The Super Amazing No Drip Rapid Reel

Suzi and Rebecca with Koshland Garden's brand new watering reel.

Very proud and happy after spending half of Friday assembling our brand spanking new, heavy-duty, no drip, all-amazing Rapid Reel. Watering the garden will be a breeze with this baby. The days of water spraying and dodging water puddles are in the past. Please be kind to our new addition and treat Rapid Reel with nothing but respect. ~ Rebecca

Let Us Grow (and we did!)

What a delight the last two weeks has been!! Suzi and I were fortunate enough to work with some very special youth for our first ever summer garden camp in Koshland Park called Let Us Grow! Our days were filled with laughter from start to finish.

Let Us Grow! was positive in so many ways. We grew sunflowers seeds, formed new friendships, learned how to prepare garden fresh food, and discovered a sense of place. The camp focused on gardening, and thus food and nutrition, arts and crafts, and community. Two weeks flew by, but by the end we all appreciated the garden and the overwhelming amount of life it has to offer; now newly decorated with disco balls, mylar flags, beautifully painted signs, sunflower seeds, new plants, and SO MUCH LOVE!!

Some of the highlights from Let Us Grow were the field trips we planned, not your normal, go to a museum field trip. Rather, the field trips complimented the goals of the camp and, therefore, the trips revolved around fresh, delicious, healthy FOOD. Our first trip was to the farmer's market at Civic Center, also stopping and playing at all the beautiful parks on the way and way home.

Here we are getting our lunches ready to go. Once at the farmer's market we meet the famers and tasted their many scrumptious fruits, including tayberries, strawberries, plums, peaches, nectarines, and even some savory olives.

Together we also visited RNM in Lower Haight. WHAT A TREAT!!! Nik was kind enough to come and spend a day with us in the garden and the following week we walked down Haight street to RNM. He let all the kids make their own fresh pizza with the topping(s) of their choice. Then, after saying our thanks, we sat together at our formal dining room table with fresh flowers sprinkled all over it and dined on fresh garden salad and homemade pizzas. YUM!


Millennium, referred to as the fancy vegan restaurant, was another very special treat. After teaching the kids about vegan food, we bussed downtown. Chef, Eric Tucker, greeted us and gave us a private tour throughout the restaurant where we learned about the restaurant decor and how it comes from reused products like seat belts or old feed sacks. Moving on we visited the kitchen downstairs, meet some of the staff, checked out the fresh veggies and fruit in the frig, and then picked out some fresh veggies and fruit to make our lunch. Together we tossed a fresh salad of mixed lettuce with peaches, cucumbers, tomatoes, with a sweet peach vinegarette. For our main, Eric, created a divine pasta dish adding chick peas for protein and more fresh vegetables that everyone gobbled up. For dessert, everyone's favorite, the pastry chef's were kind enough to make both vegan chocolate chip and ginger cookies. Triple Yum!!!


We experienced and learned so much in only two weeks.
The children could name all their favorite flowers, herbs, fruits, and veggies by name, and tell the difference between a collard and broccoli leaf - not a easy task. To the left is our favorite flower - Buddleia, commonly known as Butterfly Bush for obvious reasons!

Special thanks goes to the butterflies, sow bugs, red worms and all the other invertabrates who make the garden grow. We couldn't have done it without you. And equally as important, I would also like to appreciate EVERYONE else who made LET US GROW! a HUGE success. We thank you for your donations and time. We are grateful that you are so invested in our community. Most importantly, thank you to the sun and Earth, for which we are all eternally grateful and for giving us the most beautiful summer I have ever experienced in San Francisco!!. Peas and Love, Rebecca

To see all the fun we had check out the rest of the pictures here.

From City Girls to Farm Girls (for a week:)

We were so fortunate to spend the last week of June at The Occidental Arts & Ecology Center
The OAEC is a small organic farm as well as a nonprofit organizing and educational center. They have been offering this School Garden Training for several years as well as many other wonderful, comprehensive workshops. The workshops range from Woodshop for Women to Landscape Painting to frequent Permaculture Design courses. Many of the folks that live and work out there have become experts in their area of interest and were so kind and forthcoming in the sharing of their skills and experiences. We spent the week learning organic gardening practices, attending seminars focusing on school garden projects and site development and a little hands-on construction (our favorite part!). Not only were we blessed to learn from such amazing people; we also ate the BEST food ever!Q!! We were fed breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared by some of the most creative and delightful chefs around. My mouth still salivates when I think about some of the food we ate:) All in all, it was a spectacular, extremetly insightful journey to the countryside--and it was quite refreshing to feel like a "farmer" for a week!!
**Please click HERE to view our other pictures from our trip!!**

Our friend, Suzi, so beauifully showing off our home for the week! (AKA: Yurt) There were 8 of us sleeping in bunkbeds--it felt a little bit like camp:)

One afternoon we visited a local school garden and prepared lunch using "kid-friendly" recipes that we could then take back to share with our children. We also made the first layer of a cobb bench for the garden's learning circle. Cobb consists of a perfect ratio of sand, clay, straw and water. When sculpted and dried it can serve as an all natural concrete! This was super fun--and was quite a workout!
We worked and learned with some amazing folks from all over the state! It was so special to spend the week with such an open and enthusiastic group of teachers, parents and volunteers!
Many of you may not know this, but I LOVE bees!!! I am utterly fascinated by their behavior and the role they play in nature! So, this picture is very special to me and a perfect image of the magic that is throughout the OAEC. We recommend anyone and everyone to get up there even if it is just for the volunteer day on Wednesdays--you will fall in love as well!

UPDATES & HAPPENINGS:
LET US GROW!!
Today was the first day of our two week, Let Us Grow! Summer Program. It was a big hit and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. The quote of the day: "My new favorite food is Kale!!!" ~8 year old girl:)
The camp will run from 10 am to 2pm, Monday thru Friday, this week and next week!! Feel free to stop by!!

SEED TO MOUTH Cooking Classes
Come join us for our 2nd Cooking Class THIS Wednesday (July 12th) in the HV South Community Room (403 Rose St., across the street from the Park)
This weeks meun is APPETIZERS and homemade salsas..YUMMMMM!
Hope to see you soon,
peace & love,
suzi

OUTSTANDING Parks Group

Rebecca Bozzelli, Dee Dee Workman, Barbara Wenger, and Suzi Palladino.

Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group was kindly recognized by Neighborhood Parks Council (NPC) for all our OUTSTANDING efforts in reaching out and working closely with the Hayes Valley, Western Addition, and Lower Haight communities. What a great feeling to selected for this award and to be surrounded by the special people we are fortunate enough to work with, people who make our jobs easier because of their dedication and hard work. The award was presented to Barbara Wenger from Mayor Newson. Thank you NPC!