Posted By julia, on December 7th, 2011
 I am currently working on The Stories Project, which seeks to find out the stories of individuals who are a part of the Veggielution community and how the farm has impacted them in a personal way. So far, what I’ve learned has been intriguing and inspiring: everyone likes to work hard,
No volunteer has yet to tell me they come to Veggielution just for service hours, free produce, and the delicious potluck lunch. They come to Veggielution to feed a hunger for work and to do something real.
The farm offers an escape from careers, school, and day-to-day life and is an entirely different kind of work we are used to doing. Calvin Worsnup, a SJSU computer science student, said it feels good to work with his hands at the farm and after a week of school. Seeing how much the cilantro he helped plant grew in two weeks was a rewarding sight for him.
Continue reading The Stories Project
Posted By julia, on December 7th, 2011
 Our school garden programing has been off to a great start! We’ve been working with folks at both McKinley and Goss Elementary Schools, meeting the needs of the individual schools and school districts (Franklin-McKinley and Alum Rock Union). Our main goal with developing school garden programs is to help create a place where students can learn outdoors in a garden classroom setting about the interrelationships of disciplines and their connectedness to the environment and nutrition.The McKinley School Garden program is in it’s second year and survived a relocation after the school’s summer construction. With the help of volunteers from Slow Food South Bay, Living Better Lives, teachers, parents and students, we were able to build three additional garden beds, fill them with soil, and plant a fall garden. Monica Benavides (aka Miss Monica), Veggielution’s Youth Coordinator, has begun garden lessons with 6th grade students, and will continue with 6 week-long garden units with the different grade levels throughout the school-year.
“This year I started a garden program with Miss Monica. I hope to grow many plants and learn about the life of plants. This is not my first time gardening, but I’m still eager to learn. I have a little garden patch at home, full of healthy fruits and vegetables.” -6th grader at McKinley
Posted By julia, on November 28th, 2011
 November has been a whirlwind month that brought hundreds of volunteers to the farm. This past month was our final chance to get crops in the ground before the days shorten and become even colder, so having a lot of hands on the farm was a huge help. November is also an important time to catch up on other maintenance tasks such as mulching, composting, and propagating crops in the greenhouse for planting early next year. There’s been a lot of work to do, and a lot getting done before we slow the farm down for the winter and focus on planning next season. Before the holidays, we’ll still have a few busy weeks of large workdays during which we’ll be continuing with basic garden maintenance and of course, harvesting food for the farmstand, volunteers and the soup kitchen.
Continue reading State of the Farm: December
Posted By julia, on November 19th, 2011
 About the class:
Come on over to Veggielution and learn the art of hand salve making. We will demonstrate the process of infusing herbs into oils, and adding these infusions to beeswax to make a great healing and moisturizing hand salve. Keep your hands soft and happy during the winter season, or use them as a Hand made gift for the holidays.
About the Facilitator:
Sarah Linn Gallardo has previously taught at both Hidden Villa and Full Cirlcle Farm. She now serves on Veggielution’s board of directors. Sarah has developed a captivating curriculum that delves into the healing properties of the herbs and flowers used in the salve recipe to the step by step process of how to make the salve itself.
Date: Saturday December 17th 2011
Time: 1:30-4:00pm
Spaces Available: 25
Cost: $15.00
Location: Veggielution Community Farm: Picnic tables next to the Lefavre classroom
647 S. S. King Rd95116
For more information contact: Julia Lang (818) 634-8068 or JuliaL@veggielution.org
REGISTER HERE
Posted By Cody Kraatz, on November 3rd, 2011
 The San Jose State University Environmental Studies and Communication Studies departments, with support from the SJSU Office of the President, are putting on another great talk that Veggielutionaries are likely to enjoy.
Jeremy N. Smith, a writer for Gourmet and Saveur and author of Growing a Garden City, will share the surprising, inspiring stories and message of his book, in which 15 main characters he calls “the new faces of local food”—a troubled teen, a grandmother of 20, a homeless shelter chef, a single mother, a food bank officer, an entire first grade class, and more—transformed themselves and their neighborhoods through the intersection of local agriculture and community. Veggielution works hard to create that intersection of local agriculture and community, and we hope you’ll find this interesting and join the discussion.
Named a “Top 10 Book on the Environment for 2011” by Booklist, Growing a Garden City is a story about a diverse group of people who created an “Agriculture Supported Community” by growing food together. Sound familiar? The discussion will focus on how to grow this sort of community movement in San Jose’s own neighborhoods, schools, and city.
When: Friday, November 4, 2011 from 12 to 1 pm
Where: Clark Hall 240, San Jose State University, downtown San Jose
For a map of the campus, visit www.sjsu.edu/map. Clark Hall is a big building near San Fernando and Seventh St., on the north side of the campus.
For more information, contact: annemarie.todd <at> sjsu.edu or rachel.omalley <at> sjsu.edu
Posted By julia, on October 31st, 2011
Originally from Armenia, Armine moved with her family to Fresno when she was eight years old. Four years ago, Armine made her way to San Jose and is currently pursuing her Masters of Fine Arts at San Jose State University. One day while Armine was buying produce at the downtown San Jose Farmer’s Market, she came across Veggielution’s farmstand. The idea of volunteering at the farm interested Armine, and later on that year, she decided to come out to the farm and volunteer.
Armine loved the physical activity matched with the reward of taking real fresh, locally grown veggies home with her. She enjoyed the process of literally seeing the fruit of her labor and how everyone contributes to making the farm run. Most of all Armine felt a strong sense of community amongst the people at the farm. “ The people were definitely one of the main reasons I kept coming back, I met warm, kind hearted, and diverse people at the farm. People at Veggielution had similar interests to mine, and truly care about what’s going on in their community.”
Continue reading Volunteer of the Month: Armine Sarsygan
Posted By Cody Kraatz, on October 27th, 2011
 Parents and children work with Veggielution, learning to garden at the farm so they can build a garden at Cesar Chavez elementary school. In January, Veggielution’s first-ever school garden coordinator, Guadalupe Perez, “Lupe,” began organizing families around the Mayfair neighborhood in East San José, which is the area across the street from our community farm. Veggielution has been working with the local nonprofits Somos Mayfair and La Mesa Verde to get permission to create a garden at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in the neighborhood.
The main purpose of this project is to show that gardening is an important teaching tool, helping students learn the value the land and learn where food comes from. Gardening gives children time to work in the community and engage socially in a free space that enables creative thinking. The experience, other school gardens have shown, can help students better understand what they are eating at home.
So far, 70 families have voiced their support for a school garden at Cesar Chavez. This support includes 32 parents who have children at the school and 38 families that live close to the school.
“The project is very important for me, because my kids are learning gardening and the things I used to do with my family in La Milpa (corn crop),” says Veronica Gomez, from Jalisco, Mexico, who has been involved for several months with her sons, Pablo, 5, and Alex, 2.
Continue reading Cesar Chavez parents work with Veggielution to create a school garden
Posted By julia, on October 21st, 2011
 About the Class:Learn how to grow delicious and nutritious Oyster Mushrooms in your home! We will teach you the basics of mushroom cultivation by going through each step of the growing process and making our own bags of layered spawn and substrate. These bags will produce beautiful blooms of Oyster mushrooms that you can maintain and harvest in your kitchen.
spaces available: 15
time: 1:30pm-4:30pm
location: Veggielution picnic tables, located at the back of Emma Prusch Park: 647 S. King Rd
cost: $30.00
read more here
Posted By Cody Kraatz, on October 19th, 2011
Amie Frisch and Mark Anthony Medeiros, Veggielution’s co-founders, sat down with Content Magazine recently. The magazine, created recently with support from the local community, is a life & style magazine focused on stories of inspiring individuals and businesses in San Jose. It highlights creativity, which is what Veggielution is all about.
What came out is a great account of the farm’s early roots, our social justice mission and the highly productive community we’re all building together at every workday. Check it out, and show your friends!
Veggielution’s Julia Lang is also featured in the issue, describing her first taste of kombucha.
Posted By julia, on September 13th, 2011
 Workshop Description: Although it is hard to think of the end of the Summer, we must admit to ourselves that our tomatoes will not stay ripe on the vine forever. Let’s do our best to preserve the summer tomato harvest and learn the ways of tomato preservation. Canned tomatoes are perfect for making a homemade tomato sauce on a cold winters day. Be prepared and can tomatoes! The talented Sarah Linn and Julia Lang will lead us through the process. Everyone will get to take home at least 1 quart sized jar of tomatoes!
time: 2:00pm-3:30pm
location: Veggielution kitchen, located at the back of Emma Prusch Park: 647 S. King Rd
cost: $25.00 ( pay upon arrival with check or cash)
available spaces: 20
to sign up please email: JuliaL@veggielution.org
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Contact Us info@veggielution.org
General: (408) 634-FARM (3276)
Dig Crew: (408) 6DI-G999
647 S King Rd
San Jose, CA 95116
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