Wreath Making this Saturday the 9th!

Everyone's invited to join us for garden wreath and card making. It is this Saturday from 1 to 3 pm at the Hayes Valley South Community Room (403 Rose Street, off of Buchanan between Haight and Page).

We'll have treats, drinks, and supplies galore!!!

Hope to see you there!
Love, Nora

So long Koshland Garden and Hayes Valley

After four years of growing in Koshland Garden, I have decided to move on. I learned so much over these years and have so many people to thank, it is truly the culmination of these wonderful people who made my job possible and amazing. What a lucky girl I have been part of this wonderful community and how rewarding this job has been. I would like to personally thank everyone for helping and working with me through these years!

Richard - my Hayes Valley Hero! You should be very proud of where you have taken Hayes Valley Community Partners! You believe in a better community and nothing stops you. Keep it up! I will miss you.

Barbara - thank you for the vision to create a safer and greener neighborhood and supporting me over the last four years. Koshland Park is beautiful because of your passion and the Peace Wall will bring it to a whole new level! I am sad that I have to leave before the wall is completed.
Gardeners - You folks rock! Thanks for playing in the dirt, composting and making my job so much fun. I have enjoyed getting to know all of you, teaching some of you the basics of gardening and just chatting it up. Happy Growing!

John Muir School - thanks for giving me the opportunity to learn from all of you and bring gardening to students who treat me like a super HERO! To all the teachers, support staff, Ms. Wheaton and Ms. Estell, this program lives on because of John Muir School - thank you for believing in garden education!

Lower Haight Merchants Association - What an amazing group of people! Right around the corner from the garden and always willing to pitch in and lend a hand. Thank You!

Northern Police - Thanks for your visits to the garden and working with me in this community, we would not be where we are without your dedication.

International High School - Thanks Elizabeth and all the student volunteers who have come out to help on work parties. Your contributions are very appreciated and I wish you all the very best!

RPD - What would we do without you? Second Saturdays are a fantastic thing because you of you folks. Thanks for working with me to make Koshland sparkle!

Green Gulch - Thank you Matt! We are so appreciative of all the plant starts and have been able to grow so much more produce because of our partnership. Good Luck to you and Aria in Oregon!!

Suzi P., Arann, and Aubrey - You were all uniquely amazing. Working with a partner was so much fun because your specialness. XXOO!

The Community at large - thanks for letting me get to know you and caring about the neighborhood you live in. Please forgive me if I left anyone off, you are all equally special to me and I wish you all the best!

To the happy wigglers in Koshland Compost - you are the best worms a gardener could hope for. Nora, I know you will keep these little creatures happy and safe!

Thank you, thank you, and thank you! I can't say it enough.
Now, I would like to introduce the latest and greatest new addition to Koshland Garden. She comes from Utah with lots of enthusiasm and a wealth of garden education experience. She's already dove in and is teaching seed-saving to the students from John Muir. Please seek her out and say hello - or send her a friendly email. noraborealis@juno.com.

Wishing you a bountiful life! XXOO, Rebecca

One Heck of a Halloween

The pictures say it ALL! THANK YOU SO MUCH to those fabulous people who came out and celebrated! A HUGE thanks to Buskaroo, William Wesson, and Stitch Craft!! The event was fabulous beause of your beautiful music!!

XO, Rebecca.

Also, please find some time in your Saturday to come hang out in Koshland Park for a work party. 11-2pm.

WHAT A BLAST!!

Lower Haight Block Party Fun!!

Thanks to Tom, Jesse, Nicole, Lavinia, Barbara, and Michael for helping to get the word out about our hidden gem in the neighborhood. We meet lots of new friends and hope to see them in the garden soon. Here is Tom and Lavinia enjoying life at our garden table where we sold the local, fresh, organic garden produce.

Happy Halloween!
lllllllllllllllllll

Celebrate Halloween listening to some folk music in Koshland Park! This is the place to be if you like the outdoors, Halloween, live music and s'mores. Wear your eeriest costume, stop by on your way wherever, roast marshmallows, meet new friends, chat, be happy, bring friends, dance, sing out loud, make it a party!!

On Halloween. Tuesday. 6 - 8pm.

Corner of Page and Buchanan.

Boo! Rebecca

Autumn Bliss

Pumpkins

Cool nights

Sun!

School days

Rain

Sunflowers

Tomatoes

Preparing for the winter rains

These are fond memories of fall in San Francisco and in Koshland Garden.

The kids are working hard in the garden, planting broccoli, lettuce and chard - thanks to the generousity of Green Gulch Farms.

The first rain came and the garden SANG with joy. The smell of the first rain is beautiful in itself, but beyond that it is a cleansing after so many days of dryness. The sunflowers have mostly bloomed and now we are saving their seeds to plant next year. Tomatoes are still producing even as the days get shorter.

I would like to throw out a huge THANKS to all the amazing volunteers from last weekend. We accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. I was very proud and Koshland Park is shining with beauty as always. Hands-On Bay Area did a great job working along side some students from the International High School. Also, thanks to Bob, Laurie, Barbara and Nick for your dedication.

Thank too, to the crew at John Muir lead by the amazing Richard Johnson. The JOhn Muir School garden is all ready for winter too with a brand new layer of mulch. What a delight it will be to bring the students in next week to garden. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

HALLOWEEN HO DOWN!

We are looking for a band to play at our second annual Halloween Event. Sure to be a good time once we have some to play some good ole music. S'mores and dancing. 6pm. Ye Haw!

Next Saturday Work Day is November 11, 2006. Roll up your sleeves for lots of mulch laying and some digging in a few more plants.

Happy Autumn, Rebecca

Another Beautiful Day!!

Rebecca, Suzi and Tom at the Linden Street Faire. Photo by Barbara Wenger.

Linden Street Faire

Twas one of those beautiful, sunny San Francisco Days and we hung out on the corner of Octavia and Linden. We chatted, sunned, sold fresh garden produce and had one pleasurable day.

A HUGE thanks to TOM. He rocked the street faire with his friendliness and was a superstar selling our produce. Thanks too to Joseph Jodi for his dedication and motivation to organize this lovely community event for over 16 years. Special thanks also to Barbara Wenger, Madeline Behrens-Brigham, Helen from NPC, Suzi Grady and all the folks with whom we meet.

A few of the hidden treats sprinkled thorughout Koshland Garden. Come and visit to see them for yourself. Happy Growing, Rebecca

***UPCOMING***

October 14th

Koshland Park Work Day

9:30 - 1:00

Get down and dirty with friends and neighbors.

************************************

New News

WELCOME TO THE NEW SUZI

First, I want to welcome our new helper in the garden - Suzi Grady. Suzi is already very familiar with our garden through lots of volunteering & is a very big fan of the amazing science of compost. She'll be helping out for the next month with some projects and did an amazing job teaching folks last Saturday about composting.

This Saturday is the very special LINDEN STREET FAIR. Starting at 9a and going all day. We'll be selling produce from the garden as a fundraiser and would love help and visitors. (hint hint)

Down to business, until we hire someone, my schedule will be as follows:

JOHN MUIR GARDEN on Page between Webster and Oak
Tuesdays and Fridays 10:00am - 1:30pm
Koshland Garden Fridays 2:00pm-5:00pm

Please let me know before if you plan on volunteering so I can arrange it with the school. rabozzelli@yahoo.com


Our favorite little helpers who are always hard at work in the garden making us beautiful compost. Thank you red wigglers.

Reflections & Recognitions!!

To All The Beautiful People of Koshland Park Community Learning Garden:

I wanted to take this moment to announce to the gardeners and extended Koshland Park Community that Thursday, August 31st was my last day working with you (well, officially). I have accepted a new position as The School Garden and Compost Program Manager for the Garden for The Environment (also known as the GFE!). I am super excited about this opportunity, but am very saddened to leave this amazing, inimitable group of people. The past 14 months has served as the most significant personal and professional growth of my life! When I stepped into this position over a year ago I never could have imagined walking away with the insight and experience that I have today.

a dedicated gardener! all of y'all are amazing...
This community is the epitome of commitment, dedication, and compassion for social change. Each of you exemplifies a piece of this vision and it gives me goose bumps to think about your smiling faces. I will miss all of you something fierce, but am hopeful that our paths will cross again somewhere along the way. This city is way too small!!

just a few of the wonderful volunteers that helps keep this park safe & beautiful!
I, also, want to take this time to recognize a couple of folks that have guided me through this process and have changed my perspective forever! I want acknowledge Barbara Wenger for (going out on a limb) and providing me this opportunity even though my enthusiasm for the job far exceeded the experience she was looking for to fill this role. You have given me the chance to discover a part of myself that has only made me a stronger, more confident person. You are the founder of an invaluable organization that should function as a model for all other neighborhood park groups! Thank you for sharing your words of wisdom….and for all of the delicious Friday afternoon meetings☺

I also want to recognize the Hayes Valley/Western Addition/Lower Haight “community organizer extraordinaire”, Richard Johnson. You have absolutely mastered the art of mobilizing a community to step outside of the box and challenge the system. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to work with you and the Hayes Valley Partners as they seem to achieve the impossible on a daily basis. Your dynamic personality and dedication to social justice is beyond imaginable. Thank you for all that you do. I will carry the experiences and wisdom that you have shared with me everywhere I go. I look forward to continuing this partnership in my other position!!

Rebecca, lord woman, I do not know where to start with you! You are amazing!! The dedication you have to this garden, this community, and this cause is beyond inspiring! Thank you so much for taking me under your wing and guiding me through this wonderful experience. Prior to this job, I had never had the chance to work so closely with another person. Looking back at what we accomplished, the ideas we shared and the projects we realized, it all seems magical to me! You have been more than a mentor, you have become a close friend to me that I will always hold to dear to my heart! I absolutely admire you and your ability to make dreams come to life. This is what this experience has been for me—a dream that I realized, but not without your wisdom and heart to help make it happen. I love you, girl!

you are the best, Rebecca!!

I hope that all of you will come visit me over at the Garden for the Environment located on 7th & Lawton. We have tons of great workshops every Saturday of the year as well as volunteer days on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Please come by and say hello—or grace me with a giant smile!! much love, ~*suzi

Seed to Mouth--Food For The Soul!

With the schoolyear on the horizon, I want to honor and celebrate one final project of the summer that left our bellies and souls full of goodness:) Beginning way back in the early days of Spring, Miss Rebecca had an "epiphany" that we should (and WILL find a way to) offer nutritional cooking classes to youth and families of our community. The classes would highlight various seasonal crops grown in our garden or other locally grown produce.

Now in hindsight, I can share that the classes were an amazing success with lots of kids, parents, neighbors, gardeners, and friends attending and helping us make beautiful food that we all sat down and ate together as a family. YUM! Looking forward to starting it up again.

Naked Ladies

I thought that might get your attention :)

Hope everyone is super well, I am back from vacation and to my lovely surprise I find that our Amaryllis belladonna have shown there beautiful faces. The appearance of the tall, flower stalk without any leaves accounts for the common name "naked lady".

UPCOMING COMPOST WORKSHOP!

September 9th, from 9:30 - 11. Teach about the ins and outs of compost as well as make compost sifters!! Immediately following will be our 2nd Saturday workday. Bring your food scraps, but please remember, no meat, diary or bread.

JOHN MUIR SCHOOL WORK DAY AUGUST 26TH.

Look at how sad this garden looks. Help us get John Muir ready for the first day of school (8/28). 9am - 2pm and lunch too. Come for as long or as little as you like. All help is always greatly appreciated. Lots will be going on too so your day can be filled with a variety of tasks. Help in the library or classrooms, mulching and planting in the garden, painting, and lots more.

With school starting, Suzi and I change back to our school schedule. More specifics later as classes get scheduled.

Suzi - Monday, Tuesday, Friday
Rebecca - Tuesday, Friday

Monthly 2nd Saturday Work Parties from 11-2.

Finally, I had to share this wonderment with you. This little spider was found in Jesse's tomato plant. She is an Enoplognatha ovata and is protecting her blueish egg sac. Here are a few interesting facts about her:

-Typically construct her web on live plants, rolling a leaf as a retreat.

- Can be very variable in color.
- Its size is between 3 and 6 mm.
- found on low vegetation and bushes.
- The leaf in which she makes her egg sac is often slightly rolled.

So look out, you too may find an Enoplognatha in your garden plot.

Life is BEAUTIFUL. Good Day All! ~ Rebecca