BEET Ranger Graduation!

Today we said farewell to the BEET Rangers! It was bittersweet, of course. We will miss them, but we are so proud to see them complete this program and move on to new and exciting paths in their lives!

Modern Tea hosted us for a celebration dessert buffet, with cakes, cookies, sparkling apple cider and local lemonade. Everyone received a diploma and made a speech, and were sent home with beautiful BEET Ranger photo books that Executive Director Barbara Wenger had put together of the amazing photographs she has taken of the BEET Rangers through the program!

We hope to have a few of the BEET Rangers come back and teach with us for the next round of the program, starting in March. There is definitely interest from some of them, and their expertise, great advice, and valuable teaching skills would make the program much stronger next year. In my opinion, youth-led programming is the key to success, and I am looking forward to working with the graduates as co-teachers and co-facilitators. In the meantime, I will miss them as we take a break until next year. They bring so much inspiration and necessary challenge to my life, to keep me an active and critical thinker.

Thank you BEETS!

Harvest Festival!

Harvest Festival this year was a great success, all planned and run by the BEET Rangers! In the morning, the BEET Rangers helped move mulch and compost, take out and harvest winter squash, and prepped beds to plant carrot and radishes for the fall. We harvested some cute little winter squashies to decorate for halloween!

We spread a lot of the compost into our perennial beds and fed our trees their fall compost, giving them deep fertilizing as we move into the new season. A few of the BEET Rangers also painted signs to leave a lasting impression on the garden, making it more beautiful for future groups who come to enjoy the garden.

After our hard work, we went down to Hayes Valley Playground to celebrate with the rest of the neighborhood. The BEET Rangers ran a table about our organization, and helped people plant peas to take home in pots they could decorate themselves. Other BEET Rangers, especially Krystal, Karen, and Jessica, did face painting on lots of little kids. There was a delicious barbeque, and lots of bikes to ride around, including bikes that were welded together so you could ride side by side! It was a great time, and a sweet last event to celebrate with the community and our soon to graduate BEET Rangers
!

BEET Rangers Job Search

Today with the BEET Rangers we made a trip to Safe Haven, a community space in the Hayes Valley South residence. Safe Haven is an after-school drop in spot for youth in the neighborhood to come do homework, hang out, be with friends. They let us use their computers to work on resumes and job applications for the BEET Rangers to explore other employment opportunities for when they graduate the BEET Ranger program.

Here are a couple of resources for youth looking for jobs:

SF Youthline
Run by and for youth, 12noon-10pm every day
1-888-977-3399
http://www.youthlinesf.org/jobs/

SF Kids
http://www.sfkids.org/

JOBS TO APPLY TO:

Juma Ventures
www.juma.org

SF Youthworks
www.sfyouthworks.org

I-YEL
www.crissycorkboard.info/iyel/index.htm

Literacy for Environmental Justice
www.lejyouth.org

BEET Rangers at Academy of Sciences!

Today the BEET Rangers got a special treat, as our near-end-of-program celebration! They have been working so hard, and today was a day to celebrate and enjoy at the new Academy of Sciences!

The new building is pretty amazing. It was super crowded, but we were able to weave our way through to enjoy the incredible aquarium, complete with sea dragons, an albino alligator, an anaconda, and some really neat turtles. We also checked out the indoor rainforest, which kinda blew our minds. There were lots of amazing frogs, chameleons, and geckos. Snakes that looked like sticks with really long noses, and butterflies everywhere. One of them almost landed on Naz's head!

The penguins were as entertaining as ever, and the living roof is spectacular. Jeffrey wrote down the names of a lot of the plants for his garden at Gateway High School. We will help him get some of those native plants come spring, when the garden has more space to plant them. There was some lovely yarrow growing up there, definitely a beautiful sight covering a really big roof in the middle of San Francisco! There is so much space to grow on, everywhere, if we use a little imagination. Rooftop gardens could be happening all over this city!

We had a great time looking around, and learned a lot. It is always uncomfortable to see animals in cages- we talked about that quite a bit. We agreed it was challenging to enjoy some aspects of visiting the Academy of Sciences, but overall, we could see how hopefully it was bringing people closer to nature, and to caring about the environment and their impact on the world. Maybe one day we won't have to see animals from really far away up close in order to feel our connection to them, and we won't make choices to use resources that result in rainforest destruction, or the destruction of any environment, for that matter.

Growing and eating local, with organic systems that encourage lots of animal habitat and native plants ecosystems are so essential to fighting habitat destruction caused by corporate agribusiness. Every little patch counts, from the living roof at the Academy of Sciences, to our garden at Koshland with our Monarch butterfly visitors. It all makes a difference, and we can keep growing more and more... let's do it! Overgrow!

Permaculture in the Garden

This week in the garden, Katie taught a lesson on Permaculture. Katie had just completed an Urban Permaculture course, where she got to learn a lot of amazing things about design and modeling agriculture systems to be most efficient and supporting of their environment. Today Katie shared with a us a lesson on Patterns in Nature. The idea is to look at nature and replicate its patterns, because those patterns hold the key for ways to design our garden to be strong and efficient. Some of those patterns include spiral patterns (like a snail shell), branching patterns (like lightening), flow patterns (like a stream). After the lesson, we went into the garden and drew different patterns that we could find in plants or different areas of the garden, and talked about why we thought they might have formed that way.

OCTOBER GARDEN NEWSLETTER

October 2008 Newsletter Content:

1. Koshland Plans and Planting
2. BEET Rangers and Green Jobs Now!
3. Harvest Festival Celebration!
4. Zuchinni Bread Recipe

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1. KOSHLAND GARDEN: PLANS AND PLANTING

Fall is approaching, and although the days are warm, the nights are
getting longer and cooler. The BEET Rangers have helped us prepare our
beds and plant out a lot new fall crop that love this time of year:
kale, broccoli, chard, lettuce, cabbage and collard greens. The
lettuce is already getting pretty big, and we will soon be using it
for salads with our upcoming cooking class in collaboration with
Modern Tea and the Western Addition Beacon.

John Muir Elementary students are learning about seed cycles, and began their classes for the semester by harvesting carrots from this
summer's crop- this week they are planting carrots which they will harvest when classes end in December, giving them the opportunity to
observe the entire cycle of the plants life. Red tail hawks have beenvisiting us again! The students were able to see them up close as they perched on the trees above us. We feel so lucky to have these special visitors!

Upcoming plans and changes in the garden will be constructing
terracing of the John Muir Elementary School beds on the North slope
of the garden. The terracing will make gardening easier and more
accessible for the students, and will help retain the water run-off
that occurs in the winter months. We are looking forward to the
change!

To get more info on the garden, contact Community Garden Coordinator:

Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

2. BEET RANGERS AND GREEN JOBS NOW!!!

The BEET Rangers participated in the Green Jobs Now national day of action. We attended the fabulous Breaking Ground Conference for youth hosted by San Francisco Parks Trust on September 27th. Two of the BEET Rangers, Jessica Farkas and Tanea Lunsford, talked on a panel of youth about Green Jobs and why they are important. All of the participants on the panel shared really important views on how Green Jobs improve their communities, help them feel self-sufficient and productive, and provide a way for them to connect to their environment and green space in the city. We are proud to be part of the Green Job movement, connecting youth with opportunities to match environmental stewardship with economic justice.

Learn more about Green Jobs Now: http://greenjobsnow.com/

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator:

Elokin gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 958-6937

3. HARVEST FESTIVAL!!!
11am-1pm Workday, 1pm-4pm Party
Location: 11am-1pm Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan
Location: 1pm-4pm Hayes Valley Playground at the corner of Buchanan and Hayes

On Saturday, October 18th, we will be celebrating our Harvest Festival
with the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association and the HV Playground
Fall Fest! It will be a big party for all of us.

From 10am-1pm, we will be working in Koshland Garden. The BEET Rangers
will be planning and leading all the activities in the garden, based
on their gained knowledge of gardening, and their observations on what
work the garden needs at this point in time. Guaranteed it will be a
fun day! We will provide tools, gloves, and snacks. Come out for your
last opportunity to work with this current group of BEET Rangers
before they graduate!

From 1pm-4pm, we will move the party down to Hayes Valley Playground
to have a food, entertainment, and celebration with the whole
community. There will be activities run by the BEET Ranger for all the
family to enjoy! Come on out and celebrate the graduation of the BEET
Rangers, the Hayes Valley Neighborhood, Fall and Harvest time, and the
Hayes Valley Playground with us!

4. ZUCHINNI BREAD RECIPE

We are thrilled to be working with Modern Tea and the Western Addition
Beacon to host another cooking class for John Muir Elementary School
youth this fall. We began classes on Monday, October 5th, by
harvesting beans at the Victory Garden in front of City Hall. We
admired the kale planted by the BEET Rangers earlier in July, and the
students got very excited about all the different colors of beans
inside the various stages of the painted lady runner beans. Definitely
a great start to a great program!

Here is a fun fall recipe, to use all those zuchinnis that are
flooding the farmers markets this time of year.

ZUCCHINI BREAD
Makes 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. ground clove
2 eggs or equivalent
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees
*Combine flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium sized bowl
and mix well
*In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with sugar until combined.
Batter will be thick and a little lumpy.
*Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a
toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!
* From Seed to Mouth Cooking Class, Summer 2008

BEET Rangers at Breaking Ground Conference!

The BEET Rangers were honored to be invited to participate in the Green Jobs Now national day of action at the Breaking Ground Conference for youth
hosted by San Francisco Parks Trust. We were invited to participate in two different workshops: a Green Jobs panel, and a workshop on container gardening. Two of the BEET
Rangers, Jessica Farkas and Tanea Lunsford, stepped up to fill both of these roles. In the morning, they held a workshop on container gardening, talking about why it is important to grow your own food. They explained all the elements necessary to have a healthy container garden, then helped people set up and plant their own container gardens to take hope.

In the afternoon, Jessica and Tanea talked on a panel of youth about Green Jobs and why they are important. All of the participants on the panel shared really important views on how Green Jobs improve their communities, help them feel self-sufficient and productive, and provide a way for them to connect to their environment and green space
in the city. We are proud to be part of the Green Job movement, connecting youth with opportunities to match environmental stewardship with economic justice. And I was so proud to hear what Jessica and Tanea had to say! They spoke up, and added a lot of enthusiasm and expertise to the discussion.

Naz got to learn about natural building, and made a brick out of cob material. She also visited the bees and worked in the garden at Potrero del Sol, across the street from where the conference was held.

Dyhemia, Candy, and Rashida learned about propagating plants from cuttings, and prepared some geraniums to take home. Sebron and Tanea went for a bike ride to different gardens all around the Mission, visiting green spaces in a green way!

Learn more about Green Jobs Now: http://greenjobsnow.com/

SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER!

KOSHLAND GARDEN NEWSLETTER

A Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group

September 2008 Newsletter Content:

1. Koshland Garden Makeover!

2. BEET Rangers at Slow Food Nation

3. Garden Workparty- September 13th

4. Vote for Koshland Garden as SF's most beautiful garden!

5. See Us On The News!

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1. Koshland Garden Makeover!

Wow! Things have really changed fast in the garden, and it is looking great! After our black acacia tree was accidentally cut down during it's scheduled tree trimming, we have been hard at work imagining ways to take advantage of the new sunny spot left in its place. We had the area where the tree once stood cleared and leveled, and are planning to put a picnic table there, so that students from John Muir Elementary School can have a spot to eat the snacks we harvest during their classes in the garden. We also hope community gardeners, visitors and neighbors will also enjoy the new picnic table, which will be installed in the near future! In the meantime, do come by to admire the new compost bins that are being constructed, and enjoy the last blooms of the sweetpeas.

To get on the waiting list for a garden plot, contact Community Garden Coordinator:

Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

2. BEET Rangers at Slow Food Nation

The BEET Rangers have had a really busy summer. To catch up from where we left off in our last newsletter, we have gone biking in Tennesse Valley with Trips for Kids, helped install the Victory Garden in front of City Hall, weeded and planted at Patricia's Green, farmed at both Green Gulch Farm and Alemany Farm, and helped out with compost at Garden for the Environment. Whew! This past weekend we went to a jam-making workshop through the youth programs at Slow Food Nation. Everyone got to take home their own marmalade made from local lemons, yum!

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator: Elokin

gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 958-6937

3. Garden Workparty- September 13th, 11am-2pm
Location: Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan

On Saturday, September 13th, from 11am-2pm, we will be working in Koshland Garden, preparing our summer beds for fall crop. We will be composting our old lettuce, chard, and kale plants, making way for new plant babies. Our goal is to get a whole bunch of garden beds ready for the John Muir Elementary School students, who will be returning to garden class in the next few weeks! Yay, we've missed them! We will provide tools, gloves, and snacks. We hope to see you there!

For more info, contact Community Garden Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770,
noraborealis@juno.com

4. Vote for Koshland Garden as SF's most Beautiful Garden!

We have entered Flowercraft's most beautiful garden contest! Please show your support for Koshland Garden and our programs by voting us as the most beautiful! All gardens are beautiful, but you gotta admit, we are pretty special! It's the hard work of all the volunteers, community gardeners, neighbors, and youth that make our garden shine. Vote below, we are #7!

Please vote either online or by casting a vote in our store. Our contestants will appreciate your vote as they are all proud of their gardens and they will win bragging rights and valuable gifts. Please link to this sight to view the entries and vote: lwww.flowercraftgc.com/events.html

5. See Us On The News!

The BEET Rangers were in the spotlight both in The City Star Newspaper on August 25th, and on NEN Network Television August 26th. Paste the following web address in your browser to watch BEET Ranger Dyhemia Young talk up the program on TV!

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v15792000mKw2j9PF?rank=0&jsonParams=%7B%22numResults%22%3A20%2C%22rlmin%22%3A0%2C%22query%22%3A%22Beet+Rangers%22%2C%22rlmax%22%3Anull%2C%22veohOnly%22%3Atrue%2C%22order%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22range%22%3A%22a%22%2C%22sId%22%3A%221864910298250151936%22%7D&searchId=1864910298250151936&rank=1

We will also be featured in the upcoming SF Parks Trust Newsletter, and in The Green Screen (earthteam.net)

LetUsGrow Camp Graduation

Our little campers have graduated! It has been such a fun summer, filled with adventure. We will remember with fondness our trips to Alemany Farm, the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, Book Reading with Mo' Magic, composting at Garden for the Environment and many breakfasts at Kate's Kitchen, thanks so much!!! 

It has been a great summer, we are already looking forward to next year!

Koshland Garden Makeover in Progress!!!

Koshland Garden has a brand new kiosk and shed this month! We are super excited about how things are shaping up, and look forward to more
 changes soon, including a picnic table, and a reshaping of the lower John Muir Elementary School learning garden. Yahoo!

For feedback, questions, or to sign up to be on the waitlist for a community garden plot, contact:

Nora Brereton: 415-424-5770

noraborealis@juno.com

BEET Rangers at SCRAP

BEET Rangers at the Transfer Station!

Helping in the Neighborhood

Today we focused our activities on participating in community events in the Western Addition. Summer is a great time of year for getting together with neighbors, the sunny days and local events bring everyone out to enjoy the parks and community centers.

In the morning we went to Patricia’s Green to help out at their volunteer day. We got busy with a whole lot of weeding, and planted some beautiful trailing bushes to brighten up one of the long raised beds along Octavia Street. This was our second time visiting the Green, it was nice to see the changes since we last came to help.

After lunch, we made our way to a DCYF Summer of Unity Event at Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. There we got a tour from local community activist and Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group board member, Jerry, who showed us some of the famous local African Americans featured on the center’s historical mural..

After all the events, we returned to Koshland Garden for some garden maintenance and to give it a little love. We did the usual watering, compost turning and weeding, and Cameron helped reorganize our nrew tool shed, helping put up more hooks to keep the tools a bit more manageable!

Summer at Modern Tea!

Meet the BEET Ranger Youth Educators!

Meet the wonderful BEET Ranger Youth Educators! Below we have Arif Husain and Katherine Walsh. To the side, hiding behind BEET Ranger Calvin Yu, we have Ami Puri, helping to create a bean trellis out of woodscraps and wire. This team has been essential to making the BEET Ranger experience fun, educational, and engaging. They are each creative and experienced individuals in the world of plants and gardening, and we value their work deeply! 

Thank you wonderful educators!

Seed to Mouth 6/25/08

Yum! Today was stir fry and noodles day. It was a big hit! And luckily we made a lot of food, because at 5pm, the room was packed with 20 hungry youth, all looking forward to the meal cooked by their friends. Everyone liked what we made, and broccoli was popular! Always a great thing to hear, seconds for veggies. 

Veggie Stir Fry Over Noodles

Ingredients:

• two packages rice noodles
  
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  
• 1 tablespoon ginger
  
• 1 medium size onion
  
• 5 to 8 garlic cloves
  
• 2 heads broccoli
  
• sweet or snow peas
  
• 4 carrots
  
• 2 bunches bok choi
  
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
  
• salt and pepper to taste

1. bring a pot of water to boil
   
2. add noodles, stirring occasionally on medium heat until soft
   
3. heat oil, onions, garlic, soy sauce and ginger in a wok on medium heat for 2 minutes
   
4. add carrots and broccoli and cook for another 5 minutes
   
5. last add peas and bok choi and cook for 2 minutes
   
6. add soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste
   
7. serve over hot rice noodles
   

Seed to Mouth

The fabulous chefs of Seed to Mouth cooking class

Seed to Mouth 6/18/08

Today we had a fabulous cooking class making tortillas from scratch, heaped with delicious pinto beans, rice, and fresh-made salsa and guacamole! The youth also made a yummy salad harvested from the garden, so the tacos were full of healthy goodness. Everyone had a great time being in charge of their own element of the dinner, with about 3 people to each cooking team. This gave each group the opportunity to spice their own food, and get full credit and responsibility for their part of the meal, and it was tasty indeed. The extra treat was getting Nora's mom to be our visiting cooking teacher for the evening! She was a great help and inspiration with the tortillas, what a success!

Flour Tortillas

(makes 12)

• 4 cups flour
  
• 2 teaspoons salt
  
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  
• 1 1/2 cups warm water or more if needed 

1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking powder
   
2. With a fork, gradually work in the oil until it is all mixed
   
3. Add enough warm water to make a soft but not sticky dough
   
4. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes
   
5. Divide the dough into 1/4 cup portions and form them into twelve balls
   
6. Roll each ball flat round about 6 inches in diameter and 1/8 inches thick
   
7. Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high heat
   
8. Place the tortillas one at a time into the dry hot skillet
   
9. Cook until brown on one side, then turn and brown the other side
   
10. Remove from skillet and keep warm wrapped in a cloth towel
    

Last Day in the Garden! (for now)

Today we did a trivia review game to look back at everything we learned, and each youth had great things to share based on the knowledge they gained. Time has been well spent in the garden! 

This summer we will be embarking on longer trips with workshops in different areas of green jobs, so we will be taking a break from our regular days spent in the garden until fall. Look at all the sad faces! Just kidding. Everyone is looking forward to the start of summer, we will be having lot of adventures very soon. 

The BEETs are off to a great start, we look forward to harvesting all of their hard work come fall, when the corn, beans, and squash they planted will be ready. In the meantime, the BEETs are welcome to harvest the crop they planted as it becomes ready, including the chard, lettuce, kale and beets!

BEET Rangers Garden Maintenance class

Naz, Candy, and Rashida are hard at work, taking care of their garden beds!

Today the BEET Rangers learned all the necessary skills for General Garden Maintenance, including: Pruning, Watering, Weeding, Mulching, Cultivating, and Integrated Pest Management!

Katie Walsh led our lesson on Integrated Pest Management, and Arif Husain filled us in on the dangers of corporate control of our food supply. We talked about Monsanto, Cargill, and other companies who are making a profit off chemical seed technology that makes farmers dependent on products like Round Up in order to grow food to feed themselves.

We made the connections between organic pest control and the importance of knowing how to grow our own food without chemicals, without the influence of corporations whose interests are in making money rather than supporting a healthy community food system.

The highlight of the day was when Krystal pointed out that she was weeding without gloves on- this was a huge deal! Earlier in the program she was not into getting dirty in the garden at all, and now she does it with a smile on her face! It's the little things that count so much.

Join us for Spring Festival!

Spring Garden Festival—Saturday, May 17th Location: Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan It’s Spring Festival this month! Come join in the fun!

10AM to 1PM Workparty! Come help us weed, plant, and clean up Koshland Park and Garden!

1PM to 4PM Celebrate our hard work in the afternoon with music, kids activities, and a veggie BBQ.

*Bring a dish to share at our potluck BBQ!

We will have some veggie starts for you to take home, the BEET Rangers will be leading a compost demonstration, seedball making workshop, and decorating pots for you to take your plants home!

There will be lots of fun to be had- we hope to see you there!
If you want to help with the planning or have anything you’d like to contribute please let us know! For more info, contact Community Garden Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

BEET Rangers in the Marin Headlands

The Steepest Trail of the Day!

Today was awesome! We went for a hike in the Marin Headlands with Mike Yoshioka, of Hostel Adventures. Mike talked to us about what it takes to become a naturalist and outdoor educator, leading people on interactive hikes.

The day started out with a discussion on environmental ethics, and how to care for our national parks- most importantly, to get out and use them! Our duty was to explore, learn, and share what we discovered with our friends and family when we returned. Then we got to choose our trail names and headed out to the beach.

We learned about different native plants and their uses on the way, including mugwort, sticky monkey flower, yarrow, and horesetail, to name a few.

The times that stood out most were undoing a human knot we formed as a group excersize in teamwork, and eating lunch on top of an old bunker way high up on a hill, overlooking the ocean.

Some parts of the trails were steep and challenging, especially the one at the end, but everyone stepped up and together we made it a good time!

We are Chrissy Field Heroes!

Our own Barbara Wenger of Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group has won!
2008 Crissy Field Center Community Heroes Award

The Crissy Field Center, an urban environmental center, announces The Community Heroes Award. This award honors the accomplishments, challenges and successes of community members who work tirelessly to preserve, protect, and raise awareness about our environment.

The Center's Community Advisors select Community Heroes from your nominations. Heroes who are selected are honored with a ceremony at Crissy Field Center on Saturday, May 10, 2008, where we unveil a year-long exhibit depicting each of the honorees in life-size photographic portraits and companion digital stories that share their unique experience making positive environmental change in their communities.

This is an opportunity for unsung heroes and community leaders to share the limelight and receive well-deserved recognition for their valuable contributions and positive impact regarding the environment.

What is a Community Hero?

Community Heroes are people from all over the Bay Area and from all walks of life. They come from all races, ethnic backgrounds and age groups, working in common to protect, restore, and raise awareness for the environmental issues that are relevant to their communities. Many are engaged in grass-roots activism, others work on legislation, and several are educators. Many call themselves volunteers, while others have built careers working in the environmental movement.

Whatever their approach, methodology, or position, they all fit one very important criterion: their work has made a positive impact on the community and has inspired others to get involved and make a difference.

May Newsletter!

KOSHLAND GARDEN NEWSLETTER
A Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group

May 2008 Newsletter Content:
1. Koshland Garden in Bloom!
2. BEET Rangers Hard at Work
3. Spring Festival - May 17th!
4. New Native Plant Garden!
5. Upcoming Summer Programs
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1. Koshland Garden in Bloom

The Garden got a bit of a makeover this past weekend, thanks to Rebuilding Together, a group of dedicated volunteers who came to help out on April 26th. We planted Columbines and Coral Bells in the shade section of the garden, and they look lovely- come enjoy their blooms this month! Although the tulips are starting to retreat, our local native Douglas Irises are blooming all around the park and garden, but not for long, come see them quick! The plums are starting to grow on the tree, it looks like we be eating lots of them later on this summer! All the berries have bounced back from winter slumber, and are looking lush and soon-to-be delicious.

It is time to bid farewell to the epic amounts of chard and broccoli that filled the garden this winter. We are now preparing beds for tomatoes, lemon cucumber, and new crops of lettuce. Our new peas are looking good, thriving in the partial shade, which provides some cool relief for them on these hot, dry days. Spring Festival is just around the corner, so come see all the new plants, and take home some of your own!

To get on the waiting list for a garden plot, contact Community Garden Coordinator:
Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

2. BEET Rangers Hard at Work!

The BEET Rangers have been hard at work in Koshland Garden, learning how to prepare a bed of healthy soil, and how to plan a vegetable garden using seasonal planting charts and crop rotations. We also enjoyed the opportunity to visit Chrissy Field Center on their Earth Day celebration on April 19th. At the celebration we handled different snakes, lizards, and tortises through Tree Frog Treks, and met with the Inspiring Young Emerging Leaders (IYEL) youth program at Chrissy Field, learning about the projects they are working on, and possibilities for the BEET Rangers to be involved with IYEL in the future. We are looking forward to a naturalist-led hike in the Marin Headlands on May 3rd, where we will learn about local ecology and conservation priciples.

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator: Elokin gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 643-3638

3. Spring Garden Festival—Saturday, May 17th
Location: Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan

It’s Spring Festival this month! Come join in the fun!
10AM to 1PM Workparty! Come help us weed, plant, and clean up Koshland Park and Garden!
1PM to 4PM Celebrate our hard work in the afternoon with music, kids activities, and a veggie BBQ.
Bring a dish to share at our potluck BBQ!
We will have some veggie starts for you to take home, and there will be lots of fun to be had- we hope to see you there!

If you want to help with the planning or have anything you’d like to contribute please let us know!

For more info, contact Community Garden Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com

4. New Native Plant Garden!

Rebuilding Together San Francisco has left their mark on John Muir Elementary School!
We now have a beautiful native plant garden on Webster between Page and Oak. There are still some non-native plants in the mix from the original planting, but we have filled in a lot of bare patches in the garden with gorgeous plants form Bay Natives Nursery. They include White Sage, Ceanothus, Seaside Daisy, White Currant, Red Currant, Sword Fern and more! It looks beautiful, and we look forward to the garden filling out to provide habitat to a lot of native bees and other garden pollinators including butterflies and hummingbirds. We are so grateful to the dedicated volunteers of SF Rebuilding Together for their hard work cleaning the garden and helping us create this beautiful garden! To learn more about Rebuilding Together SF, visit their website at www.rebuildingtogethersf.org. For more info about Bay Natives Nursery, find them online at www.baynatives.com

As well as a new native plant garden, SF Rebuilding together helped us repair and plant in the container gardens on the yard of John Muir Elementary School. They are filled with blossoming lavender, salvia, yarrow, and lambs ear. It’s beautiful, and the students are very excited to take care of their own flower garden boxes as an addition to their experience growing vegetables at Koshland Garden. The tree wells on Page and Webster street around the school have been repainted and seeded with California Poppy and other native wildflowers, all of it looks so great! We love Rebuilding Together SF!

5. Upcoming Summer Programs: Seed to Mouth and Lettuce Grow!

We’re gearing up for our exciting programs this Summer!

Our Seed to Mouth Cooking Classes are open for anyone to drop by-no registration necessary. Adults and kids are welcome to join us Wednesdays, June 11-July 9, from 4:00-6:00 pm. We’ll be cooking and eating delicious meals based on what’s growing in the garden. So grab your measuring cup and stop by!

Our Lettuce Grow! Summer Camp is for ten 8-13 yr. olds and two teen counselors-registration necessary. This gardening summer camp is June 23-July 4, Monday-Friday, 9:00am-1:00pm Our camp is based in Koshland Garden but we take lots of fieldtrips to farms, gardens and farmer’s markets in the area. We also cook and eat our own healthy lunch each day. Let us know if know a kids you’d like to sign up for camp or can support a kid coming to camp with a donation.

For more info about summer programs contact: Nora, 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com
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Donate to the Garden!!
Would you like to make a donation to Koshland Garden to support all of our great programs?
You can send a check (tax-detuctible) to:
300 Page St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
Checks can be made out to the Tides Center/HVNPG

Contact us at the Garden:
Nora Brereton, Garden Educator and Community Garden Coordinator
noraborealis@juno.com (415) 424-5770
Elokin Orton, Garden Educator and BEET Ranger Coordinator
gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 643-3638
Barbara Wenger, Executive Director, Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group
Hvnpg@gmail.com (415) 431-8112
General Email: gardenkids@gmail.com
Blog: www.koshlandgarden.blopspot.com

Koshland Garden is a Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group- Creating Programs that enhance the resiliance, safety, and sustainability of the community http://www.hvnparks.com/

Visit the Garden: Koshland Park and Garden
Corner of Page and Buchanan, San Francisco, CA 94117 ( Google Map )

Our Office:
John Muir Elementary School, Rm 6
380 Webster St.
San Francisco, California 94117

About This Newsletter: This is the Koshland Garden Newsletter, a project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group.

Rebuilding Together was a great success!

Rebuilding Together made our dreams come true! It was really spectacular. We were able to do a lot of great work both in Koshland Garden and John Muir Elementary. All the volunteers were so great and helpful, their hard work makes such a difference, and is so appreciated!

Here are some of the highlights that we are left with:

1. New garden planter boxes full of herbs on the playground at John Muir Elementary!
These planters were reconstructed, repainted, and planted with lavender, rosemary, lamb's ears and yarrow, thanks to Rebuilding Together.

2. New mostly Native Plant Garden!
We planted the old school garden with lots of native plants, and pruned back the plants that were already there. We hope this will now be a place where students can come to learn about native plants and their uses, observe native wildlife, and learn the importance of preserving native habitat. It is beautiful, and we look forward to all the changes that will come as all the plants grow in and get wild!

3. Tree wells on Webster and Page get a makeover!
The tree wells were reconstructed, repainted, weeded and seeded with California wildflowers. They are now brightly colored, and look like a rainbow as you walk up the street. It looks so much more cheerful and beautiful on those blocks now, it made a huge difference.

4. Improved Shade Garden at Koshland!
Rebuilding Together also spent a lot of time at Koshland, adding and sifting compost to lots of beds, repairing our compost sifter, hauling bricks out to the new Native Plant garden, and helping us arrange the new herb bed, soon to be completed! The best was the improvements in the Shade Garden- they planted a few different Columbine and two Coral Bells that look gorgeous. Check it out!

A million thanks, it all looks so beautiful. We cannot say enough good things about all the great work Rebuilding Together did with us, we hope to have them back soon!

Check out photos at:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=jcpslhg.3bubkyrc&x=0&y=-su3160&localeid=en_US

BEET Rangers and IYEL

Sebron Brown and his new friend from Tree Frog Treks

Today the BEET Rangers went to visit the Inspiring Young Emerging Leaders (I-YEL) program at the Chrissy Field Center. It was also the annual Earth Stroll earth-day celebration event at the Center, so we got the chance to participate in a lot of festivities.

Some of the fun we had was checking out turtles and handling snakes with Tree Frog Treks, making homemade sugar-based bath and beauty scrubs with I-YEL youth, learning about compost with Suzie from Garden for the Environment, and answering Wheel-of-Fortune questions about healthy snacks that could earn you one or more strawberries dipped in melted chocolate- yum!

Over lunch, a few folks from I-YEL talked to us about their experiences in the program, and we got to ask them questions about the many ways they help their environment and community. We learned a lot, and all of the BEET Rangers are eligible to apply for the I-YEL program next year if they are interested.

BEET Rangers has begun!

Krystal Curtis, Candy Williams, and Calvin Yu get into the compost!

The BEET Ranger green job training internship has begun! We have 14 inspiring and wonderful youth working with us at Koshland Garden. The youth will be participating in workshops and activities with different green businesses and youth environmental education programs throughout San Francisco and the surrounding areas.

We will explore different areas of employment in the green job movement, and learn about environmental and social justice ethics and struggles. At the end of the program, the youth will be able to choose from the different careers and programs we learned about, and we will help match them with a program or job in that field to start them on a career track in the area of green jobs. It's very exciting!

Today we had an orientation to the program, learned the history of Koshland Park and the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks group, played games, worked in the garden, and learned about compost. It was a great day, and we are very excited to be working with these youth for the next eight months!

For more information, please contact Elokin: gardenkids@gmail.com

April Newsletter!

KOSHLAND GARDEN NEWSLETTER
A Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group

APRIL 2008 Newsletter Content:
1. Spring in the Garden
2. BEET Ranger Green Job Training Program Update
3. Mark Your Calendars for our Spring Festival - May 17th!
4. Rebuilding Together San Francisco coming to Koshland Garden and John Muir
Elementary School
5. Sharing Spring Recipes
------------------------------

-----------------------------------------
1. Spring in the Garden

It’s officially spring! The garden is teeming with life, ready for a new
cycle. Come see the raspberries returning from winter slumber- there are new
leaves on the stalks, and tiny flowers are getting ready to become raspberries
over the next few months. Students from the Bay School came to visit last
Friday, helping harvest our old lettuce beds, making new space for peas in our
crop rotation. This month we will start preparing beds for our warm-loving
plants such as potatoes, zuchinni, cucumber, and even trying sweet potato this
year! Come catch the last of the pink blossoms on the crabapple trees, and
admire the tulips in some of the community garden plots before they finish for
the season!

The herb garden work is still under way- so far we have laid the foundation,
and will be starting construction this month. Very exciting! Also, community
garden volunteer and future community gardener Will Deeg will soon be creating
a sample container garden, to give folks ideas for what can be planted in
containers at home. Look for all these new changes sprouting up this month!

**Also, we’ve got loads of rainbow chard right now, so if you’d like some,
help yourself.

To get on the waiting list for a garden plot, contact Community Garden
Coordinator:
Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com
-----------------------
2. BEET Ranger Update

We officially have the BEET Ranger Team together! This green job training
internship we are offering to Western Addition teens begins this Saturday,
April 5th. We have 15 wonderful and enthusiastic youth who will be
participating in this program, learning how to make a living by caring for
their communities and environment. This month we will have our orientation,
learn about compost, soil ecology and bed preparation, and seeding plants for
spring. The BEET Rangers will be working in Koshland Garden every 2nd and 4th
Wednesday afternoon until summer, getting trained in organic gardening skills.
Come meet them when they help run activities at our Spring Festival, coming
soon on May 17th!

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator: Elokin
gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 643-3638
---------------------
3. Spring Garden Festival—coming up on May 17th
Location: Koshland Park at the corner of Page and Buchanan

We’re starting to plan our Spring Festival! We’ll be doing some park and
garden work in the morning and then celebrating in the afternoon. We’ll have
live music, kids activities, and a veggie BBQ. If you want to help with the
planning or have anything you’d like to contribute please let us know!

For more info, contact Community Garden Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415)
424-5770, noraborealis@juno.com
------------------------
4. Rebuilding Together San Francisco is coming to Koshland Garden and John Muir Elementary School!

Rebuilding Together SF will be coming to help “green” John Muir Elementary
School on Saturday, April 26th. This fabulous program is focused on
revitalizing the on-site educational garden at John Muir, as well as the tree
wells on Page and Webster Street, which surround the school. We will be
transforming the front garden at John Muir into a native plant corridor,
focused on creating habitat that will encourage pollinators such as bees,
butterflies, and hummingbirds. We will also incorporate native plants which are
medicinal to humans, to provide a learning opportunity for students to see the
many uses and values of protecting and encouraging native plants. A sneak peek
of plants to be included in the revitalization include white sage, wild ginger,
yarrow, red and white flowering current, our local lupine, coral bells,
ceanothus, grindelia, and more! To learn more about Rebuilding Together SF,
visit their website at www.rebuildingtogethersf.org
-------------------
5. Spring Recipes!

If you don’t know what to do with last collard greens of the season, here’s
a simple and delicious way to prepare them. Enjoy!

Collard Greens
Ingredients:
15-20 collard green leaves, coarsely chopped
3-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

*Heat oil in a skillet or large pan on medium heat. Add garlic and cook
until just brown.
*Add collard greens and salt. Sauté for 5-10 minutes until stems are soft.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donate to the Garden!!
Would you like to make a donation to Koshland Garden to support all of our
great programs?
You can send a check (tax-detuctible) to:
300 Page St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
Checks can be made out to the Tides Center/HVNPG

Contact us at the Garden:
Nora Brereton, Garden Educator and Community Garden Coordinator
noraborealis@juno.com (415) 424-5770
Elokin Orton, Garden Educator and BEET Ranger Coordinator
gardenkids@gmail.com (415) 643-3638
Barbara Wenger, Executive Director, Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group
Hvnpg@gmail.com (415) 431-8112
General Email: gardenkids@gmail.com
Blog: www.koshlandgarden.blopspot.com

Koshland Garden is a Project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group-
Creating Programs that enhance the resiliance, safety, and sustainability of
the community http://www.hvnparks.com/

Visit the Garden: Koshland Park and Garden
Corner of Page and Buchanan, San Francisco, CA 94117

Our Office:
John Muir Elementary School, Rm 6
380 Webster St.
San Francisco, California 94117

Gardeners for Peace!

Please speak out on Wednesday, March 19th- the 5 year marker of the U. S. Invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan

No More War! Let's plant the Seeds of Peace together!

Today in the garden we talked about how each of us can bring Peace to the world. Our personal choices and actions make a difference, and when we choose to work together and care for each other, we can make enormous change in the world.

Students from Ms. Hale's class at John Muir Elementary share what they will do to create Peace:

Be respectful, show love to your family and enemies.
- Rakeya Raspberry

I will always recycle and use less water.
- Francisco Firefly

I will try to grow plants!
- Bernard Blueberry

Not to be in violence or not to be in any trouble.
- Tariq Tulip

Email the president and tell him to stop the war if it was possible.
- Kristina Kiwi

Try to stop fighting.
- Dashiahnae Dandelion

I will start doing good things. I will change.
- Demerious Dragonfly

Week of 3/9/08

This was a great week- we even got a bit of rain to celebrate!

On Sunday, Arif and Lindsay came by, and together we all worked on laying the foundation for the new cob herb bed. We are planning on getting a cob workday open to everyone once we work out the details of how to cob in Koshland Garden. For those of you new to it, cob is a natural building technique using sand, clay, and straw to make structures. It is a free-form material similar to adobe. It's a lot of fun, and can be a super mess, so we still need to figure out the best way to do it without taking up too much space in the garden. It is gonna be a blast though, and we will keep you posted!

During the week, John Muir students planted some flowers for spring- these included Nasturtiums, Blue Cornflower, California Poppy, Cosmos, and marigold. We talked about how flowers are important for attracting pollinators to the garden, and the students explained how that process works. They are very excited about bees, and we hope to start a hive this summer.

In other news, folks from the Chrissy Field Center came to photograph us because we won a Community Heroes award, and we will have information about Koshland up in their exhibit at the Chrissy Field Center! It's all very exciting. We will keep you posted about the upcoming celebration!

We hope to see you out in the garden at one of our workdays- Wednesday afternoons from 2-5pm. We will be around to answer your garden questions, and if you stick around to help out you can take home some veggies from the garden! Please be in touch if you have any questions, enjoy the weekend!

gardenkids@gmail.com

Post- March 8th

More Like A Work Party!

What fun! Thanks to the help of many fabulous folks from One Brick
the park looks fantastic! The giant, never-ending pile of mulch is finally gone- it was a day to celebrate. The morning was full of high-energy weeding, and we pulled out all the tools to tackle the task before us: hula hoes, mini-hoes, shovels, forks, trowels, hands- you name it. We did everything we could to take the weeds away, and the hard work paid off- the park looks great, it really does. What a difference a bunch of hard working folks can make, in just a few hours!

A Bit About Mulch:
For those of you new to gardening, the idea behind mulching after weeding is to create a layer of material that is hard for weeds to come up through. The mulch is beneficial because it smothers the weeds below, covers bare soil, and as it slowly breaks down it adds some nutrients to the soil. I have seen whole micro-ecosystems under my mulch: mushrooms, worms, and other little critters living happily under the woodchips. It's best to pull the weeds out first before you mulch, because they could grow back easier, even through the mulch, if you leave them in.

Future Events:
Come out and join us for our next big event- Spring Festival! We will be working and playing in the garden on May 19th, with a workparty from 10am-1pm, and a festival with music, crafts and potluck lunch from 1pm-4pm! We look forward to seeing you there! Also, you are welcome at any regular Wednesday workday, from 2pm-5pm.
Koshland Garden , corner of Page and Buchannan.

March Workparty!

One Brick and SF Rec and Park made a great impact on our park and garden today. We were able to finally weed and mulch the tree wells on the South end of Page Street, which looks incredible now. For a while it was looking pretty desolate down there!

There was a lot of great enthusiasm which allowed us to really get down to business and pull out the bulk of winter weeds that the rain had brought, and spread most of our endless mulch pile of woodchips in their place. A thick blanket of those woodships should keep the weeds at bay until maybe even next winter?! One can hope...

During the day our hardworking volunteers were filmed and photographed by the Chrissy Field Center media team, who is collecting footage for an installation featuring us! We have won the title of Chrissy Field Heroes for 2008, and soon everyone will be able to see Koshland Garden and Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group on display at the Chrissy Field Center!

Thank you to One Brick volunteers, SF Rec and Parks, John Muir Elementary youth, Everett Middle Schooler Karen Tran, and French International High School students for coming out to support with hard work and smiles!