Koshland Park Community Learning Garden-Home of CommunityGrows

April Workday a Great Success!

2010-04-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, April 17, 2010 we had a workday in Koshland Park and Garden, sponsored by Kaiser-Permanente. Twenty-two neighborhood friends came out to help us move woodchips, prune tree wells, sift compost, building planter aisles and spruce up the park and garden. Thank you to the great volunteers and Kaiser-Permanente! “Volunteers are not paid – not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless." Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Harvesting Favas with the Beacon Kids

2010-04-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today first and second graders from the after-school Western Addition Beacon Center worked in Koshland Garden harvesting FAVA BEANS! Favas, really part of the pea family, are very nutritious and have many health benefits. They are especially high in fiber and iron and low in sodium. They even contain L-dopa, which is used as a drug for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, and eating them reduces the risk of heart disease. Shell before eating. Planting favas returns a lot of nitrogen back to the soil. Yumm!

Please Donate to help CommunityGrows!

2010-04-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

Please donate to CommunityGrows!

Starting a Garden at the Hayward Recreation Center

2010-04-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, April 13, 2010 we began a nine-week program to create a garden at Hayward Recreation Center through a partnership with the Buchanan YMCA, across the street from Plaza East housing on Laguna St near Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. Youth designed the layout of the garden, what was to be planted, and then started digging. The following week they planted starts and added rich compost and water. It is exciting to see the changes each week, and we'll keep you up to date.

Handful Players Reherse in Koshland Garden

2010-04-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, April 8, 2010, the Handful Players came to Koshland Garden to rehearse their upcoming play by Eugenie Chan entitled Rainbow in Your Corner. The play highlights how the children of San Francisco's Western Addition community meet the legendary John Muir and discover and learn to preserve the natural beauty of the neighborhood; the play is filled with classic jazz, soul, and gospel music and original lyrics. They will be performing this play on May 15th at Yoshi's in San Francisco at 1:00 PM. Tickets are $5 at the door. Kids 18 and under free. They may perform for us in Koshland Garden too, so stay tuned!

New FACEBOOK Page for CommunityGrows

2010-02-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

Check out our new Facebook page
and become a FAN of
CommunityGrows!

Down-Home Workday in Koshland Park

2010-02-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

We had a very friendly neighborhood workday this past Saturday. Many residents and families from Hayes Valley Apartments joined us to move a mountain of wood chip and transport native plants from the John Muir School front garden.

Some of the morning crew, including Freddie from the Recreation and Park Department and Megan Schufreider, Manager of Student Services at the California Academy of Sciences (tall blonde on the right).

Tulsi Pi and daughter Isabel Frazier and son.

Workday this Saturday, February 20, 2010

2010-02-17T12:53:00.000-08:00

Holiday Wreath & Card Making-12.12.09

2009-12-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

CommunityGrows organized a Wreath and Card Making Event, with local partners, including Community Partners United, Hayes Valley Association and Trash Mash Up on a rainy Saturday in December. We had over 45 participants including many residents from Hayes Valley Apartments and a great team of volunteers from BuildOn organization! Thank you for a great day! More photos will be up on Flicker in the new year!

Thanksgiving Event at John Muir Elementary School-November 21, 2009

2009-11-21T08:12:00.000-08:00

CommmunityGrows joined many partners, including MoMagic and Community Partners United to celebrate Thanksgiving with the neighborhood at John Muir Elemetary School. Here are some photos from the event.

Ms. Welch, Nora Brereton and Ms. Brown:

Three Angels Dancing:

Our New Northern Station Captain, Ann Mannix and daughters Lauren and Kate:

Camilla Dawkins and Liz Jackson Simpson:

Takaija Gardener and Maysha Jackson from the YMCA Beacon Center:

A CommunityGrows in San Franciscio

2009-11-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

Check out Maureen Futtner's article in the San Francisco Examiner on
November 19, 2009:
A COMMUNITY GROWS IN SAN FRANCISCO

New Intern Meredith Bunyard and November Workday a Great Success!

2009-11-14T19:35:00.000-08:00

CommunityGrows is very honored to have Meredith Bunyard, a wonderful intern from San Francisco State University helping us in the garden this semester. She is an Environmental Studies major, with a concentration in Social Justice and Sustainability. We love all the great energy and knowledge she has brought to the garden and our programs. Thank you Meredith!

NOVEMBER 14, 2009 KOSHLAND PARK AND GARDEN WORKDAY!:
Here are some photos from our November 14, 2009 Koshland Park and Garden Workday. We had 65 volunteers from many high schools, and colleges, including folks from Union Bank. Whole Foods provided boxes of delicious fruit. Noah's bagels and Starbuck's were also featured to run off the great refreshments. Thank you everyone!!

CREW FROM SONOMA STATE ALTERNATIVE BREAKS PROGRAM:

BALBOA HIGH SCHOOL CREW:

PLANTING THE HILLSIDE BY THE ENTRANCE:

GREAT FOOD:

HOLY NAMES SCHOOL 8TH GRADERS CREW:

STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL VISIT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ALLENE ZANGER AND HUSBAND ROB AND ANGIE CHEN AND FRIEND BEN:

WORKING IN THE GARDEN:

UC BERKELEY ALPHA PHI OMEGA FRATERNITY CREW:

NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE AREA #3, RECREATION AND PARK DEPARTMENT CREW OF GREAT GARDENERS:

October Fun

2009-10-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

Our cameras were in the garden afterschool with the YMCA Beacon Kids who come twice a week. The lesson was worms and composting. Collecting worms and sifting compost. It was a most exciting time!

Then all of a sudden.... it was Halloween. We roasted marshmellows for s'mores at Hayes Valley South with the neighborhood groups and families. Lots of fun and great costumes!

New Herb Garden

2009-09-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the dreams of Nora, Barbara and Arif, and the hard work of contractor Peter van der Sterre, we now have a beautiful seating area where our herb garden is planted. The seating is large enough to accommodate a class of John Muir School students and is in the sunniest part of the garden. This is especially good during the cold winter months. Thank you so much Peter, Lalo and Harold for all your great work on this major achievement to our garden!

NORA'S BACK!!

2009-09-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

We are SO HAPPY to have Nora Brereton back in the garden and totally recovered from her hiking accident three months ago. WELCOME BACK! We really missed you! She is the brains behind our Programs and does an amazing job networking and building community. One of her first orders of business was to have a meeting with the Koshland Park community gardeners on September 19, 2009.

We have two new Garden Coordinators.
Zela Rowlands will be coordinating the gardeners who already have plots in the Koshland Garden.

Arif Husain will be coordinating the potential gardeners on the waiting list for a plot in Koshland Garden.

2009-09-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

August and September Events:

District 5 Clean Up in Koshland Park on August 8, 2009 with Ashley Young, Camilla Dawkins, Soumeya Kerrar, Corrine Law, and Tammia Hubbard. Camilla is the Liaison to our community from the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, and Tammia was an intern in that office this summer. Ashley and Soumeya are teens who often come to work in Koshland garden. Corrine was our Compost Queen this summer!

Volunteers from the GAP helped us in the garden on August 20, 2009, weeding, planting and composting. Thank you so much for your help! Great volunteers!

Tenth graders from the San Francisco Bay School spend the morning in Koshland Garden on August 28, 2009 learning about the environment.

Koshland Park Workday on September 19th sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. David van Dralen Wetters and Lisa Sandles from Kaiser. Thank you!

Summer 2009 Highlights

2009-07-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

• Our May Celebration,announcing our new name, mission and great award from GreatNonProfits was a hugh success. Our CommunityGrows board joined us with YMCA folks and Val Brown from Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi's office. Also our wonderful long-time friend, Sissy Geballe and her grandson Dan and his wife Linda joined us. A terrific day!

• First ever Movie Night in the Koshland Garden: 5/30/09 presented by Pamela Jean Smith, a neighbor who works at the Pacific Film Archives. At 9:00 PM thirty-five people braved a cool summer night to watch old films from the archives on gardening and growing food. The garden performance stage held the screen and a projector shot the reels provided. Nora and Barbara served hot cider to everyone, including two police officers who came to watch from the Northern Station. A great night was had by all!

• The challenging new for June was that our Programs Manager, Nora Brereton had a hiking accident in Big Sur which landed her in the hospital for three months with broken bones and internal injuries. Being the young, strong and determined person that she is, she recovered fully and was back to work with the start of the Fall 2009 school year. WELCOME BACK NORA!

• Corrine Law, a graduate of the Get-Up Program from the Garden for the Environment, joined us during the summer to turn our compost. She became the Compost Queen and everyone was in awe of her.

• Summer Programs began in June, first with the LetUsGrow Summer Camp. We had a terrific intern from Global Exchange, Luz Gomez,

who lead the program with the assistance of Markos Major, garden educator.

Breakfast every morning at Kate's Kitchen on Haight Street:

Growing beautiful carrots:

Going to Green Gulch Farm:

Working at the Civic Center Farmers Market:

• Our Seed-to-Mouth Cooking classes started in June every Wednesday from 3:30-5:30 PM in Hayes Valley South Community Room. Our leader was Ms. Saewon Oh, a former teacher's aide at John Muir School this past year.

Every week at least 20 youth and their families harvested produce from the garden and made delicious meals together, including Stone Soup, Mexican and Italian dishes, and strawberry jam. Umm!

Spring Celebration in Koshland Park

2009-05-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

Join us this Saturday, May 30th, 2009 for a day of garden work and play, and to celebrate the Hayes Valley Neighborhood PARKS Group's transformation: A new name (Community Grows!) and a Great NonProfits Award!

Garden Workday 10-1 PM
Celebration/BBQ 1-3 PM
Movies in the Park 8:30 PM
Location: Koshland Park (corner of Page and Buchanan Streets, San Francisco)
Cost: Free

Bring a potluck dish to share for the BBQ. Grills and local bands are welcome (contact us if you have one!!)

This event is sponsored by the Western Addition Beacon Center, CommunityGrows, and Kaiser Permanente! For more information, contact: Nora Brereton, Programs Manager, at 415-424-5770 or nora@communitygrows.org.

Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group Declared Winner!!!

2009-04-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

Grassroots Environmental Nonprofits, Not Large, Well-Known Groups, Get Highest Ratings
Green Choice Awards Publishes First Ever List of Best Environmental Nonprofits

Menlo Park, Calif. — April 30, 2009 —Grassroots organizations get top votes for best environmental nonprofits, according to GreatNonprofits’ 2009 Green Choice Awards. The contest, held during Earth Month in April, asked people to submit reviews and ratings about environmental nonprofits. The results provide surprising insights into the kinds of organizations that are considered effective by volunteers, donors and stakeholders.

Over the course of Earth Month, more than 26,000 people visited the GreatNonprofits Web site, and 835 reviews were posted about more than one hundred environmental organizations.

“It’s wonderful to see the expression of positive comments on the GreatNonprofits Web site, and we are motivated to do even more to deserve this praise,” says Charles Higgins, executive director of Slide Ranch, which won for best environmental organization with an annual budget between $250,000 and $1 million. Barbara Wenger runs the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group, the winner among organizations with budgets of $250,000 or less. She says, “We are so honored to be selected, and more importantly to be reviewed so highly by people. I am shocked and thrilled. Even if we didn't win, just reading all of those wonderful reviews is so amazing.”

While big organizations such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club were available for review, those groups didn’t see the kinds of results that their leaner counterparts did. For example, the reviews for the NRDC totaled 5, while the tiny Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group garnered 44.

“There are so many great nonprofits who don’t have an advertising budget and are not household names. Similar to what Yelp has done for small restaurants, we enable grassroots nonprofits to gain recognition,” says Perla Ni, CEO and founder of GreatNonprofits. “Now there’s an even playing field through the genuine testimonials and reviews of people who have seen the work of a nonprofit first-hand. Donors and volunteers now have a source of information for which nonprofits are accountable and effective.”

To read our reviews, go to <http://www.greatnonprofits.org/reviews/hayes-valley-neighborhood-parks-group>. To see the winner's page, go to <http://www.greatnonprofits.org/green>. Thank you everyone!!!

BEET Ranger Graduation!

2008-10-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

Today we said farewell to the BEET Rangers! It was bittersweet, of course. We will miss them, but we are so proud to see them complete this program and move on to new and exciting paths in their lives!

Modern Tea hosted us for a celebration dessert buffet, with cakes, cookies, sparkling apple cider and local lemonade. Everyone received a diploma and made a speech, and were sent home with beautiful BEET Ranger photo books that Executive Director Barbara Wenger had put together of the amazing photographs she has taken of the BEET Rangers through the program!

We hope to have a few of the BEET Rangers come back and teach with us for the next round of the program, starting in March. There is definitely interest from some of them, and their expertise, great advice, and valuable teaching skills would make the program much stronger next year. In my opinion, youth-led programming is the key to success, and I am looking forward to working with the graduates as co-teachers and co-facilitators. In the meantime, I will miss them as we take a break until next year. They bring so much inspiration and necessary challenge to my life, to keep me an active and critical thinker.

Thank you BEETS!

Harvest Festival!

2008-10-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

Harvest Festival this year was a great success, all planned and run by the BEET Rangers! In the morning, the BEET Rangers helped move mulch and compost, take out and harvest winter squash, and prepped beds to plant carrot and radishes for the fall. We harvested some cute little winter squashies to decorate for halloween!

We spread a lot of the compost into our perennial beds and fed our trees their fall compost, giving them deep fertilizing as we move into the new season. A few of the BEET Rangers also painted signs to leave a lasting impression on the garden, making it more beautiful for future groups who come to enjoy the garden.

After our hard work, we went down to Hayes Valley Playground to celebrate with the rest of the neighborhood. The BEET Rangers ran a table about our organization, and helped people plant peas to take home in pots they could decorate themselves. Other BEET Rangers, especially Krystal, Karen, and Jessica, did face painting on lots of little kids. There was a delicious barbeque, and lots of bikes to ride around, including bikes that were welded together so you could ride side by side! It was a great time, and a sweet last event to celebrate with the community and our soon to graduate BEET Rangers
!

BEET Rangers Job Search

2008-10-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

Today with the BEET Rangers we made a trip to Safe Haven, a community space in the Hayes Valley South residence. Safe Haven is an after-school drop in spot for youth in the neighborhood to come do homework, hang out, be with friends. They let us use their computers to work on resumes and job applications for the BEET Rangers to explore other employment opportunities for when they graduate the BEET Ranger program.

Here are a couple of resources for youth looking for jobs:

SF Youthline
Run by and for youth, 12noon-10pm every day
1-888-977-3399
http://www.youthlinesf.org/jobs/

SF Kids
http://www.sfkids.org/

JOBS TO APPLY TO:

Juma Ventures
www.juma.org

SF Youthworks
www.sfyouthworks.org

I-YEL
www.crissycorkboard.info/iyel/index.htm

Literacy for Environmental Justice
www.lejyouth.org

BEET Rangers at Academy of Sciences!

2008-10-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today the BEET Rangers got a special treat, as our near-end-of-program celebration! They have been working so hard, and today was a day to celebrate and enjoy at the new Academy of Sciences!

The new building is pretty amazing. It was super crowded, but we were able to weave our way through to enjoy the incredible aquarium, complete with sea dragons, an albino alligator, an anaconda, and some really neat turtles. We also checked out the indoor rainforest, which kinda blew our minds. There were lots of amazing frogs, chameleons, and geckos. Snakes that looked like sticks with really long noses, and butterflies everywhere. One of them almost landed on Naz's head!

The penguins were as entertaining as ever, and the living roof is spectacular. Jeffrey wrote down the names of a lot of the plants for his garden at Gateway High School. We will help him get some of those native plants come spring, when the garden has more space to plant them. There was some lovely yarrow growing up there, definitely a beautiful sight covering a really big roof in the middle of San Francisco! There is so much space to grow on, everywhere, if we use a little imagination. Rooftop gardens could be happening all over this city!

We had a great time looking around, and learned a lot. It is always uncomfortable to see animals in cages- we talked about that quite a bit. We agreed it was challenging to enjoy some aspects of visiting the Academy of Sciences, but overall, we could see how hopefully it was bringing people closer to nature, and to caring about the environment and their impact on the world. Maybe one day we won't have to see animals from really far away up close in order to feel our connection to them, and we won't make choices to use resources that result in rainforest destruction, or the destruction of any environment, for that matter.

Growing and eating local, with organic systems that encourage lots of animal habitat and native plants ecosystems are so essential to fighting habitat destruction caused by corporate agribusiness. Every little patch counts, from the living roof at the Academy of Sciences, to our garden at Koshland with our Monarch butterfly visitors. It all makes a difference, and we can keep growing more and more... let's do it! Overgrow!

Permaculture in the Garden

2008-10-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

This week in the garden, Katie taught a lesson on Permaculture. Katie had just completed an Urban Permaculture course, where she got to learn a lot of amazing things about design and modeling agriculture systems to be most efficient and supporting of their environment. Today Katie shared with a us a lesson on Patterns in Nature. The idea is to look at nature and replicate its patterns, because those patterns hold the key for ways to design our garden to be strong and efficient. Some of those patterns include spiral patterns (like a snail shell), branching patterns (like lightening), flow patterns (like a stream). After the lesson, we went into the garden and drew different patterns that we could find in plants or different areas of the garden, and talked about why we thought they might have formed that way.

OCTOBER GARDEN NEWSLETTER

2008-10-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

October 2008 Newsletter Content:

1. Koshland Plans and Planting
2. BEET Rangers and Green Jobs Now!
3. Harvest Festival Celebration!
4. Zuchinni Bread Recipe

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1. KOSHLAND GARDEN: PLANS AND PLANTING

Fall is approaching, and although the days are warm, the nights are
getting longer and cooler. The BEET Rangers have helped us prepare our
beds and plant out a lot new fall crop that love this time of year:
kale, broccoli, chard, lettuce, cabbage and collard greens. The
lettuce is already getting pretty big, and we will soon be using it
for salads with our upcoming cooking class in collaboration with
Modern Tea and the Western Addition Beacon.

John Muir Elementary students are learning about seed cycles, and began their classes for the semester by harvesting carrots from this
summer's crop- this week they are planting carrots which they will harvest when classes end in December, giving them the opportunity to
observe the entire cycle of the plants life. Red tail hawks have beenvisiting us again! The students were able to see them up close as they perched on the trees above us. We feel so lucky to have these special visitors!

Upcoming plans and changes in the garden will be constructing
terracing of the John Muir Elementary School beds on the North slope
of the garden. The terracing will make gardening easier and more
accessible for the students, and will help retain the water run-off
that occurs in the winter months. We are looking forward to the
change!

To get more info on the garden, contact Community Garden Coordinator:

Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

2. BEET RANGERS AND GREEN JOBS NOW!!!

The BEET Rangers participated in the Green Jobs Now national day of action. We attended the fabulous Breaking Ground Conference for youth hosted by San Francisco Parks Trust on September 27th. Two of the BEET Rangers, Jessica Farkas and Tanea Lunsford, talked on a panel of youth about Green Jobs and why they are important. All of the participants on the panel shared really important views on how Green Jobs improve their communities, help them feel self-sufficient and productive, and provide a way for them to connect to their environment and green space in the city. We are proud to be part of the Green Job movement, connecting youth with opportunities to match environmental stewardship with economic justice.

Learn more about Green Jobs Now: http://greenjobsnow.com/

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator:

Elokin gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 958-6937

3. HARVEST FESTIVAL!!!
11am-1pm Workday, 1pm-4pm Party
Location: 11am-1pm Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan
Location: 1pm-4pm Hayes Valley Playground at the corner of Buchanan and Hayes

On Saturday, October 18th, we will be celebrating our Harvest Festival
with the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association and the HV Playground
Fall Fest! It will be a big party for all of us.

From 10am-1pm, we will be working in Koshland Garden. The BEET Rangers
will be planning and leading all the activities in the garden, based
on their gained knowledge of gardening, and their observations on what
work the garden needs at this point in time. Guaranteed it will be a
fun day! We will provide tools, gloves, and snacks. Come out for your
last opportunity to work with this current group of BEET Rangers
before they graduate!

From 1pm-4pm, we will move the party down to Hayes Valley Playground
to have a food, entertainment, and celebration with the whole
community. There will be activities run by the BEET Ranger for all the
family to enjoy! Come on out and celebrate the graduation of the BEET
Rangers, the Hayes Valley Neighborhood, Fall and Harvest time, and the
Hayes Valley Playground with us!

4. ZUCHINNI BREAD RECIPE

We are thrilled to be working with Modern Tea and the Western Addition
Beacon to host another cooking class for John Muir Elementary School
youth this fall. We began classes on Monday, October 5th, by
harvesting beans at the Victory Garden in front of City Hall. We
admired the kale planted by the BEET Rangers earlier in July, and the
students got very excited about all the different colors of beans
inside the various stages of the painted lady runner beans. Definitely
a great start to a great program!

Here is a fun fall recipe, to use all those zuchinnis that are
flooding the farmers markets this time of year.

ZUCCHINI BREAD
Makes 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. ground clove
2 eggs or equivalent
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees
*Combine flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium sized bowl
and mix well
*In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with sugar until combined.
Batter will be thick and a little lumpy.
*Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a
toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!
* From Seed to Mouth Cooking Class, Summer 2008

BEET Rangers at Breaking Ground Conference!

2008-09-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

The BEET Rangers were honored to be invited to participate in the Green Jobs Now national day of action at the Breaking Ground Conference for youth
hosted by San Francisco Parks Trust. We were invited to participate in two different workshops: a Green Jobs panel, and a workshop on container gardening. Two of the BEET
Rangers, Jessica Farkas and Tanea Lunsford, stepped up to fill both of these roles. In the morning, they held a workshop on container gardening, talking about why it is important to grow your own food. They explained all the elements necessary to have a healthy container garden, then helped people set up and plant their own container gardens to take hope.

In the afternoon, Jessica and Tanea talked on a panel of youth about Green Jobs and why they are important. All of the participants on the panel shared really important views on how Green Jobs improve their communities, help them feel self-sufficient and productive, and provide a way for them to connect to their environment and green space
in the city. We are proud to be part of the Green Job movement, connecting youth with opportunities to match environmental stewardship with economic justice. And I was so proud to hear what Jessica and Tanea had to say! They spoke up, and added a lot of enthusiasm and expertise to the discussion.

Naz got to learn about natural building, and made a brick out of cob material. She also visited the bees and worked in the garden at Potrero del Sol, across the street from where the conference was held.

Dyhemia, Candy, and Rashida learned about propagating plants from cuttings, and prepared some geraniums to take home. Sebron and Tanea went for a bike ride to different gardens all around the Mission, visiting green spaces in a green way!

Learn more about Green Jobs Now: http://greenjobsnow.com/

SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER!

2008-09-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

KOSHLAND GARDEN NEWSLETTER

A Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group

September 2008 Newsletter Content:

1. Koshland Garden Makeover!

2. BEET Rangers at Slow Food Nation

3. Garden Workparty- September 13th

4. Vote for Koshland Garden as SF's most beautiful garden!

5. See Us On The News!

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1. Koshland Garden Makeover!

Wow! Things have really changed fast in the garden, and it is looking great! After our black acacia tree was accidentally cut down during it's scheduled tree trimming, we have been hard at work imagining ways to take advantage of the new sunny spot left in its place. We had the area where the tree once stood cleared and leveled, and are planning to put a picnic table there, so that students from John Muir Elementary School can have a spot to eat the snacks we harvest during their classes in the garden. We also hope community gardeners, visitors and neighbors will also enjoy the new picnic table, which will be installed in the near future! In the meantime, do come by to admire the new compost bins that are being constructed, and enjoy the last blooms of the sweetpeas.

To get on the waiting list for a garden plot, contact Community Garden Coordinator:

Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

2. BEET Rangers at Slow Food Nation

The BEET Rangers have had a really busy summer. To catch up from where we left off in our last newsletter, we have gone biking in Tennesse Valley with Trips for Kids, helped install the Victory Garden in front of City Hall, weeded and planted at Patricia's Green, farmed at both Green Gulch Farm and Alemany Farm, and helped out with compost at Garden for the Environment. Whew! This past weekend we went to a jam-making workshop through the youth programs at Slow Food Nation. Everyone got to take home their own marmalade made from local lemons, yum!

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator: Elokin

gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 958-6937

3. Garden Workparty- September 13th, 11am-2pm
Location: Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan

On Saturday, September 13th, from 11am-2pm, we will be working in Koshland Garden, preparing our summer beds for fall crop. We will be composting our old lettuce, chard, and kale plants, making way for new plant babies. Our goal is to get a whole bunch of garden beds ready for the John Muir Elementary School students, who will be returning to garden class in the next few weeks! Yay, we've missed them! We will provide tools, gloves, and snacks. We hope to see you there!

For more info, contact Community Garden Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770,
noraborealis@juno.com

4. Vote for Koshland Garden as SF's most Beautiful Garden!

We have entered Flowercraft's most beautiful garden contest! Please show your support for Koshland Garden and our programs by voting us as the most beautiful! All gardens are beautiful, but you gotta admit, we are pretty special! It's the hard work of all the volunteers, community gardeners, neighbors, and youth that make our garden shine. Vote below, we are #7!

Please vote either online or by casting a vote in our store. Our contestants will appreciate your vote as they are all proud of their gardens and they will win bragging rights and valuable gifts. Please link to this sight to view the entries and vote: lwww.flowercraftgc.com/events.html

5. See Us On The News!

The BEET Rangers were in the spotlight both in The City Star Newspaper on August 25th, and on NEN Network Television August 26th. Paste the following web address in your browser to watch BEET Ranger Dyhemia Young talk up the program on TV!

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v15792000mKw2j9PF?rank=0&jsonParams=%7B%22numResults%22%3A20%2C%22rlmin%22%3A0%2C%22query%22%3A%22Beet+Rangers%22%2C%22rlmax%22%3Anull%2C%22veohOnly%22%3Atrue%2C%22order%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22range%22%3A%22a%22%2C%22sId%22%3A%221864910298250151936%22%7D&searchId=1864910298250151936&rank=1

We will also be featured in the upcoming SF Parks Trust Newsletter, and in The Green Screen (earthteam.net)

LetUsGrow Camp Graduation

2008-07-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

Our little campers have graduated! It has been such a fun summer, filled with adventure. We will remember with fondness our trips to Alemany Farm, the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, Book Reading with Mo' Magic, composting at Garden for the Environment and many breakfasts at Kate's Kitchen, thanks so much!!!

It has been a great summer, we are already looking forward to next year!

Koshland Garden Makeover in Progress!!!

2008-07-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

Koshland Garden has a brand new kiosk and shed this month! We are super excited about how things are shaping up, and look forward to more
changes soon, including a picnic table, and a reshaping of the lower John Muir Elementary School learning garden. Yahoo!

For feedback, questions, or to sign up to be on the waitlist for a community garden plot, contact:

Nora Brereton: 415-424-5770

noraborealis@juno.com

BEET Rangers at SCRAP

2008-07-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

BEET Rangers at the Transfer Station!

2008-07-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

Helping in the Neighborhood

2008-07-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today we focused our activities on participating in community events in the Western Addition. Summer is a great time of year for getting together with neighbors, the sunny days and local events bring everyone out to enjoy the parks and community centers.

In the morning we went to Patricia’s Green to help out at their volunteer day. We got busy with a whole lot of weeding, and planted some beautiful trailing bushes to brighten up one of the long raised beds along Octavia Street. This was our second time visiting the Green, it was nice to see the changes since we last came to help.

After lunch, we made our way to a DCYF Summer of Unity Event at Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. There we got a tour from local community activist and Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group board member, Jerry, who showed us some of the famous local African Americans featured on the center’s historical mural..

After all the events, we returned to Koshland Garden for some garden maintenance and to give it a little love. We did the usual watering, compost turning and weeding, and Cameron helped reorganize our nrew tool shed, helping put up more hooks to keep the tools a bit more manageable!

Summer at Modern Tea!

2008-07-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Meet the BEET Ranger Youth Educators!

2008-07-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

Meet the wonderful BEET Ranger Youth Educators! Below we have Arif Husain and Katherine Walsh. To the side, hiding behind BEET Ranger Calvin Yu, we have Ami Puri, helping to create a bean trellis out of woodscraps and wire. This team has been essential to making the BEET Ranger experience fun, educational, and engaging. They are each creative and experienced individuals in the world of plants and gardening, and we value their work deeply!

Thank you wonderful educators!

Seed to Mouth 6/25/08

2008-06-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

Yum! Today was stir fry and noodles day. It was a big hit! And luckily we made a lot of food, because at 5pm, the room was packed with 20 hungry youth, all looking forward to the meal cooked by their friends. Everyone liked what we made, and broccoli was popular! Always a great thing to hear, seconds for veggies.

Veggie Stir Fry Over Noodles

Ingredients:

two packages rice noodles
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ginger
1 medium size onion
5 to 8 garlic cloves
2 heads broccoli
sweet or snow peas
4 carrots
2 bunches bok choi
4 tablespoons soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

bring a pot of water to boil
add noodles, stirring occasionally on medium heat until soft
heat oil, onions, garlic, soy sauce and ginger in a wok on medium heat for 2 minutes
add carrots and broccoli and cook for another 5 minutes
last add peas and bok choi and cook for 2 minutes
add soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste
serve over hot rice noodles

Seed to Mouth

2008-06-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

The fabulous chefs of Seed to Mouth cooking class

Seed to Mouth 6/18/08

2008-06-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

Today we had a fabulous cooking class making tortillas from scratch, heaped with delicious pinto beans, rice, and fresh-made salsa and guacamole! The youth also made a yummy salad harvested from the garden, so the tacos were full of healthy goodness. Everyone had a great time being in charge of their own element of the dinner, with about 3 people to each cooking team. This gave each group the opportunity to spice their own food, and get full credit and responsibility for their part of the meal, and it was tasty indeed. The extra treat was getting Nora's mom to be our visiting cooking teacher for the evening! She was a great help and inspiration with the tortillas, what a success!

Flour Tortillas

(makes 12)

4 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups warm water or more if needed

In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking powder
With a fork, gradually work in the oil until it is all mixed
Add enough warm water to make a soft but not sticky dough
Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes
Divide the dough into 1/4 cup portions and form them into twelve balls
Roll each ball flat round about 6 inches in diameter and 1/8 inches thick
Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high heat
Place the tortillas one at a time into the dry hot skillet
Cook until brown on one side, then turn and brown the other side
Remove from skillet and keep warm wrapped in a cloth towel

Last Day in the Garden! (for now)

2008-06-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

Today we did a trivia review game to look back at everything we learned, and each youth had great things to share based on the knowledge they gained. Time has been well spent in the garden!

This summer we will be embarking on longer trips with workshops in different areas of green jobs, so we will be taking a break from our regular days spent in the garden until fall. Look at all the sad faces! Just kidding. Everyone is looking forward to the start of summer, we will be having lot of adventures very soon.

The BEETs are off to a great start, we look forward to harvesting all of their hard work come fall, when the corn, beans, and squash they planted will be ready. In the meantime, the BEETs are welcome to harvest the crop they planted as it becomes ready, including the chard, lettuce, kale and beets!

BEET Rangers Garden Maintenance class

2008-05-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

Naz, Candy, and Rashida are hard at work, taking care of their garden beds!

Today the BEET Rangers learned all the necessary skills for General Garden Maintenance, including: Pruning, Watering, Weeding, Mulching, Cultivating, and Integrated Pest Management!

Katie Walsh led our lesson on Integrated Pest Management, and Arif Husain filled us in on the dangers of corporate control of our food supply. We talked about Monsanto, Cargill, and other companies who are making a profit off chemical seed technology that makes farmers dependent on products like Round Up in order to grow food to feed themselves.

We made the connections between organic pest control and the importance of knowing how to grow our own food without chemicals, without the influence of corporations whose interests are in making money rather than supporting a healthy community food system.

The highlight of the day was when Krystal pointed out that she was weeding without gloves on- this was a huge deal! Earlier in the program she was not into getting dirty in the garden at all, and now she does it with a smile on her face! It's the little things that count so much.

Join us for Spring Festival!

2008-05-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

Spring Garden Festival—Saturday, May 17th Location: Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan It’s Spring Festival this month! Come join in the fun!

10AM to 1PM Workparty! Come help us weed, plant, and clean up Koshland Park and Garden!

1PM to 4PM Celebrate our hard work in the afternoon with music, kids activities, and a veggie BBQ.

*Bring a dish to share at our potluck BBQ!

We will have some veggie starts for you to take home, the BEET Rangers will be leading a compost demonstration, seedball making workshop, and decorating pots for you to take your plants home!

There will be lots of fun to be had- we hope to see you there!
If you want to help with the planning or have anything you’d like to contribute please let us know! For more info, contact Community Garden Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

BEET Rangers in the Marin Headlands

2008-05-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

The Steepest Trail of the Day!

Today was awesome! We went for a hike in the Marin Headlands with Mike Yoshioka, of Hostel Adventures. Mike talked to us about what it takes to become a naturalist and outdoor educator, leading people on interactive hikes.

The day started out with a discussion on environmental ethics, and how to care for our national parks- most importantly, to get out and use them! Our duty was to explore, learn, and share what we discovered with our friends and family when we returned. Then we got to choose our trail names and headed out to the beach.

We learned about different native plants and their uses on the way, including mugwort, sticky monkey flower, yarrow, and horesetail, to name a few.

The times that stood out most were undoing a human knot we formed as a group excersize in teamwork, and eating lunch on top of an old bunker way high up on a hill, overlooking the ocean.

Some parts of the trails were steep and challenging, especially the one at the end, but everyone stepped up and together we made it a good time!

We are Chrissy Field Heroes!

2008-05-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

Our own Barbara Wenger of Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group has won!
2008 Crissy Field Center Community Heroes Award

The Crissy Field Center, an urban environmental center, announces The Community Heroes Award. This award honors the accomplishments, challenges and successes of community members who work tirelessly to preserve, protect, and raise awareness about our environment.

The Center's Community Advisors select Community Heroes from your nominations. Heroes who are selected are honored with a ceremony at Crissy Field Center on Saturday, May 10, 2008, where we unveil a year-long exhibit depicting each of the honorees in life-size photographic portraits and companion digital stories that share their unique experience making positive environmental change in their communities.

This is an opportunity for unsung heroes and community leaders to share the limelight and receive well-deserved recognition for their valuable contributions and positive impact regarding the environment.

What is a Community Hero?

Community Heroes are people from all over the Bay Area and from all walks of life. They come from all races, ethnic backgrounds and age groups, working in common to protect, restore, and raise awareness for the environmental issues that are relevant to their communities. Many are engaged in grass-roots activism, others work on legislation, and several are educators. Many call themselves volunteers, while others have built careers working in the environmental movement.

Whatever their approach, methodology, or position, they all fit one very important criterion: their work has made a positive impact on the community and has inspired others to get involved and make a difference.

May Newsletter!

2008-05-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

KOSHLAND GARDEN NEWSLETTER
A Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group

May 2008 Newsletter Content:
1. Koshland Garden in Bloom!
2. BEET Rangers Hard at Work
3. Spring Festival - May 17th!
4. New Native Plant Garden!
5. Upcoming Summer Programs
------------------------------

-----------------------------------------
1. Koshland Garden in Bloom

The Garden got a bit of a makeover this past weekend, thanks to Rebuilding Together, a group of dedicated volunteers who came to help out on April 26th. We planted Columbines and Coral Bells in the shade section of the garden, and they look lovely- come enjoy their blooms this month! Although the tulips are starting to retreat, our local native Douglas Irises are blooming all around the park and garden, but not for long, come see them quick! The plums are starting to grow on the tree, it looks like we be eating lots of them later on this summer! All the berries have bounced back from winter slumber, and are looking lush and soon-to-be delicious.

It is time to bid farewell to the epic amounts of chard and broccoli that filled the garden this winter. We are now preparing beds for tomatoes, lemon cucumber, and new crops of lettuce. Our new peas are looking good, thriving in the partial shade, which provides some cool relief for them on these hot, dry days. Spring Festival is just around the corner, so come see all the new plants, and take home some of your own!

To get on the waiting list for a garden plot, contact Community Garden Coordinator:
Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

2. BEET Rangers Hard at Work!

The BEET Rangers have been hard at work in Koshland Garden, learning how to prepare a bed of healthy soil, and how to plan a vegetable garden using seasonal planting charts and crop rotations. We also enjoyed the opportunity to visit Chrissy Field Center on their Earth Day celebration on April 19th. At the celebration we handled different snakes, lizards, and tortises through Tree Frog Treks, and met with the Inspiring Young Emerging Leaders (IYEL) youth program at Chrissy Field, learning about the projects they are working on, and possibilities for the BEET Rangers to be involved with IYEL in the future. We are looking forward to a naturalist-led hike in the Marin Headlands on May 3rd, where we will learn about local ecology and conservation priciples.

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator: Elokin gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 643-3638

3. Spring Garden Festival—Saturday, May 17th
Location: Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan

It’s Spring Festival this month! Come join in the fun!
10AM to 1PM Workparty! Come help us weed, plant, and clean up Koshland Park and Garden!
1PM to 4PM Celebrate our hard work in the afternoon with music, kids activities, and a veggie BBQ.
Bring a dish to share at our potluck BBQ!
We will have some veggie starts for you to take home, and there will be lots of fun to be had- we hope to see you there!

If you want to help with the planning or have anything you’d like to contribute please let us know!

For more info, contact Community Garden Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

4. New Native Plant Garden!

Rebuilding Together San Francisco has left their mark on John Muir Elementary School!
We now have a beautiful native plant garden on Webster between Page and Oak. There are still some non-native plants in the mix from the original planting, but we have filled in a lot of bare patches in the garden with gorgeous plants form Bay Natives Nursery. They include White Sage, Ceanothus, Seaside Daisy, White Currant, Red Currant, Sword Fern and more! It looks beautiful, and we look forward to the garden filling out to provide habitat to a lot of native bees and other garden pollinators including butterflies and hummingbirds. We are so grateful to the dedicated volunteers of SF Rebuilding Together for their hard work cleaning the garden and helping us create this beautiful garden! To learn more about Rebuilding Together SF, visit their website at www.rebuildingtogethersf.org. For more info about Bay Natives Nursery, find them online at www.baynatives.com

As well as a new native plant garden, SF Rebuilding together helped us repair and plant in the container gardens on the yard of John Muir Elementary School. They are filled with blossoming lavender, salvia, yarrow, and lambs ear. It’s beautiful, and the students are very excited to take care of their own flower garden boxes as an addition to their experience growing vegetables at Koshland Garden. The tree wells on Page and Webster street around the school have been repainted and seeded with California Poppy and other native wildflowers, all of it looks so great! We love Rebuilding Together SF!

5. Upcoming Summer Programs: Seed to Mouth and Lettuce Grow!

We’re gearing up for our exciting programs this Summer!

Our Seed to Mouth Cooking Classes are open for anyone to drop by-no registration necessary. Adults and kids are welcome to join us Wednesdays, June 11-July 9, from 4:00-6:00 pm. We’ll be cooking and eating delicious meals based on what’s growing in the garden. So grab your measuring cup and stop by!

Our Lettuce Grow! Summer Camp is for ten 8-13 yr. olds and two teen counselors-registration necessary. This gardening summer camp is June 23-July 4, Monday-Friday, 9:00am-1:00pm Our camp is based in Koshland Garden but we take lots of fieldtrips to farms, gardens and farmer’s markets in the area. We also cook and eat our own healthy lunch each day. Let us know if know a kids you’d like to sign up for camp or can support a kid coming to camp with a donation.

For more info about summer programs contact: Nora, 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donate to the Garden!!
Would you like to make a donation to Koshland Garden to support all of our great programs?
You can send a check (tax-detuctible) to:
300 Page St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
Checks can be made out to the Tides Center/HVNPG

Contact us at the Garden:
Nora Brereton, Garden Educator and Community Garden Coordinator
noraborealis@juno.com (415) 424-5770
Elokin Orton, Garden Educator and BEET Ranger Coordinator
gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 643-3638
Barbara Wenger, Executive Director, Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group
Hvnpg@gmail.com (415) 431-8112
General Email: gardenkids@gmail.com
Blog: www.koshlandgarden.blopspot.com

Koshland Garden is a Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group- Creating Programs that enhance the resiliance, safety, and sustainability of the community http://www.hvnparks.com/

Visit the Garden: Koshland Park and Garden
Corner of Page and Buchanan, San Francisco, CA 94117 ( Google Map )

Our Office:
John Muir Elementary School, Rm 6
380 Webster St.
San Francisco, California 94117

About This Newsletter: This is the Koshland Garden Newsletter, a project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group.

Rebuilding Together was a great success!

2008-04-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

Rebuilding Together made our dreams come true! It was really spectacular. We were able to do a lot of great work both in Koshland Garden and John Muir Elementary. All the volunteers were so great and helpful, their hard work makes such a difference, and is so appreciated!

Here are some of the highlights that we are left with:

1. New garden planter boxes full of herbs on the playground at John Muir Elementary!
These planters were reconstructed, repainted, and planted with lavender, rosemary, lamb's ears and yarrow, thanks to Rebuilding Together.

2. New mostly Native Plant Garden!
We planted the old school garden with lots of native plants, and pruned back the plants that were already there. We hope this will now be a place where students can come to learn about native plants and their uses, observe native wildlife, and learn the importance of preserving native habitat. It is beautiful, and we look forward to all the changes that will come as all the plants grow in and get wild!

3. Tree wells on Webster and Page get a makeover!
The tree wells were reconstructed, repainted, weeded and seeded with California wildflowers. They are now brightly colored, and look like a rainbow as you walk up the street. It looks so much more cheerful and beautiful on those blocks now, it made a huge difference.

4. Improved Shade Garden at Koshland!
Rebuilding Together also spent a lot of time at Koshland, adding and sifting compost to lots of beds, repairing our compost sifter, hauling bricks out to the new Native Plant garden, and helping us arrange the new herb bed, soon to be completed! The best was the improvements in the Shade Garden- they planted a few different Columbine and two Coral Bells that look gorgeous. Check it out!

A million thanks, it all looks so beautiful. We cannot say enough good things about all the great work Rebuilding Together did with us, we hope to have them back soon!

Check out photos at:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=jcpslhg.3bubkyrc&x=0&y=-su3160&localeid=en_US

BEET Rangers and IYEL

2008-04-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

Sebron Brown and his new friend from Tree Frog Treks

Today the BEET Rangers went to visit the Inspiring Young Emerging Leaders (I-YEL) program at the Chrissy Field Center. It was also the annual Earth Stroll earth-day celebration event at the Center, so we got the chance to participate in a lot of festivities.

Some of the fun we had was checking out turtles and handling snakes with Tree Frog Treks, making homemade sugar-based bath and beauty scrubs with I-YEL youth, learning about compost with Suzie from Garden for the Environment, and answering Wheel-of-Fortune questions about healthy snacks that could earn you one or more strawberries dipped in melted chocolate- yum!

Over lunch, a few folks from I-YEL talked to us about their experiences in the program, and we got to ask them questions about the many ways they help their environment and community. We learned a lot, and all of the BEET Rangers are eligible to apply for the I-YEL program next year if they are interested.

BEET Rangers has begun!

2008-04-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Krystal Curtis, Candy Williams, and Calvin Yu get into the compost!

The BEET Ranger green job training internship has begun! We have 14 inspiring and wonderful youth working with us at Koshland Garden. The youth will be participating in workshops and activities with different green businesses and youth environmental education programs throughout San Francisco and the surrounding areas.

We will explore different areas of employment in the green job movement, and learn about environmental and social justice ethics and struggles. At the end of the program, the youth will be able to choose from the different careers and programs we learned about, and we will help match them with a program or job in that field to start them on a career track in the area of green jobs. It's very exciting!

Today we had an orientation to the program, learned the history of Koshland Park and the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks group, played games, worked in the garden, and learned about compost. It was a great day, and we are very excited to be working with these youth for the next eight months!

For more information, please contact Elokin: gardenkids@gmail.com

April Newsletter!

2008-04-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

KOSHLAND GARDEN NEWSLETTER
A Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group

APRIL 2008 Newsletter Content:
1. Spring in the Garden
2. BEET Ranger Green Job Training Program Update
3. Mark Your Calendars for our Spring Festival - May 17th!
4. Rebuilding Together San Francisco coming to Koshland Garden and John Muir
Elementary School
5. Sharing Spring Recipes
------------------------------

-----------------------------------------
1. Spring in the Garden

It’s officially spring! The garden is teeming with life, ready for a new
cycle. Come see the raspberries returning from winter slumber- there are new
leaves on the stalks, and tiny flowers are getting ready to become raspberries
over the next few months. Students from the Bay School came to visit last
Friday, helping harvest our old lettuce beds, making new space for peas in our
crop rotation. This month we will start preparing beds for our warm-loving
plants such as potatoes, zuchinni, cucumber, and even trying sweet potato this
year! Come catch the last of the pink blossoms on the crabapple trees, and
admire the tulips in some of the community garden plots before they finish for
the season!

The herb garden work is still under way- so far we have laid the foundation,
and will be starting construction this month. Very exciting! Also, community
garden volunteer and future community gardener Will Deeg will soon be creating
a sample container garden, to give folks ideas for what can be planted in
containers at home. Look for all these new changes sprouting up this month!

**Also, we’ve got loads of rainbow chard right now, so if you’d like some,
help yourself.

To get on the waiting list for a garden plot, contact Community Garden
Coordinator:
Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com
-----------------------
2. BEET Ranger Update

We officially have the BEET Ranger Team together! This green job training
internship we are offering to Western Addition teens begins this Saturday,
April 5th. We have 15 wonderful and enthusiastic youth who will be
participating in this program, learning how to make a living by caring for
their communities and environment. This month we will have our orientation,
learn about compost, soil ecology and bed preparation, and seeding plants for
spring. The BEET Rangers will be working in Koshland Garden every 2nd and 4th
Wednesday afternoon until summer, getting trained in organic gardening skills.
Come meet them when they help run activities at our Spring Festival, coming
soon on May 17th!

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator: Elokin
gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 643-3638
---------------------
3. Spring Garden Festival—coming up on May 17th
Location: Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan

We’re starting to plan our Spring Festival! We’ll be doing some park and
garden work in the morning and then celebrating in the afternoon. We’ll have
live music, kids activities, and a veggie BBQ. If you want to help with the
planning or have anything you’d like to contribute please let us know!

For more info, contact Community Garden Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415)
424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com
------------------------
4. Rebuilding Together San Francisco is coming to Koshland Garden and John Muir Elementary School!

Rebuilding Together SF will be coming to help “green” John Muir Elementary
School on Saturday, April 26th. This fabulous program is focused on
revitalizing the on-site educational garden at John Muir, as well as the tree
wells on Page and Webster Street, which surround the school. We will be
transforming the front garden at John Muir into a native plant corridor,
focused on creating habitat that will encourage pollinators such as bees,
butterflies, and hummingbirds. We will also incorporate native plants which are
medicinal to humans, to provide a learning opportunity for students to see the
many uses and values of protecting and encouraging native plants. A sneak peek
of plants to be included in the revitalization include white sage, wild ginger,
yarrow, red and white flowering current, our local lupine, coral bells,
ceanothus, grindelia, and more! To learn more about Rebuilding Together SF,
visit their website at www.rebuildingtogethersf.org
-------------------
5. Spring Recipes!

If you don’t know what to do with last collard greens of the season, here’s
a simple and delicious way to prepare them. Enjoy!

Collard Greens
Ingredients:
15-20 collard green leaves, coarsely chopped
3-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

*Heat oil in a skillet or large pan on medium heat. Add garlic and cook
until just brown.
*Add collard greens and salt. Sauté for 5-10 minutes until stems are soft.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donate to the Garden!!
Would you like to make a donation to Koshland Garden to support all of our
great programs?
You can send a check (tax-detuctible) to:
300 Page St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
Checks can be made out to the Tides Center/HVNPG

Contact us at the Garden:
Nora Brereton, Garden Educator and Community Garden Coordinator
noraborealis@juno.com (415) 424-5770
Elokin Orton, Garden Educator and BEET Ranger Coordinator
gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 643-3638
Barbara Wenger, Executive Director, Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group
Hvnpg@gmail.com (415) 431-8112
General Email: gardenkids@gmail.com
Blog: www.koshlandgarden.blopspot.com

Koshland Garden is a Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group-
Creating Programs that enhance the resiliance, safety, and sustainability of
the community http://www.hvnparks.com/

Visit the Garden: Koshland Park and Garden
Corner of Page and Buchanan, San Francisco, CA 94117

Our Office:
John Muir Elementary School, Rm 6
380 Webster St.
San Francisco, California 94117

Gardeners for Peace!

2008-03-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Please speak out on Wednesday, March 19th- the 5 year marker of the U. S. Invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan

No More War! Let's plant the Seeds of Peace together!

Today in the garden we talked about how each of us can bring Peace to the world. Our personal choices and actions make a difference, and when we choose to work together and care for each other, we can make enormous change in the world.

Students from Ms. Hale's class at John Muir Elementary share what they will do to create Peace:

Be respectful, show love to your family and enemies.
- Rakeya Raspberry

I will always recycle and use less water.
- Francisco Firefly

I will try to grow plants!
- Bernard Blueberry

Not to be in violence or not to be in any trouble.
- Tariq Tulip

Email the president and tell him to stop the war if it was possible.
- Kristina Kiwi

Try to stop fighting.
- Dashiahnae Dandelion

I will start doing good things. I will change.
- Demerious Dragonfly

Week of 3/9/08

2008-03-14T00:41:00.000-07:00

This was a great week- we even got a bit of rain to celebrate!

On Sunday, Arif and Lindsay came by, and together we all worked on laying the foundation for the new cob herb bed. We are planning on getting a cob workday open to everyone once we work out the details of how to cob in Koshland Garden. For those of you new to it, cob is a natural building technique using sand, clay, and straw to make structures. It is a free-form material similar to adobe. It's a lot of fun, and can be a super mess, so we still need to figure out the best way to do it without taking up too much space in the garden. It is gonna be a blast though, and we will keep you posted!

During the week, John Muir students planted some flowers for spring- these included Nasturtiums, Blue Cornflower, California Poppy, Cosmos, and marigold. We talked about how flowers are important for attracting pollinators to the garden, and the students explained how that process works. They are very excited about bees, and we hope to start a hive this summer.

In other news, folks from the Chrissy Field Center came to photograph us because we won a Community Heroes award, and we will have information about Koshland up in their exhibit at the Chrissy Field Center! It's all very exciting. We will keep you posted about the upcoming celebration!

We hope to see you out in the garden at one of our workdays- Wednesday afternoons from 2-5pm. We will be around to answer your garden questions, and if you stick around to help out you can take home some veggies from the garden! Please be in touch if you have any questions, enjoy the weekend!

gardenkids@gmail.com

Post- March 8th

2008-03-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

More Like A Work Party!

What fun! Thanks to the help of many fabulous folks from One Brick
the park looks fantastic! The giant, never-ending pile of mulch is finally gone- it was a day to celebrate. The morning was full of high-energy weeding, and we pulled out all the tools to tackle the task before us: hula hoes, mini-hoes, shovels, forks, trowels, hands- you name it. We did everything we could to take the weeds away, and the hard work paid off- the park looks great, it really does. What a difference a bunch of hard working folks can make, in just a few hours!

A Bit About Mulch:
For those of you new to gardening, the idea behind mulching after weeding is to create a layer of material that is hard for weeds to come up through. The mulch is beneficial because it smothers the weeds below, covers bare soil, and as it slowly breaks down it adds some nutrients to the soil. I have seen whole micro-ecosystems under my mulch: mushrooms, worms, and other little critters living happily under the woodchips. It's best to pull the weeds out first before you mulch, because they could grow back easier, even through the mulch, if you leave them in.

Future Events:
Come out and join us for our next big event- Spring Festival! We will be working and playing in the garden on May 19th, with a workparty from 10am-1pm, and a festival with music, crafts and potluck lunch from 1pm-4pm! We look forward to seeing you there! Also, you are welcome at any regular Wednesday workday, from 2pm-5pm.
Koshland Garden , corner of Page and Buchannan.

March Workparty!

2008-03-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

One Brick and SF Rec and Park made a great impact on our park and garden today. We were able to finally weed and mulch the tree wells on the South end of Page Street, which looks incredible now. For a while it was looking pretty desolate down there!

There was a lot of great enthusiasm which allowed us to really get down to business and pull out the bulk of winter weeds that the rain had brought, and spread most of our endless mulch pile of woodchips in their place. A thick blanket of those woodships should keep the weeds at bay until maybe even next winter?! One can hope...

During the day our hardworking volunteers were filmed and photographed by the Chrissy Field Center media team, who is collecting footage for an installation featuring us! We have won the title of Chrissy Field Heroes for 2008, and soon everyone will be able to see Koshland Garden and Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group on display at the Chrissy Field Center!

Thank you to One Brick volunteers, SF Rec and Parks, John Muir Elementary youth, Everett Middle Schooler Karen Tran, and French International High School students for coming out to support with hard work and smiles!

March 8th Community Clean Team Work Day in the Garden!

2008-03-05T00:35:00.000-08:00

COMMUNITY CLEAN TEAM WORKDAY

Time: Saturday, March 8th 9AM-12PM
Place: Koshland Park, at the corner of Page and Buchanan

Come help out at Koshland Garden and Park on Saturday, March 8th!
We will be mulching, weeding, snacking, harvesting and more!
This event is part of Community Clean Team, and we will be joined in
the garden by Street Parks Youth, a project of SF Parks Trust working
to connect San Francisco Youth with the environment. Come out and meet
the folks involved in these great programs, and enjoy some time
helping out the garden! We will cancel if it rains, so let's hope for
blue skies!

The Community Clean Team is a citywide volunteer program that partners
city agencies with residents, merchants and students to clean and
beautify San Francisco neighborhoods. – Department of Public Works

Street Parks Youth

For more info: gardenkids@gmail.com, (415) 643-3638

Koshland Garden March Newsletter!

2008-03-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

KOSHLAND GARDEN NEWSLETTER
A Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood PARKS Group

MARCH 2008 Newsletter

CONTENT:
1. Community Clean Team Workday, March 8th
2. NEW! Regular Wednesday Workdays!
3. BEET Rangers Update
4. Garden Update: New Herb Garden Coming Soon!
5. Spring Garden Tips!
------------------------------

-----------------------------------------

1. COMMUNITY CLEAN TEAM WORKDAY
Time: Saturday, March 8th 9AM-12PM
Place: Koshland Park, at the corner of Page and Buchanan

Come help out at Koshland Garden and Park on Saturday, March 8th!
We will be mulching, weeding, snacking, harvesting and more!
This event is part of Community Clean Team, and we will be joined in
the garden by Street Parks Youth, a project of SF Parks Trust working
to connect San Francisco Youth with the environment. Come out and meet
the folks involved in these great programs, and enjoy some time
helping out the garden! We will cancel if it rains, so let's hope for
blue skies!

The Community Clean Team is a citywide volunteer program that partners
city agencies with residents, merchants and students to clean and
beautify San Francisco neighborhoods. – Department of Public Works

For more info: gardenkids@gmail.com, (415) 643-3638

2. NEW! REGULAR WEDNESDAY WORK PARTIES
Time: Every Wednesday 2PM-5PM
Place: Koshland Garden, at the corner of Page and Buchanan

Wednesday afternoons are now the official time to come out and get
involved in Koshland Garden! We will be there every Wednesday
afternoon from 2-5pm, running activities and available to answer your
garden questions! Come get your hands in the dirt, and join us
anytime for fun with planting, cultivating, and harvesting of veggies
in Koshland Garden.

For more info, contact Community Garden Coordinator:
Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770 noraborealis@juno.com

3. BEET RANGER UPDATE

The BEET Ranger program is a green job training internship we are
offering to Western Addition teens. The youth will be paid a stipend
to get training in Park Maintenance, Recycling, Composting, Nutrition,
Organic Gardening and more. They will participate in park clean-ups,
help out with our Lettuce Grow summer camp, and lead a community event
to share the knowledge they gain with their peers. In turn, we will be
helping them find job opportunities in the growing field of green
jobs, to help make environmentalism more than just a cause, but a
potential way of life that can support them financially.

At this point we have received applications, and begun
interviewing potential youth. The program starts next
month, and we are very excited!

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator:
Elokin gardenkids@gmail.com, (415) 643-3638

4. GARDEN UPDATE! herb garden coming soon

Current garden volunteer and future community gardener (join our waitlist if
you want a plot with us!) Arif Husain is planning a renovation of
the herb garden at Koshland. Arif works with the San Francisco
Botanical Medicine Clinic (www.sfbmc.org) , selling home-made tea blends at the
Berkeley Farmer's Market on Saturdays- they are delicious! He is putting his
skills as an herbalist-in-training and plant fanatic to work in shaping the new
herb garden, which will begin to sprout up this spring!

In other garden news, the plum tree is blooming, be sure to stop by
and check it out, blossom season is a wonderful time! The red-tailed
hawks have returned after the rainy spell, and there are lots of crows
and hummingbirds zooming about in the afternoon. We've got flowers on
the fava beans and strawberries -- a great sign that soon we will have
lots of yummy garden treats!

To get on the waiting list for a garden plot, contact Community Garden
Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770 noraborealis@juno.com

5. SPRING GARDEN TIPS

It's time to focus on weeds! The rain has been wonderful for the
garden, and has also been wonderful for the weeds. If you haven't
already, start pulling out weeds to make room for new spring gardens,
and choose from the many following options of what to plant:

March is your last chance to plant:
Artichoke (rootstock), Asparagus, Chayote, Fava beans, Mustard, Onion(sets)

Start planting these delicious veggies now:
Beets, Broccoli (starts), Cabbage (starts), Carrots, Celery, Chives, Collards,
Leeks, Lettuce, Peas, Potatoes, Radish, Spinach, Sunchokes
------------------------------------------------------------------------

DONATE to the GARDEN!!
Would you like to make a donations to Koshland Garden to support all
of our great programs? You can send a check (tax-detuctible) (TAX ID #:
94-3213100) to:
HVNPG/TIDES
c/o Barbara Wenger, Director
300 Page St.
San Francisco, CA 94102-5649
Checks can be made out to the HVNPG/TIDES

CONTACT us at the GARDEN:
Nora Brereton, Garden Educator and Community Garden Coordinator
noraborealis@juno.com (415) 424-5770
Elokin Orton, Garden Educator and BEET Ranger Coordinator
gardenkids@gmail.com, (415) 643-3638
Barbara Wenger, Executive Director, Hayes Valley Neighborhood PARKS Group
hvnparks@hotmail.com, (415) 431-8112
General Email: gardenkids@gmail.com
Blog: www.koshlandgarden.blopspot.com

Koshland Garden is a Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood PARKS Group-
Creating Programs that enhance the resiliance, safety, and
sustainability of the community
http://www.hvnparks.com, (re-launching in April)

VISIT the GARDEN:
Koshland Park and Garden
Corner of Page and Buchanan, San Francisco, CA 94102

Our Office:
John Muir Elementary School, Rm 6
380 Webster St.
San Francisco, California 94117

About This Newsletter:
This is the Koshland Garden Newsletter, a project of the Hayes Valley
Neighborhood Parks Group. You are receiving this Newsletter because
you either signed-up at an event or expressed an interest to us. If
you would like to unsubscribe, send an email to gardenkids@gmail.com

Koshland Garden Work Day 2/10!

2008-02-11T19:42:00.000-08:00

Today was a fabulous day- the skies were blue and the weather was lovely!

A bunch of folks made it out to the garden today to help out- community gardeners, students from John Muir Elementary, Everett Middle School, neighbors and our fabulous new Garden for the Environment volunteers, Katie and Lisa!

We did a whole bunch of winter weeding, spread a new layer of mulch through the garden and the park, did some pruning and got the garden looking really great for the new semester of classes. Thank you to everyone who came out, and we look forward to seeing folks on Wednesday afternoons, 2:30-5pm, when we will begin our regular work and play time in the garden.

February Work Party!

2008-02-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of our awesome volunteers who came out to make the garden shine on February 9th! We did a lot of much needed weeding, dug around in the compost, planted and mulched.

All of this hard work makes a huge difference in the health and beauty of the garden, making it more enjoyable for everyone who comes to visit! It is always so rewarding to get to spend time with community who come out to participate in the workdays, we always have a lot of fun, and this time it was great to have dogs and babies keeping us company!

Gonzo Burgers!

2008-02-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

Gonzo Burgers

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups garbanzo bean sprouts (or canned)
4 large eggs
grated zest of one large lemon
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 onion chopped
1 cup toasted breadcrumbs
1 cup other sprouts (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Steps:
1. If using garbanzo bean sprouts, steam them until just tender, about 10 minutes. If using canned garbanzos, drain them before measuring.
2. Saute the onion and cilantro (and herbs if you like) until translucent, adding a little of the salt while they cook. Set aside to cool.
3. Toast the bread crumbs and set aside too.
4. Combine garbanzos, eggs, & remaining salt in a food processor or blender. Puree until the mixture is the consistency of very thick, slightly chunky hummus. Pour into a mixing bowl and add the cilantro onion mixture, lemon zest, sprouts, and bread crumbs. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes for the breadcrumbs to absorb some of the moisture. Stay on the moister side of things, you can still sprinkle some breadcrumbs in as you go. If too dry, a bit of water or egg can be used to moisten the batter.
5. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium low, add 4 patties, cover and cook for 7-10 minutes, until the bottoms begin to brown. Turn up the heat if there is no browning at this point. Flip the patties and cook the second side for 7 minutes until golden.
6. Remove & cool on a wire rack. TO serve, carefully cut each patty in half, insert your favorite fillings: sauteed chard with garlic, cheese & tomatoes, avocados, etc.

Adapted from Heidi Swanson, 101 Cookbooks

Modern Tea
602 Hayes Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-626-5406

2008-01-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

Home Made Pasta or Ravioli

Makes 8 oz. of dough, enough for 4-5 nice sized ravioli

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 cup flour
1 egg
3-4 teaspoons water

Mix the flour and olive oil in a bowl or a mixer for one minute.

Whisk the egg in a separate bowl until it is no longer lumpy.
While stirring the flour oil mixture, slowly add the egg. Still stirring, sprinkle in the water a teaspoon at a time, waiting of it all to gather into a ball that rocks around the mixing bowl.

Pull out the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and let rest for at least 30 minutes. If you are making ravioli, this is a good time to create the filling, which could be mushrooms, cabbage, cheese, tomatoes, or zucchini- get creative! You can even use leftovers you mihgt have in the fridge and make a completely new meal!

When you are ready, roll out the dough thinly, using just a little flour if it sticks, and cut into noodles or fill for ravioli.

To make ravioli, put a teaspoon of filling down in rows, trace a circle of water around the filling and fold the pasta dough over to seal. Cut with a big enough cooki-cutter to seal the edges completely with pasta dough.

Cook in boiling salted water for 5 minutes or less. Enjoy!

Modern Tea
602 Hayes Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 626-5406

Making Holiday Wreaths

2007-12-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely time last weekend making wreaths and cards for the holidays. We gathered in the community room at Hayes Valley South with the support of the Community Partners United. Students from John Muir Elementary and youth in the neighborhood came together to decorate holiday cards and make their own wreaths out of all natural and recycled materials. Along with making cards to take home, we made cards to put into the food boxes which will be distributed throughout the neighborhood in a couple weeks. The wreaths looked great this year with sprigs of rosemary, sage, wheat, holly berries and more!

Thank you to everyone who came out and got crafty with us for the holidays! Y

Harvest Festival

2007-11-11T23:09:00.000-08:00

Today was a blast! Despite the cold and gray weather, tons of volunteers came out to help us plant over 500 flower bulbs that will bloom and bring color to the park this spring! Thank you to Helping Hands, the French International School, community gardeners, neighbors, and John Muir Elementary School students for all their hard work!

The weeding, planting and beautifying of the park went from 10-1pm, and afterwards everyone went inside the community center at Hayes Valley South to get warm and celebrate with yummy veggie burgers, tofu dogs, and potluck salad. Ami, Amar, and a bunch of John Muir kids bravely kept the BBQ going in the rain, and brought us lots of warm food. Even in they were having loads of fun helping out, and ended up with their pictures in the local newspaper!

Indoors we listened to the sweet tunes of Michael Musika and Ledbetter, and the kids played their own CD's and had a huge sing-along with choreographed dances. It was awesome. Then we broke into some really messy and fun pumpkin painting, and made all sorts of crafts from collages, bookbinding, finger knitting- anything we could make from the paper and glitter that Ruby generously brought to share.

In the end, the kids didn't want to leave- they asked us to have this everyday! So we will get busy, and be sure to have lots of events to keep us all warm and laughing through winter. We look forward to Wreath Making, coming up soon! Z

A Few More Harvest Fest Moments

2007-11-11T23:00:00.000-08:00

They are so great we had to do two posts!

The musicians are from Ledbetter, one of the bands that performed at Harvest Fest.

The students danced to their own music after the bands, they LOVE to dance.

The DiFrancesco family came out to help, representing the French International School.

After all the hard work, everyone went inside the Hayes Valley South Community Center to eat BBQ veggie dogs and veggie burgers, decorate pumpkins, listen to music and make crafts.

Concert in Koshland Park

2007-10-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

On October 7^th folks gathered in the park for a Sunday evening of fabulous music!

The event started off with Anna, Nora and Tobi, a trio of drums, harp and guitar.
Shake Your Peace! rocked next, followed by Lily Idalia of the band Light Leaks, and ending the evening was Treasure Nest playing experimental jazz music.

The entire event was powered by a bicycle sound system. It was great fun and even the kids took a turn pedaling on the bike! We plan to have many more garden concerts in the future so if you're interested in playing please drop us a line!

gardenkids@gmail.com

Staff Update!

2007-10-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

Koshland Garden is kept lively by the work of 3 staff,
hundreds of enthusiastic John Muir Elementary students,
over 50 dedicated community gardeners,
the oh so very many generous and appreciated volunteers who share their time with us,
and all our visitors and community members who come by to say hello and give the garden some love.

Join us! Our garden workdays are 2-5pm each Wednesday, and our weekend events are always posted on this blog.

New to the staff this year is Elokin, Garden Educator with John Muir Elementary, and BEET Ranger Program Coordinator.
Look for the BEET Rangers starting in April- this is Koshland Garden and the Hayes Valley Neighborhood PARKS Group's exciting new green-job internship program for Western Addition teens.
Contact: gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 643-3638

Nora Brereton continues with Koshland Garden for her second year, as Garden Educator with John Muir Elementary, and Community Garden Coordinator. Please get in touch with her to sign up for a plot.
Contact: noraborealis@juno.com (415) 424-5770

Barbara Wenger is the Executive Director of the larger organization that Koshland Garden is a program of- the Hayes Valley Neighborhood PARKS Group. She continues her work as the Founder of Koshland Garden, and Executive Director of the entire project, and tireless leader who keeps everything moving from behind the scenes. She's amazing!
Contact: hvnparks@hotmail.com (415) 431-8112

Some Background Info

2007-10-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Koshland Garden is a Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood PARKS Group-
Creating Programs that enhance the resiliance, safety, and
sustainability of the community
http://www.hvnparks.com, (re-launching in April)

CONTACT us at the GARDEN:
Nora Brereton, Garden Educator and Community Garden Coordinator
noraborealis@juno.com (415) 424-5770
Elokin Orton, Garden Educator and BEET Ranger Coordinator
gardenkids@gmail.com, (415) 643-3638
Barbara Wenger, Executive Director, Hayes Valley Neighborhood PARKS Group
hvnparks@hotmail.com, (415) 431-8112
General Email: gardenkids@gmail.com
Blog: www.koshlandgarden.blopspot.com

VISIT the GARDEN:
Koshland Park and Garden
Corner of Page and Buchanan, San Francisco, CA 94102

Our Office:
John Muir Elementary School, Rm 6
380 Webster St.
San Francisco, California 94117

DONATE to the GARDEN!!
Would you like to make a donations to Koshland Garden to support all
of our great programs? You can send a check (tax-detuctible) (TAX ID #:
94-3213100) to:
HVNPG/TIDES
c/o Barbara Wenger, Director
300 Page St.
San Francisco, CA 94102-5649
Checks can be made out to the HVNPG/TIDES

Let Us Grow! Summer Camp

2007-07-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

In the first two weeks of July we had our gardening summer camp. Ten kids and two junior counselors from the neighborhood came out to the garden every day from 9-1 pm. We started off each morning with breakfast at Kate's Kitchen, which they so generously donated to us. Thanks so much!

Each day we came together in the garden to water, cultivate and harvest vegetables and fruits and learn about gardening.
We also cooked and shared a daily healthy lunch together, yum!

We went on some great fieldtrips to the Embarcadero Farmer's Market, Modern Tea, Alemany Farm, the Zen Center, and the Civic Center Farmer's Market.

Our camp ended with a lovely graduation ceremony in the garden and a trip to the carnival at Hamilton Rec Connect.
We look forward to garden camp next year!

Seed to Mouth Cooking Classes

2007-07-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

Along with cooking at Modern Tea Restaurant at 602 Hayes Street, every Thursday evening for five weeks over the summer, we taught cooking classes in the Community Room at Hayes Valley South. Anyone was welcome to join us for these culinary adventures, and we had anywhere from ten to thirty kids and adults in the class.

We created and then ate biscuits and collard greens, fruit pie, banana bread, zucchini bread, salad, pizza, and marinara sauce.We liked to keep our recipes fruit and vegetable based so that we could harvest ingredients from Koshland Garden directly across the street.

Come join us next summer for some fresh cookin'!

Cooking at Modern Tea

2007-07-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

Modern Tea is a beautiful restaurant on the corner of Hayes and Laguna. On top of the restaurant's amazing food and peaceful atmosphere, the folks at Modern Tea are extremely committed to being a positive part of our community.

This summer we partnered with Modern Tea and the Western Addition Beacon Center to offer ten kids cooking classes. Every Monday afternoon we would walk with the kids from John Muir Elementary down to the restaurant to cook. The kids loved it!

We made sushi, strawberry jam, salad, pizza and more! It was an incredible experience to make food in a professional setting with the expertise of the owner, Alice Cravens, and head chef, Alicia Paullin. We are continuing these cooking classes throughout the school year much to the delight of the kids!

Green Gulch Farm

2007-06-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

This spring, a few classes from John Muir Elementary got to visit Green Gulch Farm in Marin. It was a lovely field trip starting with the bus ride across the Golden Gate Bridge (the first time for some of the students!).

The staff and volunteers at the farm gave a great tour and taught us a lot about farming. Some of the highlights were getting up close to the honeybee hives to listen to them buzz and then eating some fresh honey on a sour sorrel leaf, exploring the handmade cob house, admiring row upon row of gorgeous lettuce and greens, and eating lunch in the beautiful orchard.
We can't wait to go back next year!

Kids in the Garden

2007-06-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great spring this year with kids in the garden just about everyday. These pictures are of the kids in the Beacon After School Program.. With school ending last week we have lots of summer programs to look forward to! Beacon gardening classes, Seed to Mouth cooking classes, Let Us Grow! Summer Camp and more.

Look for updates on these programs and if you want to get involved just let me know!

Hope to see you in the garden!

-Nora
Garden Educator
Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group
Koshland Garden at Page and Buchanan
noraborealis@juno.com

Western Addition Peace Wall

2007-06-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

On June 9^th, we gathered around the Western Addition Peace Wall on Page Street (at Buchanan) to celebrate the installation of the Western Addition Peace Wall.

This project has been 8 years in the making and anyone who's seen the wall can tell that it was worth it!

This beautiful Peace Wall is made up of over 8,000 tiles. The tiles were made by kids, neighbors, churches, schools and artists as a part of the Peace Empowerment Project. The artist Justine Tartarsky, created some larger tiles to complement and unite all the tiles. The wall wraps around Koshland Park like a long, beautiful ribbon.

At the Peace Wall Celebration many groups came together from the community for food, entertainment and to honor everyone who has died because of violence. If you haven't yet, be sure to stop by and visit this beautiful memorial and art installation.

Workday this Saturday, March 10

2007-03-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends and Gardeners!

Please join us at Koshland Park for our workday this Saturday, March 10 from 11:00-2:00 at the corner of Page and Buchanan.

Tasks will include: repairing the compost bins, planting bulbs, and trimming back grasses.

Last workday was a huge success and included mulching of paths, weeding, and sowing wildflower seed. The ground is warming up and it's time to plant basil, broccoli, beets, potatoes, radishes, turnips, lettuce and more! Thank you for tending to our park and garden!
--workdays are the 2nd Saturday of each month.
***in the case of rain, workday will be cancelled***
-Nora

2006-12-07T09:10:00.000-08:00

Wreath Making this Saturday the 9th!

Everyone's invited to join us for garden wreath and card making. It is this Saturday from 1 to 3 pm at the Hayes Valley South Community Room (403 Rose Street, off of Buchanan between Haight and Page).

We'll have treats, drinks, and supplies galore!!!

Hope to see you there!
Love, Nora

So long Koshland Garden and Hayes Valley

2006-11-14T15:31:00.000-08:00

After four years of growing in Koshland Garden, I have decided to move on. I learned so much over these years and have so many people to thank, it is truly the culmination of these wonderful people who made my job possible and amazing. What a lucky girl I have been part of this wonderful community and how rewarding this job has been. I would like to personally thank everyone for helping and working with me through these years!

Richard - my Hayes Valley Hero! You should be very proud of where you have taken Hayes Valley Community Partners! You believe in a better community and nothing stops you. Keep it up! I will miss you.

Barbara - thank you for the vision to create a safer and greener neighborhood and supporting me over the last four years. Koshland Park is beautiful because of your passion and the Peace Wall will bring it to a whole new level! I am sad that I have to leave before the wall is completed.
Gardeners - You folks rock! Thanks for playing in the dirt, composting and making my job so much fun. I have enjoyed getting to know all of you, teaching some of you the basics of gardening and just chatting it up. Happy Growing!

John Muir School - thanks for giving me the opportunity to learn from all of you and bring gardening to students who treat me like a super HERO! To all the teachers, support staff, Ms. Wheaton and Ms. Estell, this program lives on because of John Muir School - thank you for believing in garden education!

Lower Haight Merchants Association - What an amazing group of people! Right around the corner from the garden and always willing to pitch in and lend a hand. Thank You!

Northern Police - Thanks for your visits to the garden and working with me in this community, we would not be where we are without your dedication.

International High School - Thanks Elizabeth and all the student volunteers who have come out to help on work parties. Your contributions are very appreciated and I wish you all the very best!

RPD - What would we do without you? Second Saturdays are a fantastic thing because you of you folks. Thanks for working with me to make Koshland sparkle!

Green Gulch - Thank you Matt! We are so appreciative of all the plant starts and have been able to grow so much more produce because of our partnership. Good Luck to you and Aria in Oregon!!

Suzi P., Arann, and Aubrey - You were all uniquely amazing. Working with a partner was so much fun because your specialness. XXOO!

The Community at large - thanks for letting me get to know you and caring about the neighborhood you live in. Please forgive me if I left anyone off, you are all equally special to me and I wish you all the best!

To the happy wigglers in Koshland Compost - you are the best worms a gardener could hope for. Nora, I know you will keep these little creatures happy and safe!

Thank you, thank you, and thank you! I can't say it enough.
Now, I would like to introduce the latest and greatest new addition to Koshland Garden. She comes from Utah with lots of enthusiasm and a wealth of garden education experience. She's already dove in and is teaching seed-saving to the students from John Muir. Please seek her out and say hello - or send her a friendly email. noraborealis@juno.com.

Wishing you a bountiful life! XXOO, Rebecca

One Heck of a Halloween

2006-11-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

The pictures say it ALL! THANK YOU SO MUCH to those fabulous people who came out and celebrated! A HUGE thanks to Buskaroo, William Wesson, and Stitch Craft!! The event was fabulous beause of your beautiful music!!

XO, Rebecca.

Also, please find some time in your Saturday to come hang out in Koshland Park for a work party. 11-2pm.

WHAT A BLAST!!

2006-10-24T14:38:00.001-07:00

Lower Haight Block Party Fun!!

Thanks to Tom, Jesse, Nicole, Lavinia, Barbara, and Michael for helping to get the word out about our hidden gem in the neighborhood. We meet lots of new friends and hope to see them in the garden soon. Here is Tom and Lavinia enjoying life at our garden table where we sold the local, fresh, organic garden produce.

Happy Halloween!
lllllllllllllllllll

Celebrate Halloween listening to some folk music in Koshland Park! This is the place to be if you like the outdoors, Halloween, live music and s'mores. Wear your eeriest costume, stop by on your way wherever, roast marshmallows, meet new friends, chat, be happy, bring friends, dance, sing out loud, make it a party!!

On Halloween. Tuesday. 6 - 8pm.

Corner of Page and Buchanan.

Boo! Rebecca

Autumn Bliss

2006-10-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins

Cool nights

Sun!

School days

Rain

Sunflowers

Tomatoes

Preparing for the winter rains

These are fond memories of fall in San Francisco and in Koshland Garden.

The kids are working hard in the garden, planting broccoli, lettuce and chard - thanks to the generousity of Green Gulch Farms.

The first rain came and the garden SANG with joy. The smell of the first rain is beautiful in itself, but beyond that it is a cleansing after so many days of dryness. The sunflowers have mostly bloomed and now we are saving their seeds to plant next year. Tomatoes are still producing even as the days get shorter.

I would like to throw out a huge THANKS to all the amazing volunteers from last weekend. We accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. I was very proud and Koshland Park is shining with beauty as always. Hands-On Bay Area did a great job working along side some students from the International High School. Also, thanks to Bob, Laurie, Barbara and Nick for your dedication.

Thank too, to the crew at John Muir lead by the amazing Richard Johnson. The JOhn Muir School garden is all ready for winter too with a brand new layer of mulch. What a delight it will be to bring the students in next week to garden. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

HALLOWEEN HO DOWN!

We are looking for a band to play at our second annual Halloween Event. Sure to be a good time once we have some to play some good ole music. S'mores and dancing. 6pm. Ye Haw!

Next Saturday Work Day is November 11, 2006. Roll up your sleeves for lots of mulch laying and some digging in a few more plants.

Happy Autumn, Rebecca

Another Beautiful Day!!

2006-09-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

Rebecca, Suzi and Tom at the Linden Street Faire. Photo by Barbara Wenger.

Linden Street Faire

Twas one of those beautiful, sunny San Francisco Days and we hung out on the corner of Octavia and Linden. We chatted, sunned, sold fresh garden produce and had one pleasurable day.

A HUGE thanks to TOM. He rocked the street faire with his friendliness and was a superstar selling our produce. Thanks too to Joseph Jodi for his dedication and motivation to organize this lovely community event for over 16 years. Special thanks also to Barbara Wenger, Madeline Behrens-Brigham, Helen from NPC, Suzi Grady and all the folks with whom we meet.

A few of the hidden treats sprinkled thorughout Koshland Garden. Come and visit to see them for yourself. Happy Growing, Rebecca

***UPCOMING***

October 14th

Koshland Park Work Day

9:30 - 1:00

Get down and dirty with friends and neighbors.

************************************

New News

2006-09-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

WELCOME TO THE NEW SUZI

First, I want to welcome our new helper in the garden - Suzi Grady. Suzi is already very familiar with our garden through lots of volunteering & is a very big fan of the amazing science of compost. She'll be helping out for the next month with some projects and did an amazing job teaching folks last Saturday about composting.

This Saturday is the very special LINDEN STREET FAIR. Starting at 9a and going all day. We'll be selling produce from the garden as a fundraiser and would love help and visitors. (hint hint)

Down to business, until we hire someone, my schedule will be as follows:

JOHN MUIR GARDEN on Page between Webster and Oak
Tuesdays and Fridays 10:00am - 1:30pm
Koshland Garden Fridays 2:00pm-5:00pm

Please let me know before if you plan on volunteering so I can arrange it with the school. rabozzelli@yahoo.com

Our favorite little helpers who are always hard at work in the garden making us beautiful compost. Thank you red wigglers.

Reflections & Recognitions!!

2006-09-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

To All The Beautiful People of Koshland Park Community Learning Garden:

I wanted to take this moment to announce to the gardeners and extended Koshland Park Community that Thursday, August 31st was my last day working with you (well, officially). I have accepted a new position as The School Garden and Compost Program Manager for the Garden for The Environment (also known as the GFE!). I am super excited about this opportunity, but am very saddened to leave this amazing, inimitable group of people. The past 14 months has served as the most significant personal and professional growth of my life! When I stepped into this position over a year ago I never could have imagined walking away with the insight and experience that I have today.

a dedicated gardener! all of y'all are amazing...
This community is the epitome of commitment, dedication, and compassion for social change. Each of you exemplifies a piece of this vision and it gives me goose bumps to think about your smiling faces. I will miss all of you something fierce, but am hopeful that our paths will cross again somewhere along the way. This city is way too small!!

just a few of the wonderful volunteers that helps keep this park safe & beautiful!
I, also, want to take this time to recognize a couple of folks that have guided me through this process and have changed my perspective forever! I want acknowledge Barbara Wenger for (going out on a limb) and providing me this opportunity even though my enthusiasm for the job far exceeded the experience she was looking for to fill this role. You have given me the chance to discover a part of myself that has only made me a stronger, more confident person. You are the founder of an invaluable organization that should function as a model for all other neighborhood park groups! Thank you for sharing your words of wisdom….and for all of the delicious Friday afternoon meetings☺

I also want to recognize the Hayes Valley/Western Addition/Lower Haight “community organizer extraordinaire”, Richard Johnson. You have absolutely mastered the art of mobilizing a community to step outside of the box and challenge the system. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to work with you and the Hayes Valley Partners as they seem to achieve the impossible on a daily basis. Your dynamic personality and dedication to social justice is beyond imaginable. Thank you for all that you do. I will carry the experiences and wisdom that you have shared with me everywhere I go. I look forward to continuing this partnership in my other position!!

Rebecca, lord woman, I do not know where to start with you! You are amazing!! The dedication you have to this garden, this community, and this cause is beyond inspiring! Thank you so much for taking me under your wing and guiding me through this wonderful experience. Prior to this job, I had never had the chance to work so closely with another person. Looking back at what we accomplished, the ideas we shared and the projects we realized, it all seems magical to me! You have been more than a mentor, you have become a close friend to me that I will always hold to dear to my heart! I absolutely admire you and your ability to make dreams come to life. This is what this experience has been for me—a dream that I realized, but not without your wisdom and heart to help make it happen. I love you, girl!

you are the best, Rebecca!!

I hope that all of you will come visit me over at the Garden for the Environment located on 7th & Lawton. We have tons of great workshops every Saturday of the year as well as volunteer days on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Please come by and say hello—or grace me with a giant smile!! much love, ~*suzi

Seed to Mouth--Food For The Soul!

2006-08-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

With the schoolyear on the horizon, I want to honor and celebrate one final project of the summer that left our bellies and souls full of goodness:) Beginning way back in the early days of Spring, Miss Rebecca had an "epiphany" that we should (and WILL find a way to) offer nutritional cooking classes to youth and families of our community. The classes would highlight various seasonal crops grown in our garden or other locally grown produce.

Now in hindsight, I can share that the classes were an amazing success with lots of kids, parents, neighbors, gardeners, and friends attending and helping us make beautiful food that we all sat down and ate together as a family. YUM! Looking forward to starting it up again.

Naked Ladies

2006-08-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

I thought that might get your attention :)

Hope everyone is super well, I am back from vacation and to my lovely surprise I find that our Amaryllis belladonna have shown there beautiful faces. The appearance of the tall, flower stalk without any leaves accounts for the common name "naked lady".

UPCOMING COMPOST WORKSHOP!

September 9th, from 9:30 - 11. Teach about the ins and outs of compost as well as make compost sifters!! Immediately following will be our 2nd Saturday workday. Bring your food scraps, but please remember, no meat, diary or bread.

JOHN MUIR SCHOOL WORK DAY AUGUST 26TH.

Look at how sad this garden looks. Help us get John Muir ready for the first day of school (8/28). 9am - 2pm and lunch too. Come for as long or as little as you like. All help is always greatly appreciated. Lots will be going on too so your day can be filled with a variety of tasks. Help in the library or classrooms, mulching and planting in the garden, painting, and lots more.

With school starting, Suzi and I change back to our school schedule. More specifics later as classes get scheduled.

Suzi - Monday, Tuesday, Friday
Rebecca - Tuesday, Friday

Monthly 2nd Saturday Work Parties from 11-2.

Finally, I had to share this wonderment with you. This little spider was found in Jesse's tomato plant. She is an Enoplognatha ovata and is protecting her blueish egg sac. Here are a few interesting facts about her:

-Typically construct her web on live plants, rolling a leaf as a retreat.

- Can be very variable in color.
- Its size is between 3 and 6 mm.
- found on low vegetation and bushes.
- The leaf in which she makes her egg sac is often slightly rolled.

So look out, you too may find an Enoplognatha in your garden plot.

Life is BEAUTIFUL. Good Day All! ~ Rebecca

National Night Out--A Safe, Fun Night For All!

2006-08-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

National Night Out is a nation-wide event designed to highlight each communitiy's dedication to their speific crime and violence prevention strategies. It is intended to generate support for and participation in local anitcrime programs and organizations as well as strengthen neighborhood spirit and community-police partnerships. For our neighborhood, the Hayes Valley/Western Addition of San Francisco, a group of committed organizers, also known as the Hayes Valley Community Partners ,planned and successfully created a fun & safe extravaganza for youth and families to come and celebrate our community. With much love, thanks and props to Richard Johnson, the co-founder of Hayes Valley Community Partners, we were able to pull off a Public Safety Fair where neighborhood organizations joined forces to show their support in OUR "Night Out Against Crime". The fair was followed by live entertainment from local groups such as Western Addtion Drill Team, Horus Tolson and the SGI-USA's Golden Gate Chorus, and perfomers from neighborhood church groups. It was a blast had by all and we want to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone that contributes to the safety and beautification of our neighborhood. It is quite a special thing we have...

This is the irreplaceable Richard Johnson, Co-Founder of the Hayes Valley Community Partners

District 5 Supervisor, Ross Mirkarimi, acknowledging the dedication that Richard has to this community!!

Laurie Hampton, one of the many wonderful gardeners of Koshland Park Community Learning Garden, standing in front of our booth where we offered free lettuce, collard greens and kale to folks!!

Much love to all and enjoy these glorious, fog-less summer days!!
-suzi

The Super Amazing No Drip Rapid Reel

2006-07-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

Suzi and Rebecca with Koshland Garden's brand new watering reel.

Very proud and happy after spending half of Friday assembling our brand spanking new, heavy-duty, no drip, all-amazing Rapid Reel. Watering the garden will be a breeze with this baby. The days of water spraying and dodging water puddles are in the past. Please be kind to our new addition and treat Rapid Reel with nothing but respect. ~ Rebecca

Let Us Grow (and we did!)

2006-07-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

What a delight the last two weeks has been!! Suzi and I were fortunate enough to work with some very special youth for our first ever summer garden camp in Koshland Park called Let Us Grow! Our days were filled with laughter from start to finish.

Let Us Grow! was positive in so many ways. We grew sunflowers seeds, formed new friendships, learned how to prepare garden fresh food, and discovered a sense of place. The camp focused on gardening, and thus food and nutrition, arts and crafts, and community. Two weeks flew by, but by the end we all appreciated the garden and the overwhelming amount of life it has to offer; now newly decorated with disco balls, mylar flags, beautifully painted signs, sunflower seeds, new plants, and SO MUCH LOVE!!

Some of the highlights from Let Us Grow were the field trips we planned, not your normal, go to a museum field trip. Rather, the field trips complimented the goals of the camp and, therefore, the trips revolved around fresh, delicious, healthy FOOD. Our first trip was to the farmer's market at Civic Center, also stopping and playing at all the beautiful parks on the way and way home.

Here we are getting our lunches ready to go. Once at the farmer's market we meet the famers and tasted their many scrumptious fruits, including tayberries, strawberries, plums, peaches, nectarines, and even some savory olives.

Together we also visited RNM in Lower Haight. WHAT A TREAT!!! Nik was kind enough to come and spend a day with us in the garden and the following week we walked down Haight street to RNM. He let all the kids make their own fresh pizza with the topping(s) of their choice. Then, after saying our thanks, we sat together at our formal dining room table with fresh flowers sprinkled all over it and dined on fresh garden salad and homemade pizzas. YUM!

Millennium, referred to as the fancy vegan restaurant, was another very special treat. After teaching the kids about vegan food, we bussed downtown. Chef, Eric Tucker, greeted us and gave us a private tour throughout the restaurant where we learned about the restaurant decor and how it comes from reused products like seat belts or old feed sacks. Moving on we visited the kitchen downstairs, meet some of the staff, checked out the fresh veggies and fruit in the frig, and then picked out some fresh veggies and fruit to make our lunch. Together we tossed a fresh salad of mixed lettuce with peaches, cucumbers, tomatoes, with a sweet peach vinegarette. For our main, Eric, created a divine pasta dish adding chick peas for protein and more fresh vegetables that everyone gobbled up. For dessert, everyone's favorite, the pastry chef's were kind enough to make both vegan chocolate chip and ginger cookies. Triple Yum!!!

We experienced and learned so much in only two weeks.
The children could name all their favorite flowers, herbs, fruits, and veggies by name, and tell the difference between a collard and broccoli leaf - not a easy task. To the left is our favorite flower - Buddleia, commonly known as Butterfly Bush for obvious reasons!

Special thanks goes to the butterflies, sow bugs, red worms and all the other invertabrates who make the garden grow. We couldn't have done it without you. And equally as important, I would also like to appreciate EVERYONE else who made LET US GROW! a HUGE success. We thank you for your donations and time. We are grateful that you are so invested in our community. Most importantly, thank you to the sun and Earth, for which we are all eternally grateful and for giving us the most beautiful summer I have ever experienced in San Francisco!!. Peas and Love, Rebecca

To see all the fun we had check out the rest of the pictures here.

From City Girls to Farm Girls (for a week:)

2006-07-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

We were so fortunate to spend the last week of June at The Occidental Arts & Ecology Center
The OAEC is a small organic farm as well as a nonprofit organizing and educational center. They have been offering this School Garden Training for several years as well as many other wonderful, comprehensive workshops. The workshops range from Woodshop for Women to Landscape Painting to frequent Permaculture Design courses. Many of the folks that live and work out there have become experts in their area of interest and were so kind and forthcoming in the sharing of their skills and experiences. We spent the week learning organic gardening practices, attending seminars focusing on school garden projects and site development and a little hands-on construction (our favorite part!). Not only were we blessed to learn from such amazing people; we also ate the BEST food ever!Q!! We were fed breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared by some of the most creative and delightful chefs around. My mouth still salivates when I think about some of the food we ate:) All in all, it was a spectacular, extremetly insightful journey to the countryside--and it was quite refreshing to feel like a "farmer" for a week!!
**Please click HERE to view our other pictures from our trip!!**

Our friend, Suzi, so beauifully showing off our home for the week! (AKA: Yurt) There were 8 of us sleeping in bunkbeds--it felt a little bit like camp:)

One afternoon we visited a local school garden and prepared lunch using "kid-friendly" recipes that we could then take back to share with our children. We also made the first layer of a cobb bench for the garden's learning circle. Cobb consists of a perfect ratio of sand, clay, straw and water. When sculpted and dried it can serve as an all natural concrete! This was super fun--and was quite a workout!
We worked and learned with some amazing folks from all over the state! It was so special to spend the week with such an open and enthusiastic group of teachers, parents and volunteers!
Many of you may not know this, but I LOVE bees!!! I am utterly fascinated by their behavior and the role they play in nature! So, this picture is very special to me and a perfect image of the magic that is throughout the OAEC. We recommend anyone and everyone to get up there even if it is just for the volunteer day on Wednesdays--you will fall in love as well!

UPDATES & HAPPENINGS:
LET US GROW!!
Today was the first day of our two week, Let Us Grow! Summer Program. It was a big hit and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. The quote of the day: "My new favorite food is Kale!!!" ~8 year old girl:)
The camp will run from 10 am to 2pm, Monday thru Friday, this week and next week!! Feel free to stop by!!

SEED TO MOUTH Cooking Classes
Come join us for our 2nd Cooking Class THIS Wednesday (July 12th) in the HV South Community Room (403 Rose St., across the street from the Park)
This weeks meun is APPETIZERS and homemade salsas..YUMMMMM!
Hope to see you soon,
peace & love,
suzi

OUTSTANDING Parks Group

2006-07-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Bozzelli, Dee Dee Workman, Barbara Wenger, and Suzi Palladino.

Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group was kindly recognized by Neighborhood Parks Council (NPC) for all our OUTSTANDING efforts in reaching out and working closely with the Hayes Valley, Western Addition, and Lower Haight communities. What a great feeling to selected for this award and to be surrounded by the special people we are fortunate enough to work with, people who make our jobs easier because of their dedication and hard work. The award was presented to Barbara Wenger from Mayor Newson. Thank you NPC!

Lending Hands at Green Gulch Farms

2006-06-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

Suzi, I, and Betty (thank you!) worked at Green Gulch Farms Friday to lend our hands. We started off in the thick of leftover food and horse manure - what a great way to start the day!! We rediscovered that composting is truly an art. The beautiful, rich soil that is created from all these leftovers proves how amazing nature is. This was our recipe for compost cake.
Layer 1: horse manure
Layer 2: leftovers from Greens Restaurant and who know where else - YUM! (See pictures)
Layer 3: a light covering of greens
Layer 4: a spinkle of mulch
Repeat!

Next, we were off to the kitchen garden for a much more mellow task of harvesting the most delicious parsley and some chives. This coming week we are off to Occidental Arts and Ecology Center to participate in their garden teacher training program. Ye Haw! More on that soon...

Rebecca

Updates & Happenings

2006-06-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hey Y'all...

Well, I hardly know what to say about all of this lovely weather we have had over the past week or so! I hope that everyone has been taking full advantage of the blue skies and big sunshine keeping our bodies warm and lives playful. As the summer sun is heating up the earth, we are gearing up for some super-fun summer projects that we want to share with you. We look forward to seeing you somewhere along the way and don't hesitate to get in touch with us for questions, concerns, or just some good ole' garden talk.

Looking forward to bumping into each of your sweet, smiling faces!!!

love and happy gardening,
suzi

SUZI & REBECCA'S SUMMER SCHEDULE
(days and times you will be sure to find us getting our hands dirty in the garden!!)
Tuesdays: 1pm to 5:30pm
Fridays: 9am to 12pm
2nd Saturdays 11am to 2pm

Let Us Grow! Summer Program
7/10-7/21, 10am to 2pm
(gardening, arts & crafts, cooking, field trips, and learning about community for
youth ages 8 to 13)

Seed to Mouth Cooking Classes!!!
Wednesday Evenings(beginning July 5th for 5 weeks),
5:30 to 7pm (ish) for children and families!
Location: Hayes Valley South Community Room
Please contact Rebecca or myself for more information about any or all of these happenings!!

suzi.palladino@gmail.com,
rabozzelli@yahoo.com

South Central Farmers Lose Country's Largest Community Garden

2006-06-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

Over the past several months, I have taken much interest in this South Central, LA urban farm and the triumphs that a diverse group of environmentally and socially conscious people have been awarded through their dedication and committment to saving this farm. Despite widespread resistance, last week a bulldozer barrelled through the fence and began plowing through people and the land of the country's largest community garden!! Protests were in full force, voices were shouting out, people were arrested, but most importantly a communal space and vision shared by folks of an already disenfranschised community was uprooted by LA Real Estate developers. The farmers and other demonstrators were able to suspend the demolition for over seven hours through a treesit, lockdowns, and blockades. Although the deconstruction has begun, the fight is not over for these farmers and community activists ready to stand up for what is just, what is humane and what is needed to keep this community healthy and viable! Please check out the links below to find out more about action being taken and ways we, as San Francisco community gardners, can support!

peace & love,
suzi

Organic Consumers Association

Los Angeles Indymedia Center

Community Food Security Coalition

2006-06-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Salad
Tastes
Good!

Yesterday marked the end of the school year for San Francisco Public Schools and Suzi and I held salad parties with the students to celebrate. The students harvested the lettuce, cleaned it up in the salad spinner, made salad dressing and then gobbled it UP. They couldn't get enough, especially the calendula flower petals. We even have a special John Muir honey-mustard salad dressing (frequently mis-called sauce). Well Done John Muir students!!

Even more excting and comming soon.........THIS JULY will commence Cooking in the community. Six cooking classes will be held throughout the Hayes Valley and Western Addition communities, starting in July. We'll pick veggies from the garden and invite the community to help us prepare healthy meals. As a bonus, they'll be able to take home fresh veggies and the recipes we prepared from that class. Check back soon for more scrumptious details....

Rebecca

2006-05-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

I would like you to meet our very special garden mascot, Miss Rhubarb, standing amongst the weeds!

Please join the Community Clean Team to beautify
District 5 and keep
San Francisco Clean, Green and Beautiful!
Community Day
Saturday, June 3, 2006
Ella Hill Hutch Community Center
(1015 McAllister at Webster Street)
Volunteers will paint out graffiti, create litter-free zones, and
tend to trees in neighborhoods all over District 5.
Volunteer in the Parks
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Hayes Green (Octavia and Hayes)
Volunteers will work on gardening & beautification projects
at Hayes Green and other district parks.
Events run from 9:00 am until noon

2006-05-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

"We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race."

Cicero

Koshland Community Parties On!

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the community was out in full force. An absolutely lovely event on May 13th thanks to The International High School for there hard work and gorgeous singing, The Clara House for helping beautify the park, Safety Netowrk for the amazing arts and crafts table, Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association for ALL their support, The Western Addition Drill Team for performing and haveing a delicious bake sale, The Beacon Center for making this all possible, Nancy Boy for the thoughtful gifts and raffle prize and everyone else for showing up and making it a great success.

Support Global Worming!!

2006-05-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves"

Over the past few weeks we have been dedicated to amending our compost pile and creating a system that makes sense to all who venture through our garden! We want you to have the freshest, most nutritious compost to feed to your garden plots. So, we think we have finally figured out a system that will work for us, will make sense to the children that frequent the garden, and of course is sensible to the gardeners that make this space so beautiful! We have the three bin system which means that each bin has an integral part in the whole process! (this is where the signs come in handy:). Sometimes the pile needs to be "stewing" and not disturbed ("SLEEPING") sometimes the pile can use some delicious garden and food scraps ("FEED ME"), and sometimes the pile has been completely crunched and munched by the decomposers and is ready to harvest ("USE ME"). Hopefully this will make things simpler for us, for you, and the decomposers scurrying to find the freshest organic material! We will continue to turn the compost piles and make sure that things are steaming for you. We hope this system will work out! Please let us know if you have any suggestions or questions about this whole composting thing!

Harvesting compost!! You can use the screen to sift through the "USE ME" pile into a bucket. Whatever does not fit through the screen you can throw into the "FEED ME" pile to continue to decompose. Just look for the "USE ME" sign to find the pile that is ready to harvest and give back to the earth!

The lovely three bin system. We try our best to turn the piles at least once a week to expedite this process. The more you turn the pile the faster the process of decomposition!

COMPOSTING TIPS:
We would LOVE to have:
healthy vegetable or flower plants pulled from the garden, vegetable or fruit scraps, crushed eggshells, fresh or partly rotted straw (not too much--very rich in carbon and could throw off the activity), fallen tree leaves (avoid the pine needles--very acidic), coffee grounds, tea bags/leaves, and other plant based products. If you are uncertain feel free to ask us!

Here are a few things that we should all avoid putting into the piles because they may attract some pesky rodents that are not always the most welcome:
meat bones, an abundance of newspaper (some is OK--but NO paper with colored ink!), dairy products, rocks, glass, plastic, or metal, fats or cereal products (attract those lovely rodents)and manure from most creatures of this planet. I am sure there are a few other things we missed. Once again, if you are uncertain just ask us and we will answer your questions the best we can!!

*Be sure to chop large materials so they will decay faster!
*Add a little water to the "FEED ME" pile if it looks dried out!

"Anyone can have dirt. Gardener's have soil"

Veggie Starts Are On The Way!!

2006-04-17T09:03:00.001-07:00

With a little break from the rain last Friday, we were able to get down and dirty in the garden and start preparing beds for the veggie starts that are en route to our Garden. The gardeners of Green Gulch Farm and Zen Center in Marin County have offered to start seeds for us as a kind gesture to help out our local, urban garden:) We often have difficulty germinating seeds in our garden because the temperature often doesn't get warm enough to nurture and entice the seeds to sprout as well as potential RAIN for days on end (BUT, the end may be in sight...let's keep our fingers crossed!).

We spent the day turning over garden beds and amending the soil with our very own delicious and nutritious compost!! We also turned over the roots of fava beans (a legume) and mixed them deep into the soil. We planted these fava beans to act as green manure and which consists of plants that you grow for the purpose of digging them under and allowing them to decay in the soil. Fava Beans are one of the best choices for green manure because they actually add nitrogen to the soil and act as an all natural fertilizer. Bacteria actually live in the roots of legumes continuously fixing nitrogen which are in the form of little white balls--also known as nitrates! When the legumes die their roots release tons of nitrogen into the soil!! How Cool?? Be sure to spread the word:)

We also came across several of our best friends--the lovely EARTHWORMS!! Charles Darwin once said: The plow is one of the most ancient and most valuable of man's inventions;
but long before he existed the land was in fact regularly plowed, and still
continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether
there are many other animals which have played so important a part in
the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures.

Working hard in the garden:) We think everyone should cash in their gym memberships and start digging in the dirt! You can get big muscles, eat delicious & fresh food and Mother Earth would show her appreciation with garden gifts day in and day out!!
ENJOY THE SUNSHINE!!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

2006-04-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

A special shout you to Walden House for participating in the Lower Haight Clean Up. What a difference a large presence can make, we must have painted 25-30 poles on Haight Street. Thanks! Also, Wednesday night Suzi and I had a fun and productive garden meeting at Cafe Du Soleil. Thank you Laurie, Richard, Hallie and Jeremy for coming. Spring is here even though the rain has barely stopped. Lots going on and we hope to see you in the garden.

SAVE THE DATES

May 6th

Friends of the Urban Forest Tree Pruning Workshop

Koshland Garden

9:30am-12:00

FREE

And, May 13th

Workday in the morning until 1:00pm and then

Community Celebration in the afternoon.

BBQ, Bake Sale, Youth Preformances, District 5 Summer Resource Information, and lots more!

March Showers Bring April Flowers.....

2006-03-31T08:47:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to celebrate the now 23 days of rain in the month of March, I thought I would inspire you with a few pictures of the verdant veggie starts, fabulous flowers, and sweet sunshine that will soon brighten the days to come
(keeping my fingers crossed).

This Sunflower Displays A Beautiful Ray of Sun on Koshland Garden

Spring Tulips Begin To Blossom Thanks To The Early Wet Spring Season
Photo Taken By Barbara Wenger

Currently, Koshland Garden has 4 available plots that are in need of some nurturing hands and loving attention. Spring is the perfect time of year to begin a community garden plot. The wet soil creates the perfect conditions for seeds to germinate (or sprout). So, take advantage of our lush Spring and begin to give birth to a bountiful garden plot.

Don't Forget!!!

April 8th
Lower Haight Clean-Up Day
Join Koshland Garden and the Lower Haight Merchants Association to clean up the Lowee Haight Community. Wonderful breakfast goodies will be provided for your hard work.
When: 9am
Where: Being There Cafe (corner of Steiner & Waller)

May 6th
Koshland Garden Presents: Spring Pruning Workshop
In partnership with the Friends of the Urban forest, a pruning workshop will be held to teach tree pruning skills.

When: 9am - 12pm
Where: Koshland Garden

Working with Walden House in Spotty Weather

2006-03-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

What a fantastic day in the garden - minus the very occasional rain storm and wind - with Ryan, Jose and Shaeffer. We all worked hard on some good old garden maintenance including turning the compost, weeding, mulching some fava beans, and planting spinach and squash. Highlights included the compost mouse and super fat earth worms. Thanks for your hard work and good attitudes, looking forward to seeing you in April. Rebecca

Welcome

2006-03-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

Greetings all. This is the Koshland Park Community Learning Garden Blog, our online journal and photo album of garden and community happenings. We look forward to hearing from you. For more info, please email either Rebecca rabozzelli@yahoo.com or Suzi suzi.palladino@gmail.com.

Peace, Love and Gardening ever after.