Work Party Fun!

Hello Everyone!

This is a thank you to everyone who came out to our community work party on April 10th. The day was a great success and much was accomplished. Here are some pictures of the awesome people that were there and the work that they did!

Jenta and a neighbor of the garden planting raspberry starts.


Jacquie, Katie and Anna preparing the ground to plant wildflowers.


Lunchtime! We had amazing beef, chicken, fish and vegetable
shishkabobs with tons of berries from Allison's family farm and lots more!

Anna and a friend preparing the ground where the
compost bins and chicken coop will go.

Briana, Emma and a USF supporter planting citrus trees.
This one's meyer lemon!


Stephanie and Allison preparing posters and signs for the garden.


Katia and Christina mixing compost in the soil before
the berry bed is planted.
Peter working hard on his homemade compost bins.

Photographs from the Work Day

This past Saturday, April 10th, under a cloudy-chance-of-rain kind of day we enjoyed the grill, earth, and eachothers' company.

Peter building a compost bin.
Katia's got enthusiasm to plant root crops in our stacked bed.
Heather puts on her best farmer face while Chris spreads compost and Jenta does plumbing work to install the drip irrigation.
Anna preps the space for the chicken coop.

Booker T's Ariel and DeVonte dig out the old potato tower to make space for the new one!

Replanting Borage.

Thanks to everyone who helped!

Work-Party on Saturday, April 10th

When: Saturday, April 10, 9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

What: A day filled with fun, food, music, entertainment, raffles, and garden work.

Where: Booker T Washington Community Center, 800 Presidio Avenue on Presidio and Sutter

Who: USF Capstone class, the children and teachers of Booker T, local community members and YOU!

Why: to create community awareness and support, raise funding to continue our work, meet supporters and work on the garden.

What to wear: hat, gardening gloves, clothes you can get dirty, sunglasses and sunscreen.

What to bring: a plate, a fork and a blank, light-colored t-shirt to put a Booker T garden logo on it!

Questions? contact: bookergarden@gmail.com

First Work-Party, Saturday March 27

Tyrun weedwacking so we can make compost
and clear the area for planting wildflowers!

Vicente and Jenta working hard to move dirt
and make the bed level.

Once the bed is weeded and level, we can
plant in it!

This entire bed used to be overgrown
with weeds and had a fallen tree in it!

This past Saturday was very productive and inspirational! We can visibly see the fruits of our labors everyday in the garden. Today we managed to weed out the entire G bed and about 1/3 of the sloped area. This is where grapes, raspberries, blackberries and wildflowers are going to be planted. We also had to level G bed because all the dirt had shifted down and then compost was mixed in to fill the bed and enrich the soil! I am still amazed by how different things look from when we began. Perhaps at the end of this semester there will be a before and after post? This is just a taste though, of the work-party happening this Saturday, April 10th! We need many hands to accomplish our goals! Please tell your friends and family to come by and support us if you like what we are doing and trying to do. It's going to be a lot of fun and there are going to be a lot of interesting, motivated people there. Come check it out this Saturday!

Booker T Fundraiser and Community Work Day!

When: Saturday, April 10, 9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

What: A day filled with weeding, enhancing the garden, raffles, music, food and having fun!

Where: Booker T Washington Community Center, 800 Presidio Ave on Presidio Ave and Sutter

Who: USF Capstone class, the children and teachers at Booker T, members of the community

Why: work on the garden, meet community members, raise more money and awareness of the garden

What to wear: hat, gardening gloves, sunscreen, clothes you can get dirty, sunglasses

What to bring: a plate, a fork and a blank, light-colored t-shirt to put a Booker T garden logo on it!

Questions? contact: bookergarden@gmail.com

The Garden!!!

Group Photos...

The shed, planned to be taken down

Welcome to the Booker T Washington Community Center Garden Revitalization Project!

This project is in association with the Booker T Washington Community Center (BTWCC) and the University of San Francisco's Environmental Studies Capstone course. This course has historically been designed as a service-learning course which involves Environmental Studies students in a local project and putting their course knowledge to practice. This Spring 2010 semester will be the inaugural group for what will be a long-term rehabilitation project of BTWCC's garden, and the transformation of it into a community garden on the border of the Western Addition neighborhood and Laurel Heights neighborhood.

This garden was abandoned years ago by the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners but we have discovered that it is still a very important asset to San Francisco and we hope to significantly restore it. The garden has the potential to provide community growth through gardening projects, and will work with the hope in creating a healthier San Francisco by providing fresh produce for the weekly community food distribution. The garden will also incorporate gardening and nutrition education to children, as BTWCC provides after school and summer program services.

In the next coming weeks the class will focus on:

-implementing our permaculture design which includes several beds for vegetables, fruits and trees

-bringing in a chicken coop with 3 or 4 chickens and potentially creating a program in which members of the community care for the chickens in exchange for eggs; also installing a worm bin

-having a community work day on Saturday, April 10 with music and BBQ

-restoring and building new structures in the garden (outdoor kitchen, education gazebo, bringing in a solar oven)

-bringing in a compost bin and compost tumbler

-educating children in the after school program on composting, working with animals, and fundamentally where their food comes from; also having them work with weeding and planting in the garden

-creating a rain catchment system utilizing gutter water and other outlets of water in the garden

-testing the soil of various plots to ensure full potential for the particular vegetables, fruits and trees we would like to plant

Fundamental design for BTWCC garden:

Plot A- keyhole shaped which includes borrage and strawberries

Plot B- spinach, cabbage, chard, celery, onion, beets, chamomile

Plot C- collard greens, carrots, kale, radish, parsnips

Plot D- a fruit tree and bean teepee

Plot E- still to be decided

Plot F- fruit trees, potato towers

Plot G- lavender, artichoke, grapes, blueberries

Some pictures thus far of the class members at the garden (courtesy of the Environmental Studies Capstone Wiki page):

Doug Murray with a tree root

Jacquie Siegel from the Soils Test and Management group

Vicente Lam from the Soils Test and Management group