City Slicker Farms

Farm Assistant Joseph Davis and Program Assistant Katherine Yagle received scholarships to attend the 2015 EcoFarm Conference, an annual conference in Pacific Grove focused on cultivating sustainable food systems. Joseph checked out a few workshops that got him thinking about possibilities for the new West Oakland Farm and Park--one called “Make Your Farm Energy Self-Sufficient,” where he learned about incentives for using alternative energies on the farm, and one called “Biodynamic Beekeeping,” which gave him plenty of ideas for the bees that will live at the Farm Park.

He also attended a workshop called “Science Supporting Organic and Applied Organic Research Needs,” where he learned how plant nutrition and flavor can actually benefit from small amounts of stress, which, as Joseph said, “can explain to our participants why growing in a more natural way creates better tasting and more healthful food.”

Katherine attended a workshop called “Encouraging Urban Agriculture through Innovative Public Policy,” where she learned about many of the efforts going on in the Bay and beyond to make it easier to start farms and community gardens. Next, she checked out a session called “Crowdfunding to Raise Capital for your Business,” which got her mind flowing with ideas for the Rooted in West Oakland campaign to build the Farm Park. Last, she stopped by “El Salvador’s Small-Scale Farmers Reclaim Organic Wisdom and Ancestral Values,” an inspiring story of a group that is working to preserve their community’s ancient agricultural wisdom and reconnect farmers to organic practices. You can learn more about their work here: https://vivaecoviva.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/ecoviva-board-visits-the-ma....

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