City Slicker Farms

On a recent Saturday afternoon, the Ralph Bunche School Nursery rang with the sound of drills as a new raised bed was being installed. This wasn't the typical garden build, though -- the construction of this bed was the culmination of a project that City Slicker Farms' Youth Crew had been working on for several weeks. The project, which involved learning how to use power tools, learning about soil and compost, and growing plants from seed, is one of many projects that five Oakland youth are working on as part of City Slicker Farms' paid summer internship. 

Tory, Rayahna, Solomon, Saurabh, and Arshae participate in all aspects of urban farming, from building compost piles to harvesting vegetables to caring for chickens. They assist at our Saturday sliding-scale farmstand and weekly healthy food demonstrations, and help grow seedlings at the greenhouse that will be planted out in City Slicker Farms' community market farms and backyard garden program participants' gardens.

In addition to working on the farms, Youth Crew members participate in weekly food-justice workshops and summer-long art and educational projects. Our youth had a hands-on class with a local carpenter, where they learned how to use tools and and then built a planter box from recycled lumber. Youth went on a bike tour of West Oakland to learn about our community's history and the social justice movements that were born here. Youth are designing and painting a mural about food, ecology and community with the support of a local mural artist. They are documenting and telling the story of their summer through photoessays with the support and mentoring of a local photojournalist. 

Last month, Youth Crew members attended the 2015 Youth Food Justice Summit at Pie Ranch in Pescadero with over 100 youth from other food justice organizations from all around the Bay Area for farm tours, workshops like making fermented pickles and learning yoga, eating farm-fresh food, and sharing with other youth. 

"I really like helping my community," Youth Crew member Rayahna said. "At farmstand you know what you're eating and you know it's safe to eat."

She says one of her favorite things to do  at farmstand is talk to the elders from the community. "They talk about the community and how it used to be, and they like hearing about the Youth Crew, too. They think it's a good thing."

About his summer, Solomon said,  "Instead of laying in bed I'm planting out garden beds. I get to help build something in our community."

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