Come party with us at Veggielution Community Farm’s first ever benefit show!

Bring your friends out for a great night of music and fun! We’ll be mixin’ it up at South First Billiards, playing pool, enjoying the full bar and tasty munchies available for purchase. This is a 21+ event. Doors open at 9 pm.

Enjoy performances by:

~15mm

~The Emerald Hill

~Los Hot Boxers

~Panthelion

We’re asking for a minimum donation of $10. The proceeds of this show will go to support our Summer Youth Program and the day-to-day operations of our urban community farm. We’re bringing our friends together to celebrate our community’s efforts in making Veggielution a success.

South First Billiards is located at 420 South First Street in Downtown San Jose.

Help spread the word and join us for this special event!

*Check out our Facebook Page for additional updates on this event and other happenings at the farm.

Greetings!

There are some exciting new happenings this week and we just couldn’t wait until the next newsletter to share!

New Logo

It’s finally here! After months of sketching and thinking about what we really want Veggielution to represent, we are proud to announce the unveiling of our new logo. The design incorporates the field, the treeline behind the park, the 680 freeway overpass, and finally the silhouettes of farm volunteers in the background. Think about it! We’re a community of hundreds of people creating a farm under a giant freeway overpass. We truly believe what we as a community are creating is incredible, and we’re happy to have a logo that reflects that.

Creating this logo was a collaborative process, and we want to recognize everyone who played a role in it. We want to acknowledge Ercilia Medeiros, who we worked with in the very beginning of this process. Sister to Co-Founder Mark, a travel writer and graphic designer, Ercilia took our ideas and produced the first drafts. After deliberating with the Community Outreach Committee, we passed the torch to Benjamin Henderson, a local designer, musician and good friend of ours. Ben offered us several rounds of designs, incorporating our feedback every step of the way. His final design truly captures the heart of Veggielution.

T-Shirts For Sale Now

Look sharp and show your Veggielution pride! T-shirts will be for sale starting at tomorrow’s workday. They are grey with the logo in green on the front. Price is $15-25 sliding scale – pay what you can. Get yours soon before we run out of your size

Make That Donation

You have been thinking about making that donation… and now is the time. Thank you to those who have already donated, your support is deeply appreciated. Click here to donate now.

Dear Veggielutionaries,

At the beginning of every refreshing workday – with the sun rising from its night’s sleep and the sky arching above our urban landscape – a community comes together. Smiles spread as hugs are exchanged, the air is filled with hellos – evoking an incredible sense of warmth, a sense of belonging to a shared space and mission.

Our volunteers represent the diverse demographic makeup of our San Jose community, comprising locals, students, families, working professionals, adults, youths as well as various cultural communities. We come together every week to work together, to build a healthier and more equitable community in San Jose.

Our volunteers carry the very life and spirit of our shared urban farm – their hands, hard-work, persistence, and commitment have tended the roots from our very beginning to the fruits of our successes. They have prepared our land for agricultural use, planted the seeds and nurtured sprouts, renewed our compost resources, prepared delicious workday feasts, helped with community events and fundraising, and harvested the bounty of our Valley’s delight at Emma Prusch Farm Park.

With your generous contribution, Veggielution can continue to open hearts and minds to healthy food and community, especially during a time of economic difficulties and social uncertainties. Please help support not only a growing farm community, but a movement to ensure a healthier and more vibrant society.

Click here to donate now.

Continue reading Veggielution Needs Your Support

 Continue reading Growing Thymes: May 2010 Newsletter

This month we will be having Family Day on the third Saturday, May 15th, from 11am-12:15pm. Please join us as we explore worms & compost, food art and more! Starting in June we will resume Family Day on the second Saturday of each month from 11am-12:15pm. Read more about Family Day here.

 Continue reading Growing Thymes: April 2010 Newsletter

Continue reading Growing Thymes: March 2010 Newsletter

Tomorrow’s forecast calls for rain, but we will be out at the farm anyway. We understand if you want to spend your day indoors, but for the few people that do come to the farm anyway we will be planting some native plants and doing some greenhouse work as well. Wear your rain gear!

UPDATE Saturday 7:45 am: The rain forecast has been downgraded and it now looks like we will have very little to no rain today. Let the farming begin!

Today’s workday will include:

1. Planting native plants in a hedgerow. A hedgerow is a group of shrubs that attracts good bugs to the farm. We just got a ton of plants and this is the perfect time of year to plant them.
2. Starting 700 tomato seeds plus a bunch of other yummy things.
3. Harvesting bunches of greens and things for the Farmstand.
4. Sheet mulching, turning compost piles, weeding, and more.

We will still be running the Farmstand from 2:30 to 5, so visit us for some fresh veggies including spring onions, beets, lettuce, chard, kale, mizuna greens, choi sum, broccoli and more. Some seedlings for your winter garden will be available too – lettuce, bok choi, and broccoli.

Veggielution had a party last Saturday—a birthday party for one of our youngest volunteers. celebration kicked off what we would like to be a continuing presence of young volunteers at our workdays, especially as we launch our Family Day on March 13.

Sombra, 8, celebrated her birthday on February 20 with a dozen of her friends, siblings and cousins, plus some adults to help organize a handful of activities. Farming at Veggielution is an experience that we hope leaves lasting impressions on young minds, impressions that may lead them to help build a more sustainable future.

Veggielution provided the jars and the fava bean plants, and Sombra’s friends brought their keen eyes to hunt for bugs in the original plot—especially ladybugs. Afterward, Sally Neas, co-director of the VeggieYouth program we’re launching this spring, sat down with the kids to discuss what they found. They learned, for example, how ladybugs help the farm by eating the tiny aphids that like to nibble on our crops.

Continue reading Kids have a blast at Veggielution birthday party

The beets were the first to go. Then the garlic greens.

All told, Veggielution’s farm stand sold $190 and 58.75 pounds of fresh produce harvested from the acre in its first day, and that’s just our winter harvest. Wait till we get into our summer crops and massive yields of tomatoes, zucchini and melons.

It was great to see the dozens of friends and community members who came by on February 13 to buy or just say “hi.” Thank you all for coming, telling your family and friends, and helping ensure that the farm stand ran smoothly on its first day.

“Everyone seemed to go home happy,” reflected Amie Frisch, Veggielution co-founder. “Lots of people were chatting the whole time, and we did a few farm tours. Everyone seemed very excited that we were opening—hopefully they come back as regular customers.”

Continue reading Farmstand opening a big success