Veggielution Community Farm

State of the Farm: May

julia — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:48:48 +0000

May is starting off great with our tomato crop ready for pruning and trellising, most of our peppers in the ground, and in general our spring planting is steadily getting done. The flowers are blooming, our green dome and new youth garden are nearly complete, and in general the farm is starting to take shape. It looks like we’ll be having a beautiful, warm summer here in the Valley of Heart’s Delight. Once the ground is all planted, we’ll be furiously weeding for a month before the main harvest starts. We will be in a state of perpetual pruning and trellising of tomatoes, cucumbers, muskmelons and other crops.

This Friday, we’ll be starting the Downtown San Pedro Square Farmer’s Market, selling vegetables, plants, and t-shirts to our loyal customers. The downtown farmer’s market, along with our Saturday farmstand, are both very important sources of income for the farm, so please support Veggielution throughout the summer by buying your vegetables from us. We’re doing our best each week to provide you with the best quality vegetables at an affordable price.

However, I personally won’t be here to witness this work, since I’m newly married and taking the summer off to visit my family and various farms in Europe. Tommy Pierson will be acting as Interim Farm Manager, with help from assistant Will Chen. You’ll see the two of them out on the farm managing work along with the rest of the farm crew, and they’ll need all of the help they can get from volunteers like yourselves. Historically we begin to have lower volunteer attendance in July and August, which is a time that we need plenty of help as that’s the middle of our busiest harvest. Please consider making a commitment to volunteering during those hot summer months. If you would like to volunteer with a group you are part of, or know of community groups that might be interested in volunteering, you can schedule a group visit by contacting info@veggielution.org. We would love for groups of 10-20 to sign up for that late summer period.

Mark Medeiros

Farm Director

Stories From the Ground: Can You Dig It?

julia — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:33:06 +0000

On the farm, we have been busy implementing our new design for the Youth Garden. Although a lot of our plants are still small, the garden is looking beautiful! If you haven’t seen it recently, come on down to the farm to walk though our mandala garden or to sit in meditation in our grape tee-pee. If you have a little one to bring to the farm, our Youth Garden is the perfect place for them to explore and learn about nature. On the second Saturday of each month, bring the whole family to participate in Family Day from 11-12:30pm. During Family Day, each member of the family is welcomed to join in our activities that encourages exploration, creativity, and learning in the garden.

We have also been making great head way in our educational programs outside of Emma Prusch Park. Although the school year is not over yet, we have successfully engaged over 400 students in outdoor garden education, linked to California science, language arts, and math standards. At McKinley Elementary, we have engaged students in garden lessons from kindergarten through 6th grade, and have welcomed the students to our farm through field trips. At Goss Elementary, we have helped create a strong school garden team comprised of students, parents, teachers, and staff. With our facilitation, our Goss Garden Team was able to raise enough funds and supplies to implement the start of a beautiful school garden. Over the summer, each garden will be kept up by the members of each school garden team.

Monica Lisa Benavides

School Garden Coordinator

As the school year winds down, we are gearing up for our summer programing with the Dig Crew! The Dig Crew is our summer high school program which engages students from various schools in our local communities, such as Independence and Andrew Hill High Schools. We had an overwhelming number of applicants, but after interviews and some deliberation, we have chosen our Dig Crew participants for this summer! Each Dig Crew participant will help keep our farm running smoothly this summer, as well as engage in educational workshops that explore topics from nutrition to communication skills to food justice issues. We are excited for summer to welcome great harvests and our Dig Crew to our Veggielution Family!

Monica Lisa Benavides

School Garden Coordinator

Join Our Earth Bench Build

julia — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:35:31 +0000

Veggielution is joining a global movement by building an Earthbench in our Youth Garden! We will learn how to make bottle bricks, build a foundation, lay cob, and plaster naturally. We are teaching these awesome skills for free. If it is within your means, please consider a monetary contribution.

How to Participate:

1) Donate Materials

Veggielution will be taking donations of plastic bottles and clean, non recyclable plastic trash. We will also take donations of stuffed bottle bricks for our bench. Please drop off donations to the bins in the Youth Garden, or have a staff person direct you where to put your contribution.

2) Join the Build

FOUNDATION BUILD AND BOTTLE BRICK STUFFING PARTY
-Friday, April 20th
9:00a-12:30p

COB LAYING AND BRICK LAYING
-Saturday, April 21st
9:00a-2:00p

BENCH PLASTERING & UNVEILING
TBA

learn more

Announcing 2 Silicon Valley HealthCorps positions for the summer!

Amie Frisch — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:22:40 +0000

We are excited to announce that we are hiring for 2 Silicon Valley HealthCorps positions. This is a great chance for you to spend your summer on the farm, contributing to and learning about food justice, getting dirty, and having a great time with great people. One position is focused on the Dig Crew, our high school youth program, and the other is focused more fully on the farm. Click here to read more!

Avant Garden Countdown

julia — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 23:27:52 +0000

This unforgettable event is just around the corner, have you bought your tickets?

April 13th, 2012 7pm – 10pm

$10 + 1 free food ticket online, $12 at the door

The evening will unfold at The Armory

240 N 2nd St

San Jose, CA 95112

a·vant-garde

a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo
innovative and ahead of the majority
a group of people who invent or promote new techniques or concepts

Ignite your senses for a night of visualizing food and feasting upon art…

Devour a variety of farm fresh treats prepared by talented local chefs, and enjoy a silent art auction featuring farm-inspired art produced by visionary local artists. Avant Garden harnesses San Jose’s creative talent to support Veggielution’s growing Community Farm. We are pushing the boundaries of food justice by redefining our relationship with our land, our food, and each other.

Come experience a new way to think about food in our community, through the taste of our Spring harvest, and captivating visual artistry!

Kids ages 12 and under get in free! If you buy your ticket online we will add 1 free Food Ticket to get you started. Additional Food Tickets can be purchased for $3 each at the event. Event Tickets also available for $12 at the door.

State of the Farm: April

julia — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:57:20 +0000

Last Saturday, March 31 was our first annual Cesar Chavez Day Celebration. The rain changed our plans to have a giant workday with hundreds of volunteers and draft horses, but it still turned out to be a really beautiful day of community and friendship building. A spring ceremony and blessing was performed at 9am by members of Calpulli Tohnaleque, a local Azteca/Mexica Dance group and Elisa Alvarado of Teatro Vision. They were joined by Anne Marie Sayers and Kanyon Sayers-Roods, representatives of the Ohlone community and residents of Indian Canyon. At 7:30am the sun was shining through the scattered clouds, but a strong wind was blowing. By 9:30, the sky had closed up and torrential rain was pouring down on the ceremony, along with about 60 brave volunteers and community members who joined outside the dance circle. Afterwards we were all sopping wet, and huddle together under the outdoor kitchen. There we spent the rest of the day socializing, eating food and making tortillas from scratch using the maiz mourado we grew from scratch. A few volunteers braved the rain and headed out to plant native plants and planting out our newly designed Youth Garden.

We have now crossed over into April, the busiest month of the planting season. We have peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, beans, summer squash, tomatillos, and a variety of other crops that need to go in the ground. The only real drawback to the rain on Saturday was that we had work planned for 200+ volunteers and only a little of it was done – that means we have 500 hours of work we’re behind on. Though the tractor did the majority of our bed shaping there is more of that to do by hand, along with irrigation setup, and a bunch of other tasks on the farm.Please make time and join us at our workdays during the most exciting month of the year. In addition to Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Wednesday afternoons, we have now added Friday mornings from 8:30-12:30 on weekday work schedule.

We have a huge selection of tomatoes and other veggie starts for sale. Make sure to buy from us when you’re looking to buy plants for your home garden. They’ll be on sale every week at the Saturday farmstand from 10am-2pm.

Mark Medeiros

Farm Director

Stories From the Ground: A Delicious Class – Sí se puede comer saludable!

julia — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:13:33 +0000

In January Veggielution started a great new program called Las Promotoras. The Promotora model involves teaching and training women from the community to become leaders of their community, and address important issues through their leadership.

We are fortunate to have 4 amazing women from Veggielution’s neighborhood, devoting their time to Veggielution’s mission. At Veggielution, our Promotoras are playing a key role in the organization by advocating, outreaching and engaging the community from the ground up. Our Promotoras specific role at the farm is leading “Cooking Matters” which is a series of cooking and nutrition classes offered in Spanish. The goal of the program is to promote healthy eating habits in the community. During the cooking and nutrition classes Las Promotoras educate their community about healthy cooking habits, organic, local and seasonal vegetables and providing guidance in nutrition. Moreover, Las Promotoras relate their experiences to participants about how they are learning to make healthy choices in their own families. Everyone gets to learn how to make healthier choices for their families. For instance, Luz Maria , one of our Promotoras said: “I’m cooking more fresh food at home. I used to go out with my kids all the time. Now, we are spending more time at home eating healthy food and I’m saving money that I can use it to get other things for my kids”.

Las Promotoras have a unique ability to reach into their networks of friends, family, and neighbors. Currently, the Promotoras are running two cooking nutritional classes with 34 participants. The participants are being introduced to “My Plate,” USDA official nutrition guidelines, different ways of cooking seasonal and fresh vegetables in their daily meals, how to read food labels, how to choose low fat meals, and effective planning for grocery shopping.

“The class helped me to know more about organic food, seasonal vegetables, and food labels. Right now, I have more interest in buying fresh vegetables and healthy food. I have a garden in my house and I didn’t use the veggies before but now I will cook every day with my vegetables and I will educate my family about healthy choices. I know It will be hard but we have to make different choices.” -Graduate, Sep, 2011.

“Cooking really matters!” This is part of our reflection after each cooking series. As a result of these classes all of the participants have the opportunity to learn about new vegetables and recipes that they can introduce to their families. The families share their experiences every class after cooking their newly learned recipe at home; they are avoiding fast food and consuming more vegetables and sharing more family meals together. “The Classes have taught me about how to mix vegetables and fruits on my plate. I have learned different recipes that I wouldn’t have imagined I would cook at home and furthermore, that my kids would actually eat it!” -Graduate, Winter 2012. Promotoras are making significant changes in their community and leaving an enormous legacy in all the class participants’ life.

As The Community Engagement Coordinator at Veggielution, I feel so proud of the community I’m working in. They are willing to make changes in their lifestyles, and beyond that, they have become more conscious about all the food on their tables and where it comes from. Not only have they improved their own lives and their family’s lives, but they are helping our environment through eating sustainably grown food. I’m the luckiest person in this moment because I play a part in spreading these important choices and changes to an amazing community of people. Everyone has a right to have healthy food in their daily life, regardless of their background or where they live. There are viable options for building healthy and happy communities. Let’s eat for the health of it!

Yonara Acevedo

Community Engagement Coordinator

Counting down the days until Avant Garden!

julia — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:55:50 +0000

This unforgettable event is just around the corner, have you bought your tickets?

April 13th, 2012 7pm – 10pm

$10 + 1 free food ticket online, $12 at the door

The evening will unfold at The Armory

240 N 2nd St

San Jose, CA 95112

a·vant-garde

a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo
innovative and ahead of the majority
a group of people who invent or promote new techniques or concepts

Ignite your senses for a night of visualizing food and feasting upon art…

Come experience a new way to think about food in our community, through the taste of our Spring harvest, and captivating visual artistry!

Help us catch up with farm work!

Mark Anthony Medeiros — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:45:01 +0000

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Cesar Chavez Day event! The rain changed our plans but it turned out to be a really beautiful day of community and friendship building. The only real drawback to the rain on Saturday was that we had work planned for 200+ volunteers and only a little of it was done – that means we got 500 hours of work we’re behind on. We’re now into the summer planting season so we have peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, beans, summer squash, tomatillos, and a variety of other crops that need to go in the ground. Though the tractor did the majority of our bedshaping their is more of that to do by hand, along with irrigation setup, and a bunch of other tasks on the farm.

So if you have time this week, please come out to our workdays:

Tuesday – 8:30-12:30
Wednesday – 2pm-6pm
Thursday – 8:30-12:30
Friday – 8:30-12:30 – we’re adding back Fridays now that we’re into April
Saturday – 10am-12:30pm

Cesar Chavez Day Celebration this Saturday: Rain or Shine

julia — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:48:37 +0000

Get ready for an action packed day celebrating Cesar Chavez and the Unite Farm Workers. Please dress warm, and be prepared for some rain. The first 200 participants will receive an awesome and free Cesar Chavez Day T-Shirt. See you Saturday. Learn more here

Veggielution Community Farm

State of the Farm: May

Stories From the Ground: Can You Dig It?

Join Our Earth Bench Build

1) Donate Materials

2) Join the Build

BENCH PLASTERING & UNVEILING TBA

Announcing 2 Silicon Valley HealthCorps positions for the summer!

Avant Garden Countdown

This unforgettable event is just around the corner, have you bought your tickets?

April 13th, 2012 7pm – 10pm

$10 + 1 free food ticket online, $12 at the door

a·vant-garde

Ignite your senses for a night of visualizing food and feasting upon art…

State of the Farm: April

Stories From the Ground: A Delicious Class – Sí se puede comer saludable!

Counting down the days until Avant Garden!

This unforgettable event is just around the corner, have you bought your tickets?

April 13th, 2012 7pm – 10pm

$10 + 1 free food ticket online, $12 at the door

a·vant-garde

Ignite your senses for a night of visualizing food and feasting upon art…

Help us catch up with farm work!

Cesar Chavez Day Celebration this Saturday: Rain or Shine

BENCH PLASTERING & UNVEILING
TBA