Cooking
Say you live in a big city. You love eating fresh-from-the-farm produce. You frequent the farmers' market, maybe you even subscribe to a CSA. But every once in a while you long to feel the soil, dig a little, pluck some weeds, pick some fruit and vegetables and get back in touch with mother nature.
Here in San Francisco we are lucky to have a four and a half acre farm, and it's just a stone's throw from the Alemany farmers' market. Long neglected after the demise of the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, it is now coming back to life under the nurturing care of the Alemany farm managers. Best of all, it's completely open to the public.
This past weekend a whole bunch of Bay Area food bloggers helped out at the farm, including four Bay Area Bites bloggers. One of the farm managers, Jason, showed us around and put us to work and gave us a tour. We climbed up the hill to see the remains of an orchard, viewed the beds of chard, tomatoes, strawberries, swung by the herb garden and meandered over to the swampy pond surrounded by cattails. It was dirty and gritty and everyone worked up a sweat, but the farm is positively gorgeous and the experience (despite my allergies) was gratifying.
You may have read about the recent campaign to bring back victory gardens in San Francisco. But if you don't have the space, you can easily volunteer at the Alemany farm just check the calendar for available dates. As an added bonus you might get to take home some fruits of your labor as a thank you. The rest of the produce is sold to residents of Bayview Hunters Point to support larger food security efforts. You don't need to be an experienced gardener, and even children are welcome.
FOOD
- Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Turns 20
The Center for Urban Education and Sustainable Agriculture, aka CUESA is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Ferry Plaza farmers market. It's one of the best farmers market in America, and for good reason. In addition to being a showcase for some...
- Organic Milk
When I was growing up my parents raised chickens. We had fresh organic eggs even during the most lean times. We ate a lot of eggs and sold the rest to neighbors for a dollar a dozen, as I recall. The yolks of the eggs were thick and orange colored, and...
- Organic Produce Delivery
Yesterday I got my monthly delivery from Farm Fresh to You, organic produce delivery. I started this a couple of years ago when Webvan went out of business and I was seriously going through withdrawl pains. As much as I enjoy shopping for fresh produce...
- Dr. Vino Goes To The Geese
Some of you know that I have a spider-sense that tingles when writers mention foie gras, but this time Tyler at Dr. Vino made my job easy when he sent a link to his post about a visit to a French goose foie gras farm. He touches on the "unmentioned" problems...
- Cooking Out Of The Box
Many of you have probably figured out, from the occasional comment of mine, that Melissa and I have started getting a produce box from a (somewhat) local farm. These programs have become popular in the increasingly urban and food-devoted...
Cooking
A Day at the Farm
Say you live in a big city. You love eating fresh-from-the-farm produce. You frequent the farmers' market, maybe you even subscribe to a CSA. But every once in a while you long to feel the soil, dig a little, pluck some weeds, pick some fruit and vegetables and get back in touch with mother nature.
Here in San Francisco we are lucky to have a four and a half acre farm, and it's just a stone's throw from the Alemany farmers' market. Long neglected after the demise of the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, it is now coming back to life under the nurturing care of the Alemany farm managers. Best of all, it's completely open to the public.
This past weekend a whole bunch of Bay Area food bloggers helped out at the farm, including four Bay Area Bites bloggers. One of the farm managers, Jason, showed us around and put us to work and gave us a tour. We climbed up the hill to see the remains of an orchard, viewed the beds of chard, tomatoes, strawberries, swung by the herb garden and meandered over to the swampy pond surrounded by cattails. It was dirty and gritty and everyone worked up a sweat, but the farm is positively gorgeous and the experience (despite my allergies) was gratifying.
You may have read about the recent campaign to bring back victory gardens in San Francisco. But if you don't have the space, you can easily volunteer at the Alemany farm just check the calendar for available dates. As an added bonus you might get to take home some fruits of your labor as a thank you. The rest of the produce is sold to residents of Bayview Hunters Point to support larger food security efforts. You don't need to be an experienced gardener, and even children are welcome.
| READ MORE Over at Bay Area Bites is my review of a terrific new book The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook |
FOOD
- Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Turns 20
The Center for Urban Education and Sustainable Agriculture, aka CUESA is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Ferry Plaza farmers market. It's one of the best farmers market in America, and for good reason. In addition to being a showcase for some...
- Organic Milk
When I was growing up my parents raised chickens. We had fresh organic eggs even during the most lean times. We ate a lot of eggs and sold the rest to neighbors for a dollar a dozen, as I recall. The yolks of the eggs were thick and orange colored, and...
- Organic Produce Delivery
Yesterday I got my monthly delivery from Farm Fresh to You, organic produce delivery. I started this a couple of years ago when Webvan went out of business and I was seriously going through withdrawl pains. As much as I enjoy shopping for fresh produce...
- Dr. Vino Goes To The Geese
Some of you know that I have a spider-sense that tingles when writers mention foie gras, but this time Tyler at Dr. Vino made my job easy when he sent a link to his post about a visit to a French goose foie gras farm. He touches on the "unmentioned" problems...
- Cooking Out Of The Box
Many of you have probably figured out, from the occasional comment of mine, that Melissa and I have started getting a produce box from a (somewhat) local farm. These programs have become popular in the increasingly urban and food-devoted...