A Berkeley forum tackles the legacy of slavery on African-Americans’ relationship with food production, food insecurity, and the whiteness of the food justice movement, among many other topics.
Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]