Come on down to our Farmstand for some fresh, local, delicious veggies grown by the youth and volunteers at Veggielution! Pricing is sliding scale so pay what you can. We are very excited to make the fruits of our labor available to the community. The farmstand will be open every Saturday afternoon.

Winter is the time to get your greens on and make some amazing salads (since that is what grows now). Here is what we are likely to be selling: green garlic, beets, cilantro, rosemary, green onions, lettuce, choi sum, collards, kale, broccoli, arugula, chard, and pak choi

As the season progresses we will be adding more goodies like peas, cauliflower, and cabbage. We will also be ready to help you out with cooking suggestions, so don’t be afraid to try something new.

Continue reading Growing Thymes: February 2010 Newsletter

Thinking about selling your old truck, but don’t want the hassle? Think about donating your truck to our non-profit farm for a great tax write-off! We’re Veggielution, a non-profit community farm in San Jose that grows food on our 1-acre farm at Prusch Farm Park in San Jose, CA. Veggielution empowers youth and adults from diverse backgrounds to create a sustainable food system in San Jose. Our urban farm engages the community by providing access to healthy and local food, creating youth leadership opportunities, and developing creative solutions to social and environmental justice issues.

We’re in serious need of a truck for hauling material and bringing our produce to the market and to the local soup kitchens we donate to. So far, we’ve relied on the borrowed cars and trucks of farm volunteers, but as the 2010 season approaches, without our own truck we don’t know what we’re gonna do! It doesn’t have to be nice, just in good working order and fairly reliable. You’ll be doing a great thing for the community and better yet, it will be tax deductible for the value of the car!

Email us at info@veggielution.org if you think you can help

After a pilot program this Fall, Veggielution is proud to announce the upcoming Spring 2010 VeggieYouth program!   Americorps members Sally Neas and Jessie Nichols will be coordinating and running the program which will focus on sustainable agricultural practices, local food systems, cooking,  nutrition, and environmental justice issues.  The program will be joining the community work day on Saturdays in addition to an afterschool session on Thursdays, so you can look forward to getting to know our VeggieYouth this spring!  Any interested youth can apply and get more information under the VeggieYouth tab.

Continue reading Growing Thymes: January 2010 Newsletter

We’re starting fresh with our Community Outreach Committee for the new year! The committee is responsible for:

• distributing flyers,
• giving classroom and community presentations,
• tabling at community events and the farmstand,
• and planning events.

We’re looking for Community Outreach Leaders to help spread the word about Veggielution. In order to continue to the develop the diversity among our volunteers, we need to really reach out to a diverse crowd. There are still a lot of people who can greatly benefit from the farm, whether it’s volunteering and harvesting food for their family, or learning about growing food to improve their own garden. Veggielution Community Outreach Leaders will fill the role of bridging Veggielution with the local community.

If you’ve already been a part of the Community Outreach Committee, then come on back. If you haven’t, come check it out. Community Outreach Leaders will need to:

• dedicate 10-15 hours a month to the committee,
• attend at least 2 workdays a month,
• and attend a 1-1.5 hour bi-weekly meeting.

Our first meeting will be a week from today, Thursday, Jan. 14th at El Patio Restaurant at 6:30pm.

El Patio is located at 1635 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose, CA 95116. At this meeting, we’ll decide a regular meeting time.

If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call.
We hope to see you there!

~Monica Lisa
Community Outreach Director
lisa@veggielution.org
(408) 833-4667

Reminder: As of today we have switched to Saturday workdays instead of Sundays. Hope to see you there!

So, the chili for Sunday’s lunch was a hit. I recieved several requests for the recpipe; here it is! The recipe is actually originally vegetarian, so the beef can be ommitted. And don’t forget the key ingredient to any recipe: LOVE!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2.5 cups onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2.5 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2” peices
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• one to three 15 ounce cans black beans, depending on how beany you are feeling, rinsed and drained
• 1 pound ground beef, give or take a pound, depening on how beefy you are or aren’t feeling
• 2.5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
• 3 cups packed coarsely diced chard

Preparation:

In a skillet, brown the ground beef over medium high heat; set aside.  In a large, heavy stock pot, heat oil over medium high heat.  Add onions and garlic and saute until tender and golden, about 9 minutes.  Add the squash, cumin and chili; stir for 2 minutes.  Stir in the beans, broth, beef, and tomotoes in juice.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the squash is tender, about 15 minutes.  Stir in the chard and simmer until the chard is tender but still green.  Serve hot with some corn bread; preferable on a rainy day, but delicious in all weather!

We have 2 major schedule changes this holiday season:

1. All Workdays and Harvests from Dec 22 – Dec 27 are cancelled.
2. Starting Jan 2nd our Sunday Workdays will switch to Saturdays.

This means that this coming Sunday is our very last Sunday workday of the year (and ever)! See our calendar page for a complete list of upcoming workdays and events.

Happy Holidays!

This is just a quick note to let you know that the workday is happening today, even though we will get rained on a little bit. It looks like the rain today will be on and off, and if it gets too heavy for a little while we can huddle in the greenhouse or under our canopy. Otherwise there is lots of important work to get done today, so put on your rain gear and come on out.

And even if you don’t come to the workday, please do still join us in the Meeting Hall for our Volunteer Appreciation Lunch at 12:30! The Meeting Hall is in the front of the park across from the white farm house.