Calendar


Jul
11
Sun
2021
Volunteer Work Party at Farm2Market @ Farm2Market
Jul 11 @ 9:00 am – 11:30 am

Join Alameda Backyard Growers as we work and learn at Farm2Market, one of our favorite Alameda places. Farm2Market (2600 Barbers Point Road) is a great place to learn innovative and sustainable techniques for growing fruit and vegetables. Lots of different tasks will be available – at least one should fit your interests and abilities! Have fun, gain some gardening know how and enjoy the company of other food growers while helping out a valuable Alameda non-profit.

Farm2Market is a small, diversified working urban farm and a social enterprise of Alameda Point Collaborative. The farm employs APC residents to work with staff and volunteers to produce delicious, nutritious fruits and veggies, raw honey and beautiful flowers. Proceeds from its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership program are used to help sustain APC’s supportive housing community.

COVID precautions: If you are fully vaccinated, you are not required to wear a mask. If you are not fully vaccinated, you must wear a mask whenever you are within six feet of another person.

Bring along your garden gloves, water bottle, sunscreen, your favorite hand tools, and whatever else you’d like to make your gardening work comfortable – knee pad, stool, kneeler, etc. Be sure to wear sturdy closed toe shoes!

Volunteers will help weed, sheet mulch, weed whack, compost, etc. After the work party tours of the farm and neighboring MakerFarm will be available.

After you get your ticket, we’ll contact you so you can sign the APC waiver, which is required in order for you to volunteer at this work party.

Questions? Email info@alamedabackyardgrowers.org and put WORK PARTY in the subject of your email.

Farm2Market Work Party

Aug
17
Tue
2021
Greywater, Rainwater Catchment & Groundwater Systems Workshop
Aug 17 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Mano Tondre

Mano Tondre of DIG Cooperative

with Mano Tondre Owner and Designer, DIG Cooperative

Water conservation and water stewardship are vital now in our second year of severe drought. It is time to look for other sources of water to keep our gardens alive. Join us and learn about harvesting and using Greywater, Rainwater Catchment and groundwater systems such as Rain Gardens and Swales for keeping water in your soil. These systems can help save significant amounts of water and help wean us from our hoses.

Mano Tondre is the Owner and co-founder of DIG Cooperative. During California’s drought conditions of 2005, a group of builders and ecologists founded DIG Cooperative Inc. and built the first permitted residential constructed wetland for greywater treatment in California. The greywater wetland is located at the Berkeley Ecology Center’s EcoHouse. He continues to pioneer permitted greywater reuse and rainwater catchment systems across the greater Bay Area, including large scale projects at Chabot Space & Science Center, the San Francisco Zen Center and Skyline High School as well as smaller residential systems.

Enjoy a video of Mano’s presentation by clicking here.

Sep
26
Sun
2021
ABG’s 2nd Annual Plant Swap
Sep 26 @ 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
ABG's 2nd Annual Plant Swap

We are excited to announce our

2nd Annual Plant Swap Event!

Alameda Backyard Growers is inviting you to a socially-distanced, outdoor plant swap.

  • Masks must be worn and a distance of 6ft or more maintained.
  • Everyone must use provided hand sanitizer prior to entering the plant swap area.
  • Attendees must bring at least one plant to donate to the swap.
  • Make sure plants are clearly labeled. Plants should be in good health and in healthy soil, to minimize the possible spread of garden pathogens.
  • Other garden-related items are also welcome: books, magazines, tools in good working order, bulbs and seeds. These will be placed on our FREE table.

Location is outdoors in West Alameda and will be announced 48 hours prior via email reminder. Please be sure to register with a valid email address that you are able to check.

Register by clicking here.

Oct
19
Tue
2021
Gardening for Birds with California Native Plants
Oct 19 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Gardening for Birds with California Native Plants

You can have a beautiful native plant garden that attracts amazing birds, butterflies and other wildlife. Learn about the benefits of local, native plants and some of the wonderful birds that are drawn to this place and to these plants. We will discuss what migrating and resident birds need and how to provide what the birds are seeking. While there are hundreds of bird species that have been observed in Alameda County, learn which native plants attract which bird species and why they are attracted to them. This presentation will cover what to think about in designing your backyard and when to plant. This will inspire you to have an awesome variety of native plants for birds. Golden Gate Audubon and the California Native Plant Society have partnered on Plants for Birds which promotes several local native plants that attract local birds and are available at local nurseries. The Plants for Birds program is all about local and each year more plants are added so that you can grow your garden while increasing biodiversity.

Bios: Eddie Bartley and Noreen Weeden are both active volunteers with the Golden Gate Audubon Society, California Native Plant Society (CNPS), and the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. Eddie is President of the Yerba Buena chapter of CNPS and the Farallones Islands Foundation. He is an avian researcher and instructor for the California Academy of Sciences and Golden Gate Audubon. Noreen Weeden was formerly Volunteer Director with Golden Gate Audubon and is currently project managing a habitat restoration project. She is on the board of Yerba Buena CNPS. Both Eddie and Noreen regularly lead natural history field trips. They can regularly be seen in California’s natural areas birding, removing weeds and tending native plants.

Watch a recording of this presentation here:

Nov
13
Sat
2021
Bay Area Maker Farm Fall Festival @ Bay Area Maker Farm
Nov 13 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
For the love of Goats! There will be pumpkins at the our fall Festival with @apcfarm2market. Our goats love pumpkins.
Bluebell + Sage are here to tell you how excited they are for you to help us launch the pumpkins!
Join us November 13th, 10am-2pm.
Feb
15
Tue
2022
Ergonomics – Caring For Your Body While Gardening
Feb 15 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

February 15, 2022 7:00 pm via Zoom
With Joan Sarlatte, Alameda County Master Gardener

We resume our Zoom meetings in February with a great presentation on ergonomics in gardening.

Want to protect your body while gardening, which can be hard work on a body? Ergonomics is using your body the way it’s meant to be used for safe protection of muscles and joints. Learn good body mechanics in order to spare wear and tear on your body. The goal? Garden as long as you can as you move through time!

Joan is an Alameda County Master Gardener and frequently presents on ergonomics as applied to gardening.

View a recording of this meeting below:

posture is paramount

Apr
23
Sat
2022
ABG Spring Plant Sale @ Healing Garden
Apr 23 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

ABG’s Annual Plant Sale – Saturday, April 23, 2022

This year we will celebrate Earth Day and hold our Plant Sale at Alameda’s West End Healing Garden at the corner of Taylor and Webster Streets (across from Nation’s). From 10 am to 1 pm (or until we run out) we’ll have a variety of heirloom, open-pollinated and hybrid varieties of tomato, veggie, herb and flower starts we grew from seed especially for Alameda’s mild & quirky summer climate.

For the youngsters, there will also be a wildflower seed-ball-making table. So come visit ABG, grab those unusual tomato varieties that ABG is famous for, and celebrate Spring, gardening and Mother Earth! It’ll be only a handful of blocks away from the Saturday Farmer’s Market on Haight St.

ABG Spring Plant Sale 2022

May
17
Tue
2022
Zoom Meeting – Growing Rare Fruit in Alameda
May 17 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Zoom Meeting - Growing Rare Fruit in Alameda

California Rare Fruit Growers and Growing Rare Fruit in a Mild Bay Area Climate.

Brian Lavin is a biologist who does molecular work and herpetology among other things. Having picked up growing plants as a hobby, he decided to concentrate on fruiting plants. He has traveled around California looking at what can grow here and has experimented with growing various species from both seeds and plants. He has been chapter chair for the Golden Gate Chapter of the CRFG since early 2019.

Brian will talk about the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) organization, its goals and how to participate in and benefit from it. He will also give examples of “rare” fruit you can grow, or attempt to grow, in a mild climate like Alameda.

Here’s a recording of Brian Lavin’s presentation:

Jun
26
Sun
2022
Tour of the REAP Center in Alameda
Jun 26 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Alameda Backyard Growers is excited to invite you to a very special field trip Sunday, June 26 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. We’ll be visiting and touring REAP, Alameda’s new Center for Regeneration, Education, Aquaculture, and Permaculture. Now about 40% complete, it’s a half-mile-long outdoor training and science center focused on biodiversity in soil. With a biomimicry-based focus, REAP’s staff and volunteers teach and demonstrate climate competence to empower the ability to grow food, practice urban forestry, and build resilience. The Center demonstrates how healthy microbes in soil enhance nutrition and carbon sequestration at scale, yielding cooler and healthier communities.

Truly a work in progress, REAP is becoming an edible park with a sculpture garden, interactive soil labs, community composting, a permaculture community garden with a free farmstand, and a maker space serving youth through Ph.D.- level curiosity. The exhibits, already underway, will provide materials and tools to green and restore the site and the region at large. REAP will also be whimsical with a Worm World, Fermentation Station, Fungi Hut, Microbe Mine, Biome Boutique, and Hydrology House. These elements, along with beehives, bioswales, and sheep will further maximize the greening of the 4.26 acres.

In its first year REAP created 200 tons of compost with vigorous green waste reclamation efforts. Additionally, the Center created or enhanced over 600 feet of bioswales, spillways, retention basins and water tanks, while managing over 1.5M gallons of water.

For more information about REAP go to: https://www.reapcenter.org/news/annual-update-2022

Tour space on June 26 is Limited, so REGISTER here NOW. REAP’s location, in Alameda, will be provided upon registration.

Tour the REAP Center in Alameda

Jul
19
Tue
2022
Climate Code Red and How You Can Help
Jul 19 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Climate Code Red and How You Can Help

As a member of Alameda Backyard Growers, you are already protecting the climate by preventing food waste through gleaning produce for the Alameda Food Bank, and by reducing food mileage by growing your own food. What else can one person do in such a huge crisis to make a difference? A LOT! Climate change affects our everyday lives with drought, food supply problems, sea level rise, fires and the general survival of nature. This presentation will cover the crisis, solutions and 70 surprisingly simple things individuals can do about it including how to influence others to protect the climate.

Joyce Mercado Bio: Speaker Joyce Mercado earned her Bachelor of Science in Physics at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. She completed Climate Reality Project Leadership training led by Al Gore and joins thousands of other Climate Reality Leaders to give climate protection and sustainability presentations. She is an active member of a local climate protection non-profit, Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda, where she writes a monthly column on Climate Protection for the Alameda Sun and created a Climate Protection Checklist.