Tag Archives: California

West Oakland Farm Park

Rodney Spencer, executive director of City Slicker Farms.

Rodney Spencer, executive director of City Slicker Farms.

There’s a difference when you walk into to West Oakland’s newest park. The plaza beckons with its lush grass. There’s picnic tables and a playground, but surrounding the park is something else. It’s familiar but unexpected. Vegetables. The newest park in West Oakland is also a farm. Kale, collards, cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes surround the central plaza and a 28 raised-bed community garden line the fence. A newly planted orchard has taken root on the southern edge and on the opposite end is a chicken coop with 20 young hens. If you stop by Saturday you can buy freshly harvested produce from the City Slicker Farm Stand on a sliding scale.

West Oakland Farm Park, a view from the entrance.

West Oakland Farm Park, a view from the entrance.

Located at 28th and Peralta Streets, West Oakland Farm Park is a public space with a working farm and a community mission. Open daily from 10am to 7pm, executive director Rodney Spencer says it’s all here for the neighborhood of West Oakland. Once a food desert with nothing but liquor stores and industry, City Slicker was able to obtain the 1.4 acre site through a $4 million dollar grant from Proposition 84. The statewide bond not only funds safe drinking water, water quality and supply, flood control, but also seeks to revitalize disadvantaged communities making them more sustainable and livable by investing in local parks and urban greening. Because City Slicker farms is a non-profit and willing to include public access with a park and restrooms within their farm they were able to obtain the grant.

Joseph Davis, farm manager of City Slicker Farms, at the West Oakland Farm Park.

Joseph Davis, farm manager of City Slicker Farms, at the West Oakland Farm Park.

Ever since the purchase last year, the farm park has been a hub of planning and building. The organization has partnered with many groups to make it a true community effort. A few examples of their partnerships include KaBOOM!, a national non-profit that put in the playground. In Good Company, a community service project of Clif Bar put in the woodshed, toolshed and farm stand. The Crucible made the iron farm gate. Art students from the California College of Arts painted the murals and architecture students from the same school designed the chicken coop.

Rachel Rehmet (in hat) at the City Slicker Farm stand.

Rachel Rehmet (in hat) at the City Slicker Farm stand.

The property’s main building will become the City Slicker Farm headquarters and houses a demonstration kitchen, an outdoor classroom, and a community rec center. City Slicker Farms is best known for its backyard garden program that helps neighbors grow food by building and installing raised backyard beds and mentoring the new gardeners to ensure success. In its 15 year history the group has installed over 300 raised beds for the community. The new site has a woodshop where they can make the 8 x 3½ foot frames. The site also hosts City Slicker’s youth summer crew program that hires 8 local teenagers teaching them urban agriculture and life skills. City Slicker’s cornerstone program, the community farm stand also takes place at the new site every Saturday starting at 10am. A sliding scale rate from $1-3 is a way to make sure there’s affordable healthy food for the neighborhood.

A youth crew teenager moves horse manure to the garden. The manure is donated from a stable in the Oakland Hills.

A youth crew teenager moves horse manure to the garden. The manure is donated from a stable in the Oakland Hills.

City Slicker has only six and a half paid positions in its organization. It relies on volunteers and community involvement. Thursdays and Saturdays are drop-in days where you can show up and help out. Farm manager Joseph Davis has just finished setting up the drip irrigation system for new beds with the help of his youth crew and volunteers. Because the soil on the site was contaminated, hundreds of yards of soil was replaced by clean topsoil. Joseph, a former teacher first worked with City Slicker back in 2009 as an intern. He then began mentoring and was the natural candidate for the farm manager position. “Being an urban farmer is very public,” he says. People come by and are interested in what’s going on. Those interested people often come back to help out.

Joseph Davis(in red), farm manager works with the youth crew and volunteers to put in the drip irrigation system at West Oakland Farm Park

Joseph Davis(in red), farm manager works with the youth crew and volunteers to put in the drip irrigation system at West Oakland Farm Park

City Slicker latest goal is to reach out to local progressive organizations and neighbors that need community space. Cooking Matters already is using the space for classes and demos. The community garden is going strong providing raised beds for neighbors to garden. “We want West Oakland neighbors to have events here,” says executive director Rodney Spencer. “We’ve proven that you can grow food and improve the health and well being of the neighborhood. This land has been blighted and misused for decades. It’s time to give the land back.” Visit West Oakland Farm Park for inspiration and don’t forget to pick up some kale.

The community garden, where neighbors can grow vegetables themselves in 28 raised beds.

The community garden, where neighbors can grow vegetables themselves in 28 raised beds.

Donald Theard, Community Gardener

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It’s amazing what one person can do for the community. Last year I met Donald Theard the main volunteer gardener at the People’s Grocery garden at 7th and Market. Called Free-er Way Garden because it’s right next to the freeway, it’s open to anyone to come by and pick vegetables. It provides a crucial service to the West Oakland neighborhood where healthy foods are hard to come by, though it wouldn’t be possible without a dedicated volunteer growing the food.

Not long ago the garden was a weed-filled vacant lot but People’s Grocery got permission to  grow vegetables as part of their food justice program.  When I talked to Donald last year he told me he’d never grown vegetables till the year before when he started volunteering at the garden. He said he comes twice a week tending the garden growing  everything from carrots, collard greens, peppers, kale, tomatoes, beans, chard, squash, watermelons and more. His latest experiment was growing okra. There’s newly planted fruit trees, an arbor, a greenhouse for starting seedlings and a beautiful mural. Across the street there’s a McDonalds but there’s no place nearby to buy produce. While I was there several neighbors came by and picked their own vegetables, including senior, Cloteal Davis who was picking  up some collard greens and peppers for dinner.

I stopped by the garden a couple of weeks ago and it’s still going strong, even though People’s Grocery has closed. I wonder if Donald is still at work, keeping the community healthy with fresh organic produce. If anyone knows please contact me so I can check in with Donald Theard, I’d love to hear how last year’s okra crop went.

Read an in depth story about Oakland’s Right to Grow program and four other American cities working to fix the broken food system in Fixing Food: Fresh Solutions from Five U. S. Cities by The Union of Concerned Scientists, 2015.

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Cloteal Davis, a neighbor, stops by to get some vegetables from the People's Grocery garden at 7th and Market in West Oakland that Donald Theard, a volunteer tends.

Cloteal Davis, a neighbor, stops by to get some vegetables from the People’s Grocery garden at 7th and Market in West Oakland that Donald Theard, a volunteer tends.

PeeWee and Veronica, neighbors stop by and talk to Donald Theard the volunteer gardener at People's Grocery garden at 7th and Market in West Oakland.

PeeWee and Veronica, neighbors stop by and talk to Donald Theard the volunteer gardener at People’s Grocery garden at 7th and Market in West Oakland.

Donald Theard, 510.238.8946, volunteers at the People's Grocery garden at 7th and Market in West Oakland. He never grew vegetables before working this vacant lot. Before working here, he never grew vegetables. He's worked here one year.