All photos by Bowerbird Photography
Jenny was visiting from Portland and Sam Love and I decided to take her on a field trip to the Alemany Farm. Portland is well known for their community and sidewalk veggie gardens, so we were excited to show her what SF had to offer in the realm of urban farming. [Ed. note: while they still can! Check out this week’s story in the print edition about the impending death of many of the city’s agriculture spaces.]
But first we got kind of lost and ended up making a rather huge loop through the neighborhood. Then we saw it, four-and-a-half acres of soil covered in vibrant veggies, trees dripping with stone fruit, and gigantic, golden sunflowers. There was a group of high school students helping with weeding, a volunteer tending to some baby greens and even a windmill. And it just keeps going and going. You start walking up the hill and end up finding loquat trees, huge chard bunches, artichokes. It’s all growing next to each other — a zucchini vine here, an apple tree here — a random quilt of edibles.
The only downside is the proximity to the freeway, which adds a background humm to the farm. (Just pretend like it’s bees.) The garden is volunteer-run and has work days on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It hosts a u-pick program on Wednesday evenings for folks in the neighborhood. Get down there and get your paws dirty!
Alemany Farm
700 Alemany Boulevard, SF
(415) 624-9934