Tag Archives: Hayes Valley Farm

Update on the Hayes Valley Farm

Hayes Valley Farm: “Liquid Light” by flickr user CJMartin

As you may know, the interim-use agreement for Hayes Valley Farm will expire this summer.

The farm sits on two of the former Central Freeway parcels, Parcel O and Parcel P.

Central freeway development parcels Dennis Yang.jpeg

There are a number of Central Freeway parcels slated to be converted into Affordable Housing units, including Parcel O.

These projects were managed by Redevelopment Agency, which has recently been dissolved.

The Mayor’s Office of Housing is now responsible for managing these housing projects.

Come to the next Hayes Valley Community meeting to find out more about the future of the Farm and join the discussion!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

7:00pm at Hayes Valley Playground

ALSO: At this weeks meeting – we will have a number of discussions relating to our Hayes Valley environment.

Three short discussions to begin:
1. Isabel Wade presents the Just One Tree project
2. Hayes Valley Farm and the board’s recent vote of support of their continued interest in Parcel O
3. Gail Baugh Planting at Hayes Valley Playground

Our three main topics are:
1. The Better Market Street Plan - presented By Kris Opbroek, DPW
2. Street Tree Care and Responsibility, DPW Urban Forestry, Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) , District 5 Supervisor Olague (or her representative)
3. Street Trees on Hayes Street. What species to infill? - Hayes Valley Landscape Architect Marta Fry

Follow Those Greens!

By Booka Alon and Project Open Hand

Our number one question at the farm is, “where does your food go?” We are proud to share this story by Project Open Hand, that gives a little insight about the distribution of what we are growing at Hayes Valley Farm.

Project Open Hand is a local non-profit organization providing nutritional support to people living with HIV, serious illness and the elderly. Our goal at POH is to feed the body, mind and soul, through healthy meals, groceries and nutritional information, all delivered with love by our dedicated staff and volunteers. Project Open Hand is a huge fan of the Hayes Valley Farm. We are not only inspired by the urban organic and sustainable permaculture but incredibly grateful for the 25-pound donation of delicious produce that is collected from the farm each week to help support our Breast Cancer program. We strive to provide every client with the most nutritious & quality products, for which Hayes Valley Farm is among the most excellent of sources!

Project Open Hand started receiving produce from the farm in April, 2011, and it has quickly become a weekly favorite among our clients. When the delivery from Hayes Valley Farm is received, opening each produce box feels like uncovering hidden treasure! The produce is an array of varying delights: arugula flowers, different squashes, campari tomatoes, russian kale – you name it. No matter how varied the harvest may be, every single item is guaranteed to be delicious. Our staff and volunteers bag a medley of the fruit and vegetables in individual portions where it is then offered in our Grocery Center. The Grocery Center is a program developed for our clients to select from a menu of choices from each food group consisting of produce, proteins, dairy, grains, legumes and beverages. The selected items in a grocery bag at POH total 1/3 of one’s nutritional requirements for the week. Good nutrition can help an individual stay stronger and lead a healthier life and farm-fresh produce, free of chemicals and grown with love, is excellent nourishment.

Hayes Valley Farm Announces First Harvest Festival


October 16 will be a Day to Celebrate Abundance and Heritage

Its time for the very first Hayes Valley Farm Harvest Festival. Join us for fun under the Harvest Sun, with youth activities, tours, special musical guests DJ Lamont and Tyler Matthew Smith, and of course pumpkins! Harvest Festival will begin Sunday, October 16th at 1:00 pm and continue until 5:00 pm.

Enjoy food crafting at the earth oven, special nature awareness workshops, arts and crafts for all ages, a handmade musical instrument factory, face-painting and a honey sale from our hardworking urban bees. This is a family-friendly day that will honor our land, celebrate our diverse web of community and feature locally-grown foods that nourish our spirit and inspire us to grow it local!

The farm has enjoyed a robust growing season, and will host skill shares on making kale chips, simple homemade breads, and fresh-creamed butter. Farmers will give tours throughout the day, and volunteers are encouraged to show up for the regular flipping of compost and planting that takes place every Sunday on Mulch Mountain in the heart of the farm.

Cultures all over the world celebrate the harvest to welcome the colorful new season and give thanks to the transition of abundance. In India, communities gather to dance and give thanks by lighting a bonfire and offering gifts of popcorn, peanuts and sweets. Jews build a sukkah from natural elements and decorate it with fruits and wheat. Hayes Valley Farm invites friends and neighbors young and old, to enjoy a mix of diverse traditions at the farm on Sunday, October 16. Bring your friends and family!

DETAILS
Title: Hayes Valley Farm’s First Harvest Fest, a Celebration of Abundance and Heritage
Date: Sunday, October 16
Time: 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Address: Hayes Valley Farm. 450 Laguna (at Fell). San Francisco.
RSVP on Facebook to let us know you’re coming.
details: http://bit.ly/harvest_fest_at_your_farm
hayesvalleyfarm.com
twitter handle: hayesvalleyfarm
Press Contact: Booka Alon
bookasdish@gmail.com or 415.625.3476

General Meeting 8/25/11 at Hayes Valley Farm

Come join us for our Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association General Meeting.

The meeting will be at a special location: the Hayes Valley Farm.

Prior to the 7PM meeting, there will be a community potluck starting at 5:30PM. Bring a dish to share. Then stay for the general meeting. We will be discussing: Future development plans for the farm site; San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, and PG&E smart meters.

We will finish the evening off with a sunset tour of the farm at 8PM.

Earth Week at Hayes Valley Farm

Sunday, April 24 – Friday, April 29

Hayes Valley Farm is planning a week-long celebration of Earth Day, Arbor Day, and everything in between!

All classes and workshops will be FREE and open to the public. Everyone is welcome. Please pass the word along to other SF folks!

Join us for music, bike decorating, community art projects, kids activities, vermiculture workshops, fruit tree workshops (and sales), tabling with local environmental groups, bike blender smoothies, and MUCH more!

Potlucks Sunday and Friday. Please bring a dish to share or pizza dough and toppings. Help the farm reach its Zero Waste goal by providing your own plate/utensils. We’ll be firing up the cobb oven on both days.

A full schedule of events throughout the week can be found at:
http://www.hayesvalleyfarm.com/earth-week.html

You can sign-up for the potlucks and learn more about Earth Week throughout the week through our public Facebook event.

What better way to show your gratitude for Mother Nature in the city than an outdoor yoga class? For those of you who prefer more action-oriented activities, you can help start a new kitchen garden in the Haight! Then treat yourself to a refreshing smoothie sponsored by Rock the Bike and Bi-Rite. Don’t forget to help us become Zero Waste by bringing your own cup.

Sign up with the Time Bank to participate in the Bay Area’s bartering system. Take a gander at neighboring organizations that will be tabling at the farm, such as Food & Water Watch, San Francisco Permaculture Guild, and the Wigg Party. Then, help beautify our fence with succulent sacks.

Hayes Valley Farm Unplugged will be hosting local musicians, such as Front Country. Meanwhile, the cobb oven will be firing up homemade pizzas. Please bring a dish or toppings to share for the potluck, as well as your own plate and utensils.

Sunday is also a great day to bring kids out to the farm. They’ll have the opportunity to visit different stations for nature coloring, sensory scavenger hunts, rock decoupage, and an Easter egg hunt. Plus prayer flag painting will take place to add more flair to the farm!

During all of this activity, our regularly scheduled Sunday work party will continue as usual for folks eager to get their hands dirty!

Monday

Monday is a perfect day for new farm visitors. Our weekly Patterns in Nature class helps people get acquainted with local flora and fauna. Once your interest in nature is piqued, try putting into art or words. Or simply process it through guided meditation. Spend the rest of the afternoon observing and interacting with nature on the farm.

Tuesday

Outdoor yoga on farm-fresh earth will kick off our dirt day. Learn about soils in our Urban Permaculture Design class. Then apply your knowledge to a worm bin workshop, which will teach you how to compost in your home. Stick around for the Kitchen Garden SF potluck at Blue Tape Café!

Wednesday

Relax under the open sky with yoga and then help harvest greens for our partnership with Project Open Hand. Agenda-free workday will run as usual or you can learn more about our scarce resource, water, during our Wednesday Urban Permaculture Design class.

Thursday

Start the day off right with yoga at the farm, then join Food & Water Watch to stand up in solidarity for small farmers’ rights in the newest budget reforms. Food & Water Watch will be holding a press conference with supervisors, healthy food advocates, consumer groups, environmentalists, and farmers, urging Senators Boxer and Feinstein to oppose proposed 2012 federal budget cuts to farm bill programs that support healthy food and sustainable agriculture. You can also participate in our Thursday volunteer work party at any point during the day.

Friday: Arbor Day

Outdoor yoga will be available once more, for a total of six consecutive days! You can then learn about local flora by helping to identify and label trees and plants on the farm. Luckily most of the farm’s fruit trees are already labeled and ready for the picking! Fruit tree sales will take place all day Friday in honor of Arbor Day. You can even take the fruit tree workshop to ensure you’re ready to give your tree a good home! If you’re more interested in vegetables, a seed-starting workshop will run next to the farm’s greenhouse. To zoom out and get a big picture idea of the farm as a whole, participate in our weekly Strategies in Urban Permaculture Design class.

April May 2011 President’s Column

By Karen Mauney-Brodek

This April-May issue of The Hayes Valley Voice and our upcoming meeting on April 28th are centered around environmentally focused organizations in the neighborhood.

Today, more and more people are coming to realize what many of us have known all along: Hayes Valley and other urban, dense neighborhoods like ours are of the greenest places you can live. The more we can get our needs met here, our parks, our food, our shopping and other needs – the more sustainable we will be because we can walk, bike and ride transit to shop, work and get around.

We need to continue to do things to improve our neighborhood – getting a full service grocery store and other needed retail. While we do complain about Muni, we do have good transit compared to many areas (that is why many of us live here) and by using transit and walking we are making healthier choices for our planet and ourselves.

Some organizations that are active in our neighborhood include: Project Homeless Connect Community Garden, Hayes Valley Farm, CommunityGrows Koshland Educational Garden, Urban Sprouts (creating learning gardens at our public schools), Neighborhood Parks Council, and Garden for the Environment. Our neighborhood works with other San Francisco environmentally- focused groups including: Friends of the Urban Forest, Public Utility Commission (reducing water use), Trust for Public Lands and the Recreation and Parks Department (which together are renovating the Hayes Valley Playground), San Francisco Parks Trust, and the Department of Public Works (helping turn concrete into planting beds and other projects).

Come to the next meeting on April 28th at the Korean American Center at 745 Buchanan Street, where we will have presentations by Garden for the Environment and Friends of the Urban Forest.

Hayes Valley press first week of April

Busy week for Hayes Valley in the news/blogosphere:

SF Weekly’s foodie takes a look at Fatted Calf’s Meatloaf sandwich, which you can get at FC’s shop at 320 Fell Street:
Read the review here

The Seven by Seven Magazine’s Lauren Ladoceour gives her perspective on the neighborhood’s evolving self:
7×7 magazine’s look at Hayes Valley

The SF Chronicle does a write up on recently opened Room Service, at 549 Hayes Street. Read the article here sfgate.com