My Visit to "Occupy the Farm" at Gill Tract in Albany (Community Voices)
Blog entry by Matt Werner.
Last updated at Thu, 3 May at 1:45pm.

I visited the Gill Tract "Family Farm" events on Saturday, April 28. After reading the press about this latest occupation of University of California property, I was expecting to find Occupy anarchists with bandanas covering their faces planting marijuana. Instead, what I found were hundreds of local residents and UC Berkeley students and alumni planting rows of crops in an event that looked like the Solano Stroll meets the Ardenwood Farm.

Read the whole story...

Why Haven't Teachers Signed Up for Free Urban Farming Workshop?
Blog entry by Boku Kodama.
Last updated at Mon, 10 Oct at 12:28pm.

 

Read the whole story...

Phat Beets seeking vendors, customers for new North Oakland flea market
Blog entry by Susan Mernit.
Last updated at Mon, 1 Aug at 11:33pm.

Whether you're a regular at the North Oakland Farmer's market every Saturday on 57th and Market or not, you will want to come out for the first of a series of monthly Phat Flea's Market Bazaar events beginning this Saturday!

Read the whole story...

Planning for urban farming - Oakland holds public brainstorming
Article by Irene.
Last updated at Sun, 31 Jul at 11:31pm.

"Urban farmers should pay a nominal yearly fee, perhaps $100 per participating farm, to fund animal husbandry inspections."

This was one of the many ideas submitted at Thursday night’s city of Oakland urban farming community meeting.

Read the whole story...

Pets--or Food? East Bay SPCA/OAS remove 22 rabbits from Oakland home
Article by Susan Mernit.
Last updated at Thu, 30 Jun at 10:32am.

How many rabbits are too many rabbits?

Read the whole story...

The Oakland Food Chain
Blog entry by Kelly Felkins.
Last updated at Sat, 31 Jul at 5:38pm.

I was entertained by these recent threads in my neighborhood. Sharing vegetables, eggs, wine. Manure from chickens, ducks, and goats for compost. Vegetable scraps as feed for rabbits, ducks, and goats.

Names and other details changed to protect identities. 

Read the whole story...

Pigeon might soon be on Oakland's dinner plate
Article by Edwin Okong’o.
Last updated at Thu, 3 Jun at 11:54pm.

(UPDATE Apr. 2: Yes, this story was indeed a joke. Happy April Fool's Day, Oakland!)

An exotic restaurant that had been rejected in San Francisco for its plans to serve pigeon meat will likely end up in Oakland, a city council vote suggested Tuesday. This move might help simultaneously address the city's budget crisis, increase local employment and support locally produced food.

Oakland city council members unanimously agreed to debate the issue in May after restaurant entrepreneur and chef Jay Rollings offered to pay the city $10 for every pigeon served for the first five years. If approved, the new "Vermine à Ailes" haute cuisine restaurant would open in the former Barnes & Noble location on Jack London Square in late 2010.

Read the whole story...

Berkeley's Biofuel Oasis Pumps Up Local Living in the Bay
Article by Cynthia Joseph.
Last updated at Tue, 4 May at 12:30pm.

Biofuel Oasis in Berkeley is an all-women worker-owned cooperative and urban resource for folks who want to lighten their ecological footprints and maybe raise a chicken or two.

Read the whole story...