A Must Read: Farm City, by Novella Carpenter...

Feb 25, 2011 by

A Must Read: Farm City, by Novella Carpenter

With the up and coming Truck Farm project, which will soon pick up speed, I couldn't help but read this fabulous book by an Oakland neighbor, Novella Carpenter. It's a memoir, I suppose, but it's almost more of a travel narrative through the jungles of urban farming. Though gardening and beekeeping are no foreign hobbies of Carpenter's, her virgin foray into raising her own meat in the Oakland ghetto has the exotic surprises, disappointments, and delights of a globe-trotting reportage. In Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, Carpenter guides us through the creation of her urban farm in a shady corner of Oakland. Fatal shootings occur down the street, police repeatedly whisk her car-dwelling neighbor away, and overgrown vacant lots surround the small house she rents. But it's the vacant lot and...

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Americorps for Gardeners–Check It Out!...

Feb 10, 2011 by

Americorps for Gardeners–Check It Out!

Are you looking to make a difference in the world? Interested in food issues, gardening, or children's health? If so, then you should TOTALLY check out FoodCorps! FoodCorps is seeking young men and women interested in food, agriculture, community organizing, education, health, and public service to serve in the first class of FoodCorps Members. The one-year term goes from August 15, 2011 and ends August 14, 2012. The goal of the program? To "increase the health and prosperity of vulnerable children, while investing in the next generation of farmers and public health leaders." Sounds awesome, doesn't it? If you're interested, go to this website to learn more information (http://food-corps.org/). And make sure to check out the video...

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Donate Your Truck and Make it Famous!...

Feb 8, 2011 by

Donate Your Truck and Make it Famous!

Do you have an older truck that you're trying to sell or get rid of? Consider donating your truck for an awesome cause and launch your truck into fame! Truck Farm (http://truck-farm.com/) is a nonprofit that gets local farmers to find used trucks, fill up the bed with dirt, plant a garden, and drive the Truck Farm around to visit kids in urban areas and teach them about where their food comes from. Truck Farm was started up by Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, the makers of King Corn, a Peabody-award winning documentary about the production of corn in the U.S. The Truck Farm pilot program started up in Brooklyn, New York last year and had folks like Michael Pollan and Alice Waters working on the project. Now Truck Farm's goal is to launch...

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Kickin’ off Truck Farm, Nor Cal...

Jan 28, 2011 by

Kickin’ off Truck Farm, Nor Cal

If you're driving around the San Francisco Bay Area and you happen to see a truck rattle by with a garden blooming in the truck bed, try not to let it distract you too much. I wouldn't want you to get into a car accident. That'll just be me and the Nor Cal Truck Farm crew traveling around, heading off to visit some kids. Truck Farm, you ask? Yes, it's exactly what you're thinking: A truck with a garden in the back. Truck Farm is an exciting project dreamed up by my heroes Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis who won the Peabody award in 2007 for their hit documentary, King Corn. It all started in Brooklyn, New York in 2009, when Ian planted a vegetable garden in the bed of his grandfather’s 1986 Dodge...

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