Tour: Urban Agriculture Coming of Age

By Darrell MacAulay, Institute of Urban Homesteading

When we started the Institute of Urban Homesteading in 2008, urban agriculture was a marginal activity practiced by a handful of intrepid individuals. Now stories of urban chickens and bees abound, average citizens boast front yard vegetable gardens, urban sustainability projects and glossy urban farming magazines are popping up at every turn.

Urban Farm Tours invites you to see what established urban farmers are up to and what productive urban agriculture can look like on a small, medium, large, or extra large urban lot.

You will see fruit and vegetable gardens, urban orchards, goat dairies, wetlands, composting systems, bees, chicken, quail, food forests, coop designs, natural building materials, mushroom beds, ultra-local CSA-style food production, and more. Each tour will last about 30 minutes with time in between for travel to another location. Ask questions, get advice and sample some of the bounty these farms produce.

Among the featured farms are Pine Heaven Farm in Montclair (read about it in this 2010 San Francisco Chronicle article) and Pluck & Feather near Lake Merritt in Oakland.

Featured Farms
X-SMALL Indigoat Farms (Oakland 580 corridor)
SMALL Tiny Berkeley Garden (Central Berkeley)
MEDIUM Pluck & Feather Farm (Grand Lake)
MEDIUM Beegrrl Gardens (North Oakland)
MEDIUM Shattuck Farms (North Berkeley)
LARGE The Algarden & DaTerra Food Forest (W.Berkeley)
X-LARGE PineHeaven Farm (Montclair)

THE DETAILS
WHEN: Saturday June 9, 2011 11am-6pm. Tours start on the hour with 7 locations to choose from.
Last Tour starts at 5
COST: Option #1 - Loosy-Goosy, Pay as you go.
$5 per person per tour. Kids under 12, $3. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Option # 2 - Pay in advance as a tax deductible donation. Your donation benefits IUH and the local farmers.
$30 adults, $18 children $5 discount for bicycles. Start at any location to pick up your “ticket” at will-call.
LOCATION: Farms are located from Lake Merritt up to North Berkeley. Exact locations will be sent in an email the week before (see registration).
REGISTRATION: Send an email to iuh@sparkybeegirl.com with Urban Farm Tours in the subject line. You will be notified by mail a week before of the specific locations.

For detailed information about each site, please visit our website:
www.iuhoakland.com/events