18th and Rhode Island Permaculture Garden

We had a small group for the youth workday the other day, so Burton, Brenaja, and I left the Mission to check out the 18th and Rhode Island Permaculture garden. We met up with our good friend, Tree, of the Free Farmstand, and set to work, starting seeds, especially leafy greens, and harvesting potato towers.

This was a great task for us because we had just started potato towers at the Mission High School garden and I think doing the harvest was helpful to understand the process of the planting (although I admittedly have had much more success growing potatoes in the ground than in towers. But in tight city quarters, towers are a really good alternative to the ground space potatoes take up).

We also got to partake in the shared lunch that Tree had made for all the garden volunteers, which I think is a really lovely experience in and of itself, and one that we have been thinking about and experiencing in different capacities in the different gardening, gleaning and food dispersal that the youth program has been doing so far this summer. Sometimes it's sharing groceries, or produce, and sometimes it's sharing warm and delicious mung dal and rice with the people you've spent all morning working together with, sweating and getting your hands dirty. All are a little different but all are quite beautiful ways to share and be united over the simple, fundamental need for food.

All of these great photos are courtesy of our good friend and lovely lady of the Free Farmstand, Cristina Ibarra.

Plum Season part II

Plum season has been holding strong, so much so that when we talk about our harvest schedule for the day, I get a resounding, ugh! plums again!? from the PttP youth. It's been an amazing crash course in local seasonal food, one that has left our teenagers dreaming of fall apples. Even my excitement for plums is waning, but I still think they're beautiful, and that part of their beauty is the combination of variety, abundance, and versatility.

Kevin (top), Burton and Brenaja (bottom), picking cherry plums at the Secret Garden. These trees are crazy prolific!

Our spread at the Free Farm Stand (photos by Bill McLeod)

I made a vegan plum blackberry (with berries from Bernal Hill) pie for our youth program picnic. We make it a point to properly honor and celebrate the food we harvest and share!

The Free Farm Stand is 'our' farm stand

Kristine, Burton and Brenaja helping out at the hyper-local table at the Free Farm Stand

(photo by Bill McLeod)

Pancho and Kevin hanging out by the produce in Parque Ninos Unidos

(photo by Cristina Ibarra)

There are some things that just feel great to be a part of, they're just genuine efforts from good and true people and the Free Farm Stand is one of these things, organized by a magical man named Tree, who is one of these people.

Folks coming through to get their groceries

(photo by Cristina Ibarra)

The PttP youth and I have been helping out at the FFS more often than the other sites, and the young folks have started to refer to it as "our farm stand", which is exactly the sentiment I'm trying to convey. Tree has done a beautiful job organizing it, it feels homey and inclusive, a place to meet people over good food and share ideas and recipes. A lot of folks that come are regulars and it's apparent that it's not just a place people come to, but a community they're a part of.

Kevin stocking the bread table and offering Pancho some homemade salsa

Sharing is really the center of what makes the free farm stand so special and why we feel so deeply akin to this particular food distribution site, because that is what we're trying to do through our backyard harvests, enable people to share, to even out scarcity with excess.

Yay local!

(photo by Cristina Ibarra)

It's also especially important to us that Tree makes it a point to showcase the food grown in San Francisco, and picked by regular local folks like us. Hyper local food gets to shine on one table, and farmers market excess occupies the other table. It's the best of both worlds, "homegrown" food from gardens around town, and local farm food from great small farms like Green Gulch and Happy Boy.

Tree! Strike a pose!

(photo by Cristina Ibarra)

Tree is also deeply dedicated the food gardening community in SF, especially in the Mission District, and he keeps a weekly blog that is both inspiring and informative, with a list of gardening opportunities throughout the week.

Burton, me and Tree checking out the honeycomb from the bees in Tree's garden

(photo by Kevin Estrada)

The Julian Pantry

Another one of the really lovely places that we donate and distribute our produce through is the Julian Pantry at St. John's Church on 15th St. and Julian St. We went recently to help out with their Saturday pantry, which has a really nice communal vibe to it. Everyone who helps eats breakfast together beforehand, and before people line up for their groceries, there's a bagel and pastry snack time that happens in the courtyard.

We brought plums with us to share and Page, a professor from Stanford who I met recently at the Free Farm Stand brought a bunch of grapefruit he gleaned from the Stanford campus.  So wonderful!

Yuwen shucking corn!

Burton helping folks with their celery.

Kristine helping Brenaja refill the pasta.

And Kevin found a heart shaped potato!

Jam Sale was a success!

The jam sale at Mission Pie was awesome! We sold out of all of our jam (about 65 jars!) not even halfway through our scheduled day. Kristine and Brenaja were superstars, wooing people in with jam tastes on bread we had made the day before, and then helping folks pick out exactly the right jam for their tastes.

Thanks so much to everyone that came out and bought jam to support Produce to the People! Thanks to Kristine, Brenaja, Kevin, Yuwen and Burton (sorry, Burton and Yuwen that you had the second shift and we finished so early!) for all your hard work making jam and bread! And thanks to Mission Pie for being so generous to host us and have a benefit plum tart day in our honor, and for all the great local food work and fostering of young folks that you do!

Jam and Bread

We really like to make use of everything here at Produce to the People, so we've been saving overripe fruit from our harvesting excursions and freezing it, and now we're ready to a whole bunch of jam! We also made zucchini bread from the zucchini's that we got to partake in from the harvest at Alemany Farm, and whole wheat bread for folks to taste the jam at our upcoming jam sale fundraiser at Mission Pie.

Kevin, Brenaja, Kristine, and Burton pitting mirabelle plums and cleaning rose petals.

Kristine moving the bread dough to knead it and let it rise.

photo by Brenaja Cates

Kevin mixing up the zucchini bread.

Apricot Lavender and Plum Blackberry Jam bubbling away on the stove.

Brenaja stirring up the Plum Rose Petal Jam.

Water bath canner.

Finished Apricot Lavender Jam

Finished Plum Rose Petal Jam.

Benefit Day and Jam Sale at Mission Pie

Saturday, July 18th (that's this upcoming Saturday!), 8am-10pm at Mission Pie, 2901 Mission St. (corner of Mission St. and 25th St.)

Jam Sale out front from 11am-5pm (or until all the jam is gone!)

Please join us and our very good friends at Mission Pie to celebrate San Francisco's sweet and juicy plum season, which is currently in full swing. A portion of the sale of every plum frangipane tart on Saturday, July 18th goes to benefit Produce to the People. This is a win win fundraiser because you can come out, support the great work being done by BOTH PttP and Mission Pie, and eat some of the most delicious sweet treats in the city!

PttP will be representing out front with a table of locally harvested, handmade jams for sale for only $5 each. All the fruit has been picked by Produce to the People in and around San Francisco, and canned with love by the amazing high school students in our Summer 2009 Youth Employment and Education Program. All the jams are made with organic backyard fruit and organic, fair trade sugars. They are perfect for your morning toast, on top of a bowl of ice cream, and also make great gifts!

You can also stop by just to meet some of our awesome youth, hear more about what we do, or register your garden for harvest! And as always, more information about Produce to the People can be found on our website: www.producetothepeople.org .

Please pass the word on to your friends in the bay area, hope to see you there!