth Program and
Compost Education Manager
Blair Randall
Garden Education Program Manager
If you've ever thought, "What might be the best way to learn a lot about sustainable, organic gardening, have a great time and pay relatively little while doing it?" chances are that you've been wanting to stop in to Garden for the Environment and you've been dying to meet Blair and Suzie.
Garden for the Environment (GFE) is San Francisco's only demonstration garden and Blair and Suzie are the dynamic duo designing awesome garden education for all ages and all skill levels. Suzi heads youth programming while Blair is in charge of adult education. Together, they arm San Franciscans with the tools they need to be skilled, responsible urban gardeners. GFE offers environmental education programs about organic gardening, urban compost systems, sustainable food systems and more - there's even a class on raising chickens in the city!
GFE offers weekend classes on practical, resource efficient gardening, monthly composting classes, elementary education and a three-month intensive Gardening and Composting Educator Training Program (GCETP). GCETP (most people call it the "get up" class) is an excellent way to learn about composting, gardening, and ways to teach both skills to others. The course finishes with in-the-field, service learning projects.
GFE continues to grow and change in a number of exiting ways. This summer marks the first GFE summer program. Partnering with Urban Sprouts, Suzi and Blair created a summer day camp which was youth- facilitated, fun, informative, and fabulous.
Another brand new feature of GFE is Victory Gardens 2007+ which allows people who live here in the city to start food producing gardens in their backyards and other spaces. One great part of the new VG 07+ is that they bring the garden straight to you! That's right, victory gardeners can sit back and wait for a pallet full veggie seedlings to be deliverd (by tricycle) straight to their door.
Stop in to GFE to learn about all of the great projects that Suzi and Blair are doing and learn a few things to take root in your garden!
See this month's classes here!
Garden for the Environment
780 Frederick Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
Phone (415) 731-5627
Fax (415) 731-5607
Email: info@gardenfortheenvironment.org
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Got something to say? Email me: jasmine@sfpt.org
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SPY Members Event:
Mini Road Trip to Slide Ranch!
Join us for our first-ever quarterly event, exclusively for SPY members. We'll be heading out of town for a day at Slide Ranch, a historic coastal dairy perched above the Pacific Ocean in the Marin Headlands. You'll feel like you're a million miles away from the city in this mind-blowing, beautiful farm complete with goats, sheep, chickens, and an array of other creatures. We'll help farm staff with their habitat restoration efforts by clearing out unwanted invasive plants. We'll also get a tour of the grounds, have lunch together, and if time allows explore the tide pools and pocket beaches below the ranch.
Space is limited for this trip, so you must pre-register to secure your spot. We have space for 12, and after that you'll be put on a waiting list, so sign up early! e-mail Jasmine NOW to register.
Date: Sunday, January 20th
Time: 9 am - 5 pm
Location: Slide Ranch map
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Victory in the Garden
SPY Volunteers go to Sunset Community Garden.
 On Saturday November 12th, SPY volunteers from Sacred Heart high school's Losallian Vincentian Youth group and local gardeners arrived at Sunset Community
Garden to get their hands dirty.
Sunset Community Garden is at 37th Ave and Pacheco - out in the often foggy zone. Volunteers learned about the garden's history as a victory garden during World War II and got to check out the variety of plants and plot arrangements.
SFPT provided an elegant lunch of pizza and snacks and the garden supplied a few fresh tomatoes and raspberries.
Thanks to the help of Sacred Heart volunteers, together we cleared six beds for new gardeners, removed about six bags of debris and prepared about 400 pounds of compost. Volunteers got an extra bonus - they got to take home some great plants that were removed, including strawberry, chamomile, and golden raspberries.
The group had such a great time that they joined as Green Captains and will start a street park of their own!
Our next SPY garden day is not until February, but you can join as a SPY member anytime before mid-January if you'd like to be included in our special quarterly event on January 20th: a road trip to Slide Ranch! For more details, see story above!
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Street Parks Youth
There are three ways to get involved,
which is best for you?
Level 1
Drop in as a SPY Volunteer. We have volunteer gardening days (SPY days) about once a month and you can join us for any of them.This is a great way to get volunteer hours for school, support your favorite garden, get your hands dirty and have lots of fun in the process! Plus, we'll feed you a yummy FREE lunch.
Level 2
Join as a SPY Member. Volunteering for 4 volunteer gardening days during 2008 qualifies you as a SPY member: You'll get invitations to all of our great outdoor events, plus our Annual Conference. (Our events are open to SPY Members only. To give you an idea of what we have in mind, this year we'll go sailing on the Bay, and camping on Mt. Tamalpais, among other things.) As a SPY Member, you'll receive a cool, long sleeved black SPY t-shirt.
Level 3
Step up your SPY Membership to the highest level, and become a Green Captain. This is for people who want to be green activists and lead the creation of new gardens. As a Green Captian, you'll get all the regular SPY Member benefits, plus you'll receive support from SFPT in garden planning and fundraising. We'll add your site to SPY garden work day calander: SFPT will bring all the needed tools and extra volunteers. You'll get recognition of your garden in the e-newsletter that you're reading right now, The Real Dirt!
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JOBS
Are you 14-17 years old and living in San Francisco? YFYI is hiring 12 youth for two positions: 6 Program Officers and 6 Youth Evaluators! Want more information? Visit Youth Funding Youth Ideas Online
Youth Making a Change is Coleman's nationally recognized youth organizing project. YMAC is seeking a part time (20 hours per week) Campus organizer to help support base building, campaign work, and more. $10 -$12 an hour depending on experience.
Email pmaingo@colemanadvocates.org fax resume and cover letter to 415-239-0584 Attn: Pecolia Manigo.
BEET Rangers is now recruiting for youth interested in green job internships. Youth ages 14-19 living in the Western Addition of San Francisco are welcome to apply. Earn $1000 or more through 8-months of service. You'll improve your neighborhood, meet great friends, and start building skills for green jobs and careers. To request an application gardenkids@wildmail.com or hvnparks@hotmail.com
EVENTS
Dec 20 -- Urban Alliance for Sustainability Green Movie Night Little Roxie Theater: 3125 16th Street 6PM
Jan 9 -- Oakland wetland native plant nursery volunteer day with Save the Bay 1PM- 3PM
Jan 20 -- Slide Ranch Members event 9AM - 5PM
Feb 9 -- SPY Gardening day @ Boedekker Park 10AM - 2PM
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