Echoes of social justice programs that the Black Panther Party started resonate within current East Bay food-justice groups.
Spiral Gardens
Posted inHousing & Development
For Sale sign at Spiral Gardens met with confusion, alarm
This tiny triangular plot of land in front of Spiral Gardens is for sale for $150,000. Photo: Jenny Strauss This tiny triangular plot of land in front of Spiral Gardens is for sale for $150,000. Photo: Jenny Strauss It started with a “For Sale” sign, prominently displayed to traffic whizzing up and down Sacramento Street in South […]
Posted inCity, Nature
Berkeley groups want old railroad bed to be a public park
The Santa Fe Right of Way is closed to the public. Photo: Mary Flaherty A group of local residents is asking the city to raise funds to turn an old, fenced-off railroad bed in South Berkeley, called the Santa Fe Right of Way, into open space with community gardens and a trail that connects to […]
Posted inCity, Housing & Development
‘Innovative’ housing with rooftop farms set for Southside
A photo-simulation of Garden Village at 2201 Dwight Way in Berkeley. Image: Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects City zoning board members approved a 77-unit mixed-use housing development near downtown Berkeley late last week, expressing excitement about a “unique” design set to include more than a dozen working rooftop farm plots and a novel approach to parking. “Garden […]
Posted inNature
High lead levels an issue for backyard chickens, soil
A local vet shares his concerns that people are raising chickens in lead-contaminated urban soils, unaware that the lead can enter the chicken eggs we eat.
Posted inCity, Nosh
Berkeleyans closer to being able to sell backyard produce
Until now, Berkeley’s zoning codes have prohibited selling backyard produce in a residential neighborhood. Photo: Tracey Taylor In August 2010, Sophie Hahn told a reporter it was easier to have a pot collective in Berkeley than to have a vegetable collective. Last night Hahn’s desire to see the city allow residents to sell the food they grow […]
Posted inNosh
Field trip highlights programs in food-forward Berkeley
Berkeley’s alternative food programs and businesses in the spotlight on a food soverignty tour co-hosted by Bay Area Green Tours Saturday.
Posted inNosh
Urban farmer Willow Rosenthal plants seeds in Berkeley
Willow Rosenthal harvests Sophie Hahn's garden. Photo: Sarah Henry. The aptly named Willow Rosenthal grew up around trees in Sonoma County in a community that farmed its own food. Raised by hippies who didn’t have a lot of money, she nonetheless ate well. She also learned how to grow her own food by working on […]
Posted inNosh
Garden teacher Kim Allen offers youth space to grow
Kim Allen at the Bancroft Community Garden. Photo: Sarah Henry. For four years Kim Allen has served as garden program manager for Berkeley Youth Alternatives (BYA), which provides a minimum-wage, internship program for socio-economically challenged adolescents ages 14 to 18. Some come to the garden through word-of-mouth from family or friends, others as part of […]
Posted inNosh
Spiral Gardens produce stand in jeopardy
Like many nonprofits, it took a while for the downturn in the economy to impact the nursery sales at Spiral Gardens, a community food security project on Sacramento Street in South Berkeley. But this spring and summer plant sales dropped off dramatically, says co-director Lisa Stephens, and now the nonprofit may be forced to close […]
Posted inNosh
Berkeley Bites: Daniel Miller, Spiral Gardens
Just around the corner and down the street from where I live on a stretch of Sacramento Street that includes liquor stores and the dodgy characters who frequent such places, you’ll find Spiral Gardens, a slightly disheveled verdant oasis on a fenced in corner of a formerly empty city lot. It’s a welcome addition to […]
Posted inNosh
Berkeley Bites: Ben Feldman, Farmers’ Market man
This weekend, Berkeley’s Saturday farmers’ market reaches its 20th anniversary milestone. Ben Feldman is program manager for the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, a project of the Ecology Center. Previously, Feldman worked as a market manager for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association. The 30-year-old lives in Albany with his wife and two young children. The Tuesday farmers’ market […]