Urban Farming In Oakland

Photo by Jess Watson Recently we were featured in an article along with Esperanza of Pluck and Feather in Edible East Bay, a quarterly publication about the foods of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Yeah, I know, we’re in Solano County but we have a similar demographic to Oakland and we support many of Oakland’s…

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Monday’s Guest – Mel’s Urban Farm Story

Mel, who runs the blog Pollo Loco, shares her urban farming story and photos with us. Our journey towards more self sufficiency started in earnest when we bought our first home in 2005, but in spring of 2010 we had the opportunity to purchase the home I grew up in from my parents.  The first thing…

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Bitches be CRAAAAZY

Our female dog spazzing out with the sprinkler No, I’m not going to talk about my nutso dog. Instead I’m going to share my experience at the Oakland Urban Ag meeting last night. I’m not going to be nice for once and I’m definitely going to call shit out, so consider yourself warned. And for…

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Something Exciting! Thrive!

Alright, I’m going to let the cat out of the bag. I haven’t mentioned anything to anyone except for my mom (Hi Mom!), and a few close friends that were involved. Back in late March we spent two days in the rain with a camera crew at our place. Whole Foods just launched their own…

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Taking it Slowly

Our garden 3 1/2 years ago We’ve been slowly building up our urban farming operation over the last 4 years. We started with gardening and slowly grew our farm – moving to chickens and then acquiring goats and then rabbits. Soon we’ll have our own bee hives and we’re looking into doing pigs, chickens and…

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The Urban Farmer Directory

My friend, Esperanza is taking on the huge task of putting together a directory of Urban Farmers. From her site: WHAT WE’RE DOING Urban Farming and homesteading have taken hold of cities across the U.S. A severe recession and failing food system have prompted many of us to find creative economic solutions and to grow…

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Pluck and Feather Farm

Saturday we got to go hang out with our new friends Esperanza and Dipak of Pluck and Feather Farm in Oakland. We got to also meet Maya and Nevada, who are just starting their homesteading adventures in El Sobrante on 2 acres (Awesome!). And of course we can’t forget Kumar, Dipak’s father, and Marcel, their…

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Classes = Cash Cow

**Warning – Rant Ahead** OK, this is probably going to be rather unpopular with some, but I just have to say it…and it may be long. And keep in mind I generally don’t rant, but this issue has become so prevelant that I just can’t sit back and simply watch it anymore. My issue is…

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Gardening vs. Urban Farming

Part of our ornamental garden What is that tipping point between being a gardener and being an urban farmer? Is there a checklist one must follow before they can legitimately call themselves an urban farmer? To me there is a definite line between “gardener” and “urban farmer” but it doesn’t involve some complicated list of…

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