California Grows!

California Grows!

I recently attended the Hazon Food Conference in Sonoma, CA. There, I met numerous others who are working with gardens of all stripes; urban, suburban, rural, educational, communal, and private. I want to highlight a few of the interesting garden or farm projects in California. By sharing these projectsI hope others can learn about what they are doing to engage their communities in environmental and food learning.

First, the Urban Adamah in Berkeley. My understanding of the Urban Adamah is that there are fellows who live together and work at the farm and engage the surrounding community in food and environmental justice. What is most interesting to me at this point is that the Urban Adamah is being designed for mobility and the ability to be replicated. For more information: http://urbanadamah.org/.

Second, I learned about the Haynes Valley Farm in San Francisco. This farm, in the center of the city, engages the community by creating educational programs and showing films in the summer. Only a year old, the farm has classes on topics such as yoga, water, and soil. The farm is run mostly by volunteers and those who work the land reap the benefits. For more information: http://www.hayesvalleyfarm.com/

The third garden is Levana’s Garden at the San Diego Jewish Academy in San Diego. The garden was built in memory of a beloved kindergarten teacher at the school. The school has a large property and is in the process of figuring out how to best create curriculum for the school and garden to work together. I really look forward to seeing how they evolve.

If you know of other gardens that can be highlighted on this blog, please let me know!!

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