In addition to their initial garden build--which includes two boxes, trellises, and a fruit tree--participants in our Backyard Garden Program receive additional services as needed: gopher proofing, additional planter boxes if they desire more growing space, fruit tree pruning, and oftentimes a rebuild. Our raised beds last years for most Backyard Gardeners, but eventually they do rot out. When that happens, Garden Program Manager Alison Fischman brings a crew to completely rebuild the beds--a big task, and one she wanted to do less frequently.

Alison has dreamed of redesigning the raised beds for years, and this month, with the help of other staff and volunteers, her dream became reality. With input from rockstar volunteers Matt Wolpe and Chad Mills, Alison engineered the new box design, which features bolts instead of screws and 4”x4” posts at all of the corners. She installed the first new boxes at Friendship Christian Center’s Backyard Garden build on April 10 with great success. Here’s to a future with fewer rebuilds!

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.

Backyard Gardener Erica Marcus donated lemons from her tree to our first farmstand of 2015 on Saturday. We asked her to share some of her favorite lemon recipes with us.

When I moved to West Oakland, I fell in love with my house because of the incredible lemon tree in my backyard. It loves my backyard and for the last twelve plus years, it has provided thousands of lemons to me and my neighbors. For the last year and a half, whenever possible, I bring a bucket of lemons to City Slicker Farms Saturday Farm Stand. 

The Alameda County Early Care & Education Planning Council recently released a video documenting the importance of green education in child care programs. The video features a garden City Slicker Farms built with Unity Council - De Colores Head Start.

This winter, in an effort to keep Backyard Gardeners’ fruit trees healthy and share pruning skills, City Slicker Farms’ staff and mentors are embarking on a first-ever fruit tree pruning project, heading out into backyards across West Oakland. Although CSF has traditionally offered some winter assistance to Backyard Gardeners, such as pruning and dormant spraying, Backyard Garden Program Coordinator, Alison Fischman, found that it was not meeting Backyard Gardeners’ needs. 

West Oakland renters applying for a Backyard Garden got a boost this year thanks to the Neighborhood Food Act. The new law makes it illegal for landlords to prohibit their tenants from growing edible fruits and vegetables for their own consumption. Backyard Garden Program Coordinator Alison Fischman said the new law will be a positive change for the City Slicker Farms community. 

In early October, Childcare Garden Program Coordinator Sarah Karlson and a very enthusiastic group of staff, children, and parents worked together to build a garden for Helen Turner Children's Center in Hayward. This garden was specifically designed to be accessible by children in wheelchairs. In just four hours, the group assembled boxes, strung trellises, shoveled soil, planted seedlings and installed irrigation. At the end of the day this beautiful garden was finished!

City Slicker Farms is partnering with StopWaste, a public agency that encourages recycling in Alameda County, to promote the use of your green bin at home.  

Backyard Garden Program Coordinator Alison Fischman was on maternity leave for four months this year, but she's not letting that stop her from reaching her goal of thirty Backyard Garden builds. 

Every year, we aim to build at least thirty new backyard gardens for West Oakland residents.