Farm to School Program Saves Big Bucks, Slashes Carbon Footprint at 100 Oakland Schools

Go Oakland!

Farm to School Program Saves Big Bucks, Slashes Carbon Footprint at 100 Oakland Schools:

Year of the weed but also year of the fruit tree

The trees have very much appreciated the long wet spring. Of course we have already gone around the entire Farm three times hacking weeds clearing tree holes and mowing the orchard and still the grass is waist-high. Garden beds are also blighted with weeds but there are some successes.

Storage Onions

Except for some gopher loss the onions are doing great and we plan on having sufficient storage for the entire year. We of course have been eating arugula and lettuce for quite some time in fact we're on our third crop. Brassicas such as broccoli cauliflower have too not done well largely because of gopher pressure probably caused by the long wet spring and super weed growth. 

Tomato Rows

Just yesterday we put in 200 feet of tomato row. The plants are small but in this warm-weather they should do well

Food as part of the commons-- transition to a sustainable future

There is lots of academic work in this area of transitioning to food as part of the commons as part of the transition to a sustainable future.  We are the thinkers for the future of the planet and it is international

"Food is treated as a private good in today's industrial food system, but it must be re-conceived as a common good in the transition toward a more sustainable food system that is fairer to food producers and consumers. If we were to treat food as a commons, it could be better produced and distributed by hybrid tri-centric governance systems implemented at the local level and compounded by market rules, public regulations, and collective actions. This change would have enormous ethical, legal, economic, and nutritional implications for the global food system."

http://www.shareable.net/blog/why-food-should-be-a-commons-not-a-commodity

Jose Luis Vivero Pol the author of this article from Belgium is an example of the global network of brilliant and dedicated people working on this revolution.  Keep up the work.. we will have our time and our knowledge will be indispensable.

Ten times the yield from home grown

We have a lot of details to work out on this idea from the point of view of feeding the planet but it is indisputable that Hyper Local food production is a contender.  Keep up the good work.

"Amongst scientists, policymakers, the media and public, there is increasing awareness of the multiple benefits of ‘own-growing’ including access to nutritious fresh produce, stress relief, improved psychological well-being and physical fitness."

http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/home-growing-produces-ten-times-the-food-of-arable-farms

"During the World War II the British were encouraged to ‘Dig for Victory’. Garden vegetable plots were at their height and allotment demand peaked. Homegrown produce allowed farmers to focus on grain and dairy production — activities ill suited to small-scale urban plots.
So, what was the contribution of homegrown efforts to the national diet? How effective could it actually have been? Here are the stats: during the World War II, allotments and gardens provided around 10% of food consumed in the UK because of the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign whilst comprising 1 % of the arible land. Take a moment absorbing the significance of that statement. Home growing produced ten times the food per acre than arable farms! How can that be? Aren’t we told repeatedly, that we can only feed the world with grains? And that only intensive agriculture can deliver?"