All photos by Bowerbird Photography [1]
Jenny was visiting from Portland and Sam Love and I decided to take her on a field trip to the Alemany Farm [2]. Portland is well known for their community and sidewalk veggie gardens, so we were excited to show her what SF had to offer in the realm of urban farming. [Ed. note: while they still can! Check out this week's story [3] in the print edition about the impending death of many of the city's agriculture spaces.]
But first we got kind of lost and ended up making a rather huge loop through the neighborhood. Then we saw it, four-and-a-half acres of soil covered in vibrant veggies, trees dripping with stone fruit, and gigantic, golden sunflowers. There was a group of high school students helping with weeding, a volunteer tending to some baby greens and even a windmill. And it just keeps going and going. You start walking up the hill and end up finding loquat trees, huge chard bunches, artichokes. It's all growing next to each other -- a zucchini vine here, an apple tree here -- a random quilt of edibles.
The only downside is the proximity to the freeway, which adds a background humm to the farm. (Just pretend like it's bees.) The garden is volunteer-run and has work days on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It hosts a u-pick program on Wednesday evenings for folks in the neighborhood. Get down there and get your paws dirty!
Alemany Farm
700 Alemany Boulevard, SF
(415) 624-9934
Links:
[1] http://bowerbirdphotography.com/
[2] http://www.alemanyfarm.org/
[3] http://www.sfbg.com/2012/08/21/farmville-real?page=0,0
[4] http://www.alemanyfarm.org