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GYP on the Urban Farm
Our Urban Farm
The Growing Youth Project Farm is located at 2600 Barbers Point Road in Alameda, CA. It is part of the Alameda Point site. You can find directions on the main Alameda Point Collaborative page, under the DIRECTIONS header. Or go to http://www.apcollaborative.org/directions.htm.
When you get to that page, just click on the link to the farm on the map. Below is a schematic of our Farm that shows the layout. If you want to see a bigger picture, click HERE. .
History
Before the farm became what it is now, it was a basketball court where the teens and kids played. As the basketball court was abandoned, the area around the court became cluttered with overgrown weeds and piles of mulch.
Here is the old basketball court, which was soon to have a barn!
After the GYP completed its food assessment in 2006, it started to look for new areas in the neighborhood that could be used for producing food – this one acre plot seemed like the perfect place! So in January 2008, GYP got to work tearing down trees, pulling up weeds, building vegetable beds, ripping up part of the old basketball court, putting in irrigation, and planting trees. We now have beautiful rows of produce beds, an amazing orchard, chickens, and bee hives on the property. Here is another great "before" and "now" picture.
Current Activities
The farm serves as our main production site for providing families at APC with fresh, affordable produce. We grow food here year-round and it is used for our weekly produce delivery program. How does it work? Our residents can sign up for as many bags per week as they would like and on Wednesdays we come out to the farm, harvest the weeks vegetables and fruit, and then put them in bags and deliver to their doors. This service only costs $5, and we accept cash and EBT cards. Our residents really appreciate this service because fresh, organic produce is really expensive and sometimes hard to get.
We also sell our produce and eggs through our Friday afternoon farm stand during the summer months, and have relationships with some local restaurants for when we have extra produce. Soon, we will be processing even more of our food in our new community kitchen at the APC Service Center – think tomato sauce, jam, frozen meals, and vegetable dishes prepared for our community events!
We also are experimenting with a new aquaponics project, where we will be raising tilapia or similar white fish in a large tank that will cycle water through a 3 tiered system. Come check it out!
We will also be breaking ground on our large shed/small barn this winter and spring. This shed will give us a new area for washing and packing produce and more secure and dry storage for our tools and farm supplies.
Volunteers
We host volunteers on the farm every Wednesday from 10am-1pm and on the first 3 Saturdays of every month from 10am-2pm. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us and we can arrange something that suits your needs.
What Do We Grow?
We grow so many crops it is hard to list them all, but here is a sample list:
Vegetables:
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- Greens (collards, mustard)
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Fruit:
We also grow herbs, flowers, and keep chickens, bees, and soon, fish!
Check out more pictures of our Farm at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/growingyouth/ |
