with Birgitt Evans & Marla Koss
Happy Earth Month! What are you doing to show the earth some love? Food Shift invites you to join us on May 18th to learn how you can help reduce wasted food to create healthy communities and a healthy planet.
In the U.S. 40% of the food produced is wasted, and if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of green house gases. By recovering food, we are saving Earth’s precious resources that would have been wasted and the harmful greenhouse gases emitted in disposal. Last year Food Shift recovered 35,000 lbs of food, which is equivalent to the carbon footprint of driving accross the United States 10 times!
We are connecting the dots between wasted food and the contradictory fact that 1 in 7 people are food insecure in the U.S. and many face high barriers to employment. Food Shift sees these interconnected problems as an opportunity to create a scalable and replicable model that integrates education, environmental sustainability, and workforce development as part of a holistic vision for healthy communities and individuals. This is the vision of The Food Shift Kitchen.
Tour The Food Shift Kitchen and enjoy a delicious vegetarian buffet meal made from recovered produce. All proceeds from the event go directly to supporting Food Shift’s efforts to recover more food, feed more people, and create more jobs.
Capacity is limited, purchase tickets soon.
This 19th of May, APC invites you to eat, celebrate, and advocate for a great cause at the Alameda Point Collaborative Farm. Give extra meaning to words strength, home, and growth.
APC will be hosting its annual fundraiser on May 19th from 1pm to 3pm. This farm to table experience will happen in the center of APCs 2 acre urban farm and, will include a completely organic and sustainable meal prepared with produce sourced directly from the farm.
Alameda Point Collaborative hosts this unique and elevated fundraiser ever year to raise funds for its residents living within its supportive housing community on the decommissioned Naval Base at Alameda Point. With every dollar raised, APC is given more support in its mission against fighting homelessness and poverty.
So, we ask that you join us for a beautiful meal on the farm and open your hearts to the beautiful community that is APC. May 21st, give the gift of strength, home and kindness at Alameda Point Collaboratives Urban Farm to Table Luncheon.
The City of Alameda is now a leader in reducing plastic pollution!
Join us May 30th (6-8 pm) for the award-winning documentary STRAWS, and meet the woman who inspired Alameda’s local student movement to eliminate plastic straws (and now all plastic food ware) in Alameda.
DETAILS:
Jackie Nunez, founder of The Last Plastic Straw, will present an award to the City. Jackie will show a special presentation of the 30-minute film “Straws” (narrated by Tim Robbins) which highlights impacts of plastic pollution and how communities across the nation, like Alameda, are making a difference. ReThink Disposable Youth Ambassadors (local high school students) will present new findings.
Alameda is an island impacted on all sides by marine litter, mostly single- use plastic food packaging. Last year, Clean Water Action’s ReThink Disposable program selected Alameda for its groundbreaking community-wide project, Unpackaging Alameda, where over 100 restaurants throughout the city are being recruited to reduce disposable food ware in favor of reusables.
On May 30th, The ReThink Disposable Youth Ambassadors will present their findings, celebrate the ReThink Disposable restaurants in Alameda (over 40 already signed-up!), and inspire us as we make our transformation toward a plastic-free Alameda.
Sponsored by CASA, Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund, and City of Alameda’s waste reduction initiatives. This is a FREE event. All attendees will receive their very own reusable, metal straw!
Hi Pickers,
Hope you’ve been well! Come and help us pick at least one lemon tree on Saturday, June 2 from 2 to about 3:30 PM. The location will be provided when you contact me.
Please bring gardening gloves if you have them, water and a hat.
Also, please let me know if you need Project Pick postcards to distribute to help recruit your neighbors with fruit trees to donate their fruit.
Jillian
Take the mystery out of tree pruning with this hands-on workshop! Learn the basics and leave with skills you can start using immediately.
Topics covered include:
- How trees grow
- Why pruning keeps trees healthier
- How trees react to pruning
- Seasonal pruning
- How to prune properly
- Common pruning mistakes
- Identifying a properly pruned true
and more!
The workshop will also include a show-and-tell of different types of wood, branches, branch collars, compartmentalization of decay in trees. Bring your questions and come prepared for a fun interactive learning experience.
Tony Wolcott is a Certified Landscape Horticulturalist, Certified Irrigation Designer, Board Certified Master Arborist, Master Composter, and Bay Friendly Designer. His work experience includes being the urban forester at the Cities of Albany and San Francisco, non-profit work with Friends of the Urban Forest, Our City Forest, and arborist representative with Bartlett Tree Experts. Currently he is professor of Arboriculture within the Horticulture division of the Biology Department at Diablo Valley College.
Join us for Alameda Backyard Growers’ Second Annual Garden Tour. This year, Mary Sotelo is opening her beautiful garden, which showcases her love of color and edibles. Much is packed into a small backyard. Fruit trees are kept small to maximize space. Large containers are also used. In addition to fruit trees, berries and veggies, the garden includes chickens (who enjoy a chandelier in their coop), compost bins, and a garden wall of Talavera Mexican pottery. The garden is an important part of the curriculum of Mary’s preschool, allowing children to learn about gardening and where our food comes from.
About the gardener: Mary got her love of gardening from her grandmother at an early age. The last few years, she converted some of her flower beds into veggie beds, so she could have fresh, organic veggies right outside her door. For now, the garden is her perfect mix of art, flowers, and edibles.
This event is now full.
Hi Project Pickers,
We have a quick plum pick this coming Saturday, June 30 (this month has FLOWN by!) at 11 AM.
Come and enjoy being together and picking summer stone fruit! Email info@alamedabackyardgrowers.org to RSVP and I will advise the location.
Please bring gardening gloves if you have them, water and a hat.
Also, please let me know if you need Project Pick postcards to distribute to help recruit your neighbors with fruit trees to donate their fruit.
Jillian
Hi Pickers,
Believe it or not we have lots of oranges and lemons to pick in the middle of summer! We need to go back to a backyard that has several orange and lemon trees with delicious fruit!
Let me know if you can join us on Saturday, June 14 from 2 – 3:30 PM and I will give location details.
Bring a hat, water, and gardening gloves if you have them.
Thanks! Hope to see you soon!
Jill
Project Pick Coordinator
with David Blood, Master Gardener of Alameda County
July 21, 2018, 2 to 3:30 pm
Alameda Main Library, 1550 Oak Street, Alameda
Yes, summer gardening may be starting to wind down. But in the Bay Area, we can grow food three, or maybe even four, seasons of the year. In the fall, some crops actually do better than in the summer, because pest problems may be fewer. David Blood, long-time Alameda County Master Gardener, will speak on how to approach the fall and winter garden: what crops work and what to avoid, how to start seeds for the fall/winter garden, and other issues to consider. David’s presentation will be followed by a seed starting workshop, featuring seeds suitable for the fall and winter garden. Take home a six-pack of planted seeds and try out a fall/winter garden!
About our Speaker: David Blood became an Alameda County Master Gardener in 2001, and has many years of experience growing food. He co-leads the ACMG Lake Merritt Trials Garden, which conducts tests of which varieties do best in our moderate western Alameda County climate, provides presentations on growing food each summer, and showcases the plants named Outstanding Plants of Alameda County.