Swallowtail Relaxing in Dill

Taking at the Fitzgerald and Union Plaza City Slicker Farm 

The Farm

I realized that I haven't posted general pictures of the Urban Adamah farm. Here you go so you have an idea of where I spend half my time in Berkeley.



At the corner of Parker and Tenth

Welcome: We Are Blessed by Your Arrival (parking/ bike lot)



Entering the farm



Pano of the farm
(the chickens, goats, and office are behind me and not shown in this photo)

 

Megan and James visit!

On Saturday we climbed up to the Coit Tower, visited Pier 39 and the sea lions, and explored Alcatraz. On Sunday, I gave them a tour of the Urban Adamah farm and they met the animals.

Coit Tower from Alcatraz Cruiser

Golden Gate Bridge

 

Approaching Alcatraz

 

 

Harvesting Lettuce

Harvested 18 pounds of different varieties of lettuce for the Wednesday Farm Stand with Nathan. We cut the lettuce leaving some green (or red) above the root so it will continue to grow and ready for harvest again soon.

 

Asexual Plant Propagation

This morning at permaculture class we started propagating many plants to make seedlings. Garlic, ginger, mint, lemon balm, thyme, oregano, manzanita, lavender and more.

Before

After

Farm Tour: Sunol Farm & Happy Acre

The Sunol Water Temple AgPark, created in 2006 through an historic partnership between San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) and SAGE, fosters sustainable farming and public education programs while protecting natural resources in the Alameda Creek watershed. The AgPark is located in the beautiful Sunol Valley at the confluence of two wild creeks, on 18 acres of prime farmland that SAGE leases from SFPUC. The AgPark is adjacent to the 100-year-old Sunol Water Temple. (Yes, this was pulled from a website). 

 

Water Temple in back right 

The fellows 

Purple Kolorabi

City Slickers: The Internship

Thursday are internship days. My placement is at City Slickers with Natalia. On my first day we helped at the Backyard Garden Program. Next week, I'll be at their community garden. 

10am

1pm

Chickens and bunnies and bees and goats, oh my!

Walking Feona.

A new bee swarm formed and was caught! More swarms = more honey :)

Meet Motek (sweetie in Hebrew), the newest addition on the farm. So soft and fuzzy!

Poop is Power!

The animals on the farm play many important roles, one of them is creating organic materials! Yesterday we used some of the worm poop compost to make new aerobic compost tea (in a few days bacteria and fungi that help make the plants more resistant to pests...different than anaerobic compost tea that provides additional nutrients to the soil). And today I cleaned out poop from the chicken pen and put it on the compost pile, which add wonderful nutrients and organic material (goat poop does as well) .

Prepping aerobic compost tea with chlorine-free rain water

Compost tea will brew for 2-3 days and then be sprayed on the plants

 

 

Roommates

Casey and I enjoying the first Urban Adamah lunch on the farm.

Mikvah in Lake Anza

We hiked through Tilden Park. Lake Anza became our mikvah, a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism (rumor has it, the water isn't the cleanest, but I blocked that out of my head). I may have had to hold Danielle's hand to gather enough courage to fully immerse in the water. Then, together we said:

Kavanah/Intention:
"Wild Geese" - Mary Oliver:
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

For first immersion: our own blessing for ourselves!

For second immersion:

Baruch atah adonai 

eloheinu melech ha'olam

asher kidshanu bi t'vilah 

b'mayyim hayyim

Blessed are You, Spirit of the Universe, who makes us holy by embracing us in living waters.

For third immersion:

Baruch atah adonai 

eloheinu melech ha'olam

shehecheyanu v'kiymanu, v'higianu 

lazman hazeh

Blessed are You, Spirit of the Universe, for giving me life, sustaining me, and through one miracle after another, bringing me to THIS MOMENT.

After the immersion

 

Group selfie (minus 3) after the mikvah

Lookout Point of Berkeley. San Francisco is behind the fog.

Chicken Lover

That's me, "Chicken Lover," at least for the next four weeks as I proudly wear my chore name. Every day I feed the chickens and collect their eggs. Great experience in case I want to have chickens of my own...

First Day Harvesting and Weeding

The Farm Stand is on Wednesday mornings. We harvested, for the first time as a group, enough food for almost 100 community members to enjoy. (sorry no photo of the Farm Stand this week)

While weeding, Shana and Nathan found some hidden gems. 

Meet Feona and Merlin

Feona (who is expecting)

Merlin (her companion)

First Day (and night) at Channing Way

Have moved in to my new home in West Berkeley on Channing Way for the next few months. My room is the left window on the first floor. The house is a couple blocks from the bay and a co-op bike repair shop! Visited the farm and was led through a blindfolded tour. Highlight of the tour was eating kale like a deer. Sorry I don't have a picture of that. 

Birthplace of Mountain Biking



Spent the day road biking in Marin County, through some Redwood forests, ate lunch at the birthplace of Cowgirl Creamery, and headed back to Fairfax, the birthplace of mountain biking. Happened to be there the opening day of Marin Museum of Bicycling where I met Jacquie Phelan (aka Alice B Toeclips), who founded Women's Mountain Bike & Tea Society (WOMBATS) in 1987. (In case you're curious, no I did not get the bug for mountain biking, I'll stick with the road. Thanks Lyndsay for lending me your bike(s) while you're out of town. Thx Ryan for the ride.)

  

Opening Day





Velocipede (1868)

High-Wheel Bicycle (1886)

Safety Tricycle (1881)

Tour de France Winner (2014)

Mountain Bike Hall of Famers