Susan Mernit: June 2009 Archives

North Oakland Tuesday Farmer's Market Now Open

By
Susan Mernit
on June 23, 2009 7:59 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
From Max at phatbeeets:
Today, Tuesday (every Tuesday) June 23rd from 2-7 phat beets produce, in
partnership with the children's hospital oakland, is launching a small farmers market at
747 52nd st at MLK (Children's Hospital Oakland) and we need your help.

We have two amazing small farmers with rich histories:
1) JP Organics, a small latino grower from Salinas, who farms at ALBA
  His father was a nursery worker in Salinas fr 20
years and they started a family farm together on 5 acres with ALBA and
grow berries, flowers, and 20-30 mixed veggies organically

2) a J and J Farms (Jorge Ramos) a pesticide free tree fruit
grower from Hughson, Ca.  They grow everything from grapes to apricots,
peaches, apples, everything.  Come enjoy the summer stone fruit,
affordable and pesticide free

Both are small farmers and need your help to make the market a success.
The market aims to serve the families of the children's hospital obesity
clinic, patients of the hospital, and the North Oakland Community. 

We need a lot of outside support to launch the market, so please stop by to
buy some strawberries and say hello.

Oakland Noted

By
Susan Mernit
on June 20, 2009 10:52 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
UpTown rejoices, city pink slips go out
There's major joy about the revitalization of Uptown, the area just north of downtown, which has received roughly $620 million in public and private investment in upscale housing, fine restaurants, new commercial spaces and rehabilitation of the Fox Theater. But at the same time folks are partying to celebrate UpTowns' shine, the city is planning to lay off over 100 city workers, pink slips for the  first 30% in a planned reduction of 319 city jobs; 250 them with active staffers in the roles, just went out. according to the Mercury Ne

Brahm Ahmadi: Food Deserts and what they cost:
"In Oakland, as in other cities, inner city markets are underserved by 30 to 70 percent," Brahm Ahmadi, executive director of the People's Grocery in West Oakland told the Organic Summit conference in Stevenston, Washington this June 19,

 According to Ahmadi, not only do the poorest ZIP codes in the largest metro areas have 30 percent fewer grocery stores than other areas, but the need for these residents to travel out of their neighborhoods generate related costs that add up to $250 MM in revenue not generated per year for both grocers and the city since increased travel time to shop, lost jobs, etc in an urban food desert.

Forage Oakland: Forging ahead despite  fellowship abroad
The wonderful Asiya Wadud is leaving North Oakland for a six-month artists' fellowship in Italy, but promises the site--and the group fruit tree mapping, foraging and food exchange activates will continue with a new set of volunteers.

A Rockridge Life: Is Oakland into the NYTimes?
Are we the city de jour for America's most successful big paper of record? Seems so.

Oakland Breathe Easy: KNCMIT competition

By
Susan Mernit
on June 19, 2009 7:21 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Breathe easy Oakland.ppt

sample message: http://bit.ly/FKaJL

Oakland Breathe Easy: Geo-mapped air quality community map

Description: This Oakland Air Quality mapping project pulls data from air quality databases (EPA, Berkeley Citizens' Project) and displays it in interactive maps. A linked wiki supports visitor/member annotation and self- organizing calls to action. Users can subscribe to mobile alerts that report air quality levels On site email tools allow citizens to send messages to city government, air quality board.

Background: Oakland Breathe Easy will be an interactive, geo-tagged map that complements Oakland Local's focus on environmental justice, air quality, and pollution issues. This map willl complement an ongoing investigative reporting series on environmental pollution and issues in Oakland conducted by OAKL partners Spot.us and Newsdesk.org. Future stories in this series will be published on Oakland Local.

Team Members: Susan Mernit, Chris O'Brien, David Cohn Susan Mernit is the founder of Oakland Local, a hyperlocal news & community hub for Oakland funded by a J Lab new voices grant, and a former Senior Director of Product Development at Yahoo. David Cohn is a journalist and the founder of Spot.us. Chris O'Brien is a Bay area journalist and former Knight winner based in Oakland, CA. \



Asa Dodsworth: Support Berkley Urban Gardening, June 22nd

By
Susan Mernit
on June 14, 2009 2:27 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
URBAN GARDENS UNDER ATTACK?
DEFEND OUR LOCAL FOOD SOURCES!

Monday, June 22, 2009 7-10 pm
BFUU, 1924 Cedar Street (at Bonita) in Berkeley

CONSCIENTIOUS PROJECTOR FILM SERIES of the Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists presents:

Berkeley Code Enforcement is selectively fining activists for supposed "violations" in their gardens with fines that amount to extortion and eviction. They target neighbors actively engaged in helping communities gain some self-sufficiency by organizing permaculture skill shares, work parties, and growing diverse, edible, organic gardens that inspire and feed hungry people, wildlife, bees and other beneficials. In this time of global climate change, ecological collapse, and economic distress, tax dollars are wasted on harassment of urban gardeners by city officials who single out activists for otherwise ignored code, as well as on county and state insect trapping programs that frequently target such gardens with pesticides and quarantines. Homegrown food and ecology is not a crime!

Film: "FRIDAYS AT THE FARM"

Speakers:
Asa Dodsworth (Acton House Victory Garden)
Maxina Ventura (East Bay Pesticide Alert)
Nik Bertulis (Regenerative Design instructor, Merritt College)

Music by Carol Denney and Max
Food by Food Not Bombs

Community Participation Invited
Support Urban Gardens by Growing one Yourself: Sign up for a Community Work Day in Your Yard

Event sponsored by East Bay Pesticide Alert / Don't Spray Califor

Quote of the Day

By
Susan Mernit
on June 13, 2009 11:41 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
"Until recently, whenever we went to the farmers' market, we would lug home $50 pork roasts and $14 gallons of milk. We would spend over $100 on food that might not last more than three days. Sometimes we'd shop on Saturday morning and have nothing to make for dinner on Monday. I shrugged this off as one of those oddities of New York life, like getting a ticket because your neighbor put out his trash on the wrong day. But the $35 chicken made me reconsider. Buying sustainably raised beef and sustainably squeezed milk and sustainably hatched poultry is a way of life that, these days, I just can't sustain."

Peter Wells, The New Chicken Economy, NYTimes Magazine.

Come help at the NORTH OAKLAND FARMERS MARKET

By
Susan Mernit
on June 11, 2009 11:01 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Phat Beets Produce and the Children's Hospital Oakland are proud to
announce the opening of NORTH OAKLAND FARMERS MARKET- the birth of
fresh...

When: Every Tuesday starting June 23rd 2-7PM
Where: The Children's Hospital Oakland 52nd @MLK
What: Organic vegetables and spray free tree fruit
Why:  Affordable, Healthy Fresh Fruits and Veggies for North Oakland.
Contact: www.phatbeetsproduce.org (bbp123@gmail.com or maxc@riseup.net)
******************************
********************************************
Support this all volunteer operated project:

1) Commit to shop at the market every Tuesday for the month of July and
August (let the farmer's know a market is viable for North Oakland)

2) Volunteer with us to get the word out about the market
This Sunday, June 14th 11-1pm Flier North Oakland- meet at 5300 Genoa A
Please RSVP with maxc@riseup.net

3) Adopt a block-  Flier on your own time and adopt a block and pick up
handbills and fliers to post a local shops and telephone posts
email maxc@riseup.net

4) Make a tax deductible donation to Phat Beets Produce to pay for all the
supplies and materials (Make checks payable to OBUGS-our fiscal sponsor
with a line for Phat Beets Produce)

****************************************************************************
Meet your farmer's:

JP Organics- Juan Perez farms organically with his father, Pablo on 10
acres of land in Salinas, Ca through a program called ALBA (Agricultural
Land Based Training Association).  They grow a diverse crop of berries,
flowers, peppers, tomatoes, and greens, and more.  They also run a small
CSA and sell at the Oakland Food Connection Farmer's market in East
Oakland.

J and J Farms- During the course of the year, they sell oranges, almonds,
walnuts, peaches, nectarines, plums and apples plus dried fruits, some
grapes and tomatoes. There fruit is both affordable and spray free from
Hughson, Ca about an 1.5hours from Oakland.

****************************************************************************
Live in West Oakland? The Mandela Food Cooperative is now open- Check them
out on 7th St Across from the West Oakland Bart- Affordable, organic,
spray free, and local.
http://www.mandelafoods.com/

Zach:

By
Susan Mernit
on June 7, 2009 6:34 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
"I notice myself certain tastes and ingredients I constantly look to.  Fresh herbs, mostly parsley, cilantro, and Thai basil.  Chile, of all kinds dried and fresh.  Vinegar. Toasted Cumin and Coriander. These things just kind of sneak their way into whatever I'm cooking.  To tie this into what I was thinking when I was planning the menu for this weeks dinners, Margaret has been on Weight Watchers for a month or so now.  She doesn't need to lose weight at all but it's a good way to maintain where she's at without yo-yoing.  The funny thing is that I eat the exact same stuff she does albeit in larger portions.  I don't feel like I'm on a diet, neither does she.  The reason lies in those above mentioned ingredients.  My cooking style lends itself so well to healthy eating that with a few tweaks to my usual recipes, we have food that works for her Weight Watchers and everything else."

--Zach Jarrett,zach food.gif as always.

June 22 event in Berkeley (I am going, I hope)

By
Susan Mernit
on June 7, 2009 6:07 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Asa Dodsworth is good people and worth turning out for--

ONSCIENTIOUS PROJECTOR FILM SERIES of the Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists:

URBAN GARDENS UNDER ATTACK?
DEFEND OUR LOCAL FOOD SOURCES!

Berkeley Code Enforcement is selectively fining activists for supposed "violations" in their gardens with fines that amount to extortion and eviction. They target neighbors actively engaged in helping communities gain some self-sufficiency by organizing permaculture skill shares, work parties, and growing diverse, edible, organic gardens that inspire and feed hungry people, wildlife, bees and other beneficials. In this time of global climate change, ecological collapse, and economic distress, tax dollars are wasted on harassment of urban gardeners by city officials who single out activists for otherwise ignored code, as well as on county and state insect trapping programs that frequently target such gardens with pesticides and quarantines. Homegrown food and ecology is not a crime!

Film: FRIDAYS AT THE FARM

Speakers:
Asa Dodsworth (Acton House Victory Garden)
Maxina Ventura (East Bay Pesticide Alert)
Nik Bertulis (Regenerative Design instructor, Merritt College)

Music: by Carol Denney and Max
Food: by Food Not Bombs

Community Participation Invited
Support Urban Gardens by Growing one Yourself: Sign up for a Community Work Day in Your Yard

Monday, June 22, 2009 7-10pm
BFUU, 1924 Cedar Street (at Bonita) in Berkeley
(SCENT FREE, PLEASE)

Event sponsored by East Bay Pesticide Alert / Don't Spray California

Contact us if your garden is targeted with harassment or pesticides: (510) 895-2312 or beneficialbug@netzero.net

www.DontSprayCalifornia.org

Flyer for the event:
http://dontspraycalifornia.org/62209defendurbangardens.pdf

Michael Pollan talks in the Bay area

By
Susan Mernit
on June 5, 2009 2:53 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
June 10 - Sacramento - In conversation with AG Kawamura, Secretary
California Department of Food and Agriculture
 
Jun. 12, 2009 San Francisco - screening of the movie Fresh.

June 15 - El Cerrito book signing
 
June 16 - San Francisco - World Affairs Council
 
June 18 - Berkeley - on Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer
http://berkeleyarts.org/  (scroll down)
 
- more California events listed on Roots of Change website at : http://www.rocfund.org/campaign/campaign/upcoming-events

(Thanks, Haney!

COMFOOD: sustainability reading lists

By
Susan Mernit
on June 5, 2009 1:58 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Gathering some more books to read from the COMFOOD list:

Jill Richardson: I've got a list on my blog roll of what I consider must-reads (and I need to add my own book, Recipe for America, to that list too):

Book Recommendations
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
- Appetite for Profit
- Closing the Food Gap
- Diet for a Dead Planet
- Diet for a Small Planet
- Food Politics
- Grub
- Holistic Management
- Hope's Edge
- Mad Cow USA
- Mad Sheep
- The Omnivore's Dilemma
- Safe Food
- Seeds of Deception
- Teaming With Microbes
- What To Eat

Also:

Raj Patel - Stuffed and Starved

Felicity Lawrence - Eat your heart out

Epitaph for a Peach, David Masumoto

Julie Guthman's Agrarian Dreams

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