Oak Park Crop Swap

Water Use and Soil Surveys

blogger@mattozan.net (Matt) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:26:00 +0000

On July 27th, Ed talked to us about drip irrigation materials and methods. He mentioned the WUCOLS, which is the "Water Use Classification of Landscape Species." You can look up the water use data for your plants in our region, published by the University of California Extension.

On August 3rd, Garrett talked to us about soil care and chemistry. He mentioned the USDA Soil Survey, which you can use to find the soil type and characteristics found in your own yard.

Good Bugs / Bad Bugs

blogger@mattozan.net (Matt) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Learn which bugs to keep around and which bugs to evict from your garden. Sometimes the ugly ones (like ladybug larvae and centipedes) are the good guys who defend your plants from pests. And sometimes the pretty ones (like the harlequin beetle) are the ones munching your veggies!

Bill Maynard talked about some of these at the crop swap this evening, and showed us an illustrated identification card from Mac's Field Guide. You can get a full-color, laminated guide from Amazon for five bucks.

June 6 Crop Swap

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:54:00 +0000

The first official Oak Park Crop Swap of the season commenced on June 6th. We had a fantastic turn out and would like to thank all the new growers who came for the first time! The specific tally will be up on the website soon- but your neighbors grew and traded over 40 lbs of produce! That's impressive considering the unusual weather we had in June.

Pesticide Watch organized a viewing of Food Inc. at the Crest theater this past Friday, this documentary demonstrates many problems with our food system. Specifically that lack of control farmers have over what they grow and how that can endanger our food security. This is a huge problem and it is hard to know what we as individuals can do to solve it. At the Crop Swap our answer is to grow our own food, in our own yards and trade with our neighbors for what we can't grow ourselves.

Some members of the Crop Swap are taking this a step further and saving seeds and preserving their harvests. One member brought chipotle peppers that he smoked himself. Many members brought herbs that can be dried and used later in the year. Finally one member brought onion seed pods- saving seeds protects the diversity of our crops and allows us to have some control over our food supply!

Tomatoes on the way...

blogger@mattozan.net (Matt) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:58:00 +0000

The tomatoes are following my little plan without much intervention. In the last month they have grown up to the poultry fencing and, with a little manipulation, latched onto it.

The Stupice (right) and Paul Robeson (front) plants already have extensive fruit set on widely branched, three-to-four foot vines. The Pearson (left), which I just learned is a determinate, has just put out its first fruit and is growing a bit more slowly. And the Garden Peach (back), which are the only plants I started from seed, are just putting out their flowers.

I've got basil growing in between the plants to ward off pests (and eat with the tomatoes!) The Italian Basil on the right has done much better than the Sweet Basil on the left...

Installing Raised Beds- NeighborWorks Week!

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:34:00 +0000

The Oak Park Crop Swap teamed up NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center Sacramento Region, during NeighborWorks Week this past Saturday, to install raised beds for a neighbor who needs a little help getting started.

Installing raised beds may seem like a difficult and expensive project, however one of the Crop Swap Members came up with a great idea. He figured out a way to construct a raised bed for around $25.00 (not including the cost of the soil and plants). We'll be posting a material list and directions in the next few weeks.

This past Saturday eight members of the Crop Swap gathered on a beautiful sunny day to construct 4 large raised beds and two small raised beds for a neighbor. The construction leader Chuck made the job easy for the group. He assembled three raised beds before we arrived and had the materials cut and ready for the other three. Chuck designed the beds out of redwood fencing material.

We loaded our truck full of gardening supplies and building supplies: 2 wheelbarrows, tables, shovels, sawhorses, plywood and of course plants. The plants were donated by Soil Born Farm. Thanks Soil Born Farm!

While we were getting set up the volunteers with tucks went to get two loads of soil mix. When they returned the rest of us had to get busy. The boxes were assembled, positioned into place and filled with soil, then the starts were planted.

Before nothing but lawn:

After: A beautiful raised bed garden that will be easy to maintain!

This was a great project and really shows how much can be accomplished in a short time when neighbors work together. Volunteers got some exercise, our neighbor a garden and the Crop Swap gained a new member! Thanks to everyone who volunteered on Saturday!

Bring on the tomatoes!

blogger@mattozan.net (Matt) — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:36:00 +0000

Something about the soil in our garden turns tomato plants into raging beasts. They end up as 10' x 10' mats of tendrils, covering whatever was unlucky enough to be planted nearby.

I'm trying something new this year--no more laissez faire tomato gardening, with tomato vines sprawling all over the place. I've made a sort of uber-cage for all four of my tomatoes. It's about 8' x 8', and has chickenwire (or "poultry-fencing," as my coworker insists it is properly called) to about 5 feet in height. I've got plants in each of the four corners, and I intend to train all of the vines up onto the wire.

Right now the cage is filled with pride and optimism. Once it fills up with the full weight of four unruly tomatoes, we'll see how this idea actually turns out...

How do you manage your tomatoes? Leave a comment. Predictions of how my uber-cage will fall short are also welcome (especially now, when it's not too late to make adjustments!)

Legalize Chickens in Sacramento!

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:18:00 +0000

Happy Earth Day!

Some Members of the Oak Park Crop Swap gathered at McClatchy Park yesterday to support a press conference to legalize hens in Sacramento. Hens make a great addition to your garden. They eat your kitchen scraps, provide free fertilizer for your garden, eat bugs and best of all provide eggs!

Some of our local Council Members stopped by to learn more about the benefits of backyard hens. Lauren Hammond and Rob Fong had an opportunity to see what all the fuss was about and visit the chicks pictured below who also made a special appearance! The support from our Council Members is very much appreciated!

While we have some support there is a lot of work that still has to be done to get the law changed in Sacramento. To learn more about changing this outdated law please visit this website: www.eatsacramento.org.

In the meantime the weather is getting hot! Now is a great time to be working on your garden- tomatoes love the heat!

Canvassing in Oak Park

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:09:00 +0000

On Saturday April 18, 2009 a group of about 10 Crop Swappers met at the Starbucks at 34th and Broadway. From there we divided into teams and walked or rode bikes to different neighborhoods in Oak Park. We knocked on doors, spoke with neighbors and invited everyone we met to start gardening and join the Crop Swap. We distributed approximately 300 fliers to our neighbors. Hopefully this will get the word out and participation in the Crop Swap will tremendously increase this year.

We are trying to encourage members of our community to grow an organic, diverse and heirloom crops. This will increase the food security in Oak Park!

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:02:00 +0000

I wasn't able to get a picture uploaded yesterday but here is a shot of our raised beds before they were planted.

At the beginning of April we planted potatoes, cilantro, golden beets, soy beans, lettuce mix, and spinach. We are still saving space for the tomatoes that we started, a permanent bed of artichokes, peppers and squash.

The top picture shows where the drip irrigation spouts are located- check out the cool bench tops that are installed so we can sit while we garden!

Getting Ready for Summer!

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:35:00 +0000

We are working very hard at getting ready for summer! We have promised ourselves that summer wouldn't take us by surprise! Like it has for the past two years.

We noticed that last year and the year before we lost our motivation for watering around August. It get's a little old getting up at 5:30 (a half hour earlier than usual) to stand outside making sure all plants have water. By September only the hardiest drought resistant plants survived.

This year will be different though. We built raised beds, imported 1 ton of compost and installed drip irrigation. We dug a 60 foot trench, laid down the pvc pipes, and the spouts. We still have to figure out the details, but the frame work is there. The rest should be easy to complete!

Crop Swap Website is Launched

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:53:00 +0000

The new Crop Swap Website has been launched please check it out!

The Crop Swap Swings into Action

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:09:00 +0000

The Oak Park Crop Swap is swinging into action. This year, we recieved a grant from the Sutter Foundation, we will be using the grant to grow the Oak Park Crop Swap. Our goals this year include increasing the diversity of our produce, growing more heirloom fruits and veggies, increasing the number of households who partcipate in the Crop Swap and adding a focus to our Speaker Series on food preservation.

If you would like to become more involved please visit our website and check out our calendar for upcoming events! We are also looking for speakers. Are you an expert in gardening or food preservation ? Would you like to share your knowledge with your neighbors? If so, please contact us to sign up as a speaker.

Crop Swap Update

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:06:00 +0000

The Oak Park Crop Swap is in full swing! For the past two weeks we have met at McClatchy Park and swapped veggies. The first week of the crop swap participants brought in 72lbs of organically grown produce to swap. The second week brought 24lbs of produce. We will be keeping track of how much food is brought to the swap throughout the trading season and posting it on the blog.

The first week we had a great speaker focus on sheet mulch gardening- I picked up many tips that we'll use next year and I think other swappers feel the same. Next week we will have a speaker on how to build Cob Ovens!

For me, the Crop Swap is an eye opening experience, for what farmers must go thru all the time. Last week I was looking over our vegetable crop and deciding what was ripe and how much to bring. There were many tomatoes that were almost ripe, peppers almost ready but not quite, plums that were too ripe, not enough blueberries etc. In the end I collected 1lb of heirloom tomatoes and a big bunch of basil. I can only imagine what farmers face when their livelihood is dependent not only on a good harvest but good timing as well.

crop drop

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:41:00 +0000

So we have discovered a new offspring of the crop swap. Upon arriving home this evening we discovered in our refrigerator some beautiful greens, a cucumber and a zucchini that were not there when we left. It turns out my sister who lives a couple blocks away in oak park had a little bigger harvest than they could handle and we were the beneficiaries. I immediately called this technique a Crop Drop. Yum!

Posted by Neil

The Crop Swap Made into the Newspaper!

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:44:00 +0000

Yesterday, the CYCLEbration organized by the Sacramento Hunger Coalition toured community gardens and front yard gardens in the Sacramento area. I envisioned 25 bikers trickling thru in groups of 2 or 3 - so we set out some refreshments and reference books for the bikers to browse while they were leisurely checking out the garden. Instead at least 50 riders zoomed down our street and descended into our yard- they were all business and on a schedule! We were able to visit with the riders for about 10 minutes before they were off to their next stop the Bicycle Kitchen. The excitement and enthusiasm from the riders was contagious- if we didn't have 4 yards of decomposed granite to move from the street to our back yard, we would have joined the riders in a second! They were having a great time riding and visiting gardens in Sacramento.

Of course, I had to plug the Crop Swap! All of the riders were invited to veggie trading starting the first Sunday in July at 3:30 at McClatchy park. After the trading at 3:30 there will be speakers from 3:30 to 4:00. We are still looking for speakers-so if you are knowledgeable in an area of gardening and are willing to give a half hour of your time please email me at purlyday@yahoo.com and I'll put you on the schedule.

As we all know the soaring cost of gas is causing food prices to sky rocket. As food prices increase all families but especially families of modest means are having difficulty paying for a place to live, transportation and food. Food is often the area where families try to economize- I find it appalling that in a country with resources as rich as the United States families are relying on highly processed cheap foods to survive. I like Ramen as much as the next person- but products like Ramen and Mac & Cheese should never be relied on to deliver a families nutritional needs.

We are addressing food security issues in Oak Park by neighbors learning how to grow food and trading with neighbors. By building community and offering an alternative to relying on a massive corporate agriculture that without petro chemicals can not maintain current high levels of output. By growing in our own yards, organically improving our soil, saving our seeds and building local networks for trading produce we are increasing our food security.

Upcoming Potluck!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:18:00 +0000

Neil and Kara are hosting a pre -veggie trading pot luck on June 29 at 3:00 at their house. Remember the veggie trading starts on July 6th at 3:00 at McClatchy Park. The potluck is vegetarian- please try to include something you've grown in your garden. We are really hoping our plums will be ripe by then- our two trees are loaded with plums but they are still very green!

Recycled Planter Boxes

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:08:00 +0000

My husband is the master of recycling- if there are any left overs from a project, a scrap of wood, sewer pipes, even empty litter box containers he will find a use. His latest re-use it project involved giving new life to an old stockade fence that was torn down. Our front yard has the best sun for growing veggies like tomatoes, basil, and peppers- the problem with planting them in the ground are the rambunctious dogs that rule our world- plowing down an unsuspecting tomato plant or digging up basil for a comfy spot to lounge are the inevitable outcomes of plants in the open.

The only plants I felt confident about planting in the front unprotected are the blackberries which are against a lovely chain link fence, so there is no frolicking thru the blackberries to anywhere exiting! As soon as they mature the thorns will be a worthy foe of my mischievous muts!

On to the planter boxes- the dimensions are 2ft by 4ft by 2 ft deep. They are a simple 2 by 4 box frame with the fence boards nailed to them. In other words a really small fence that holds dirt, worms, and plants instead of animals and people. We love the boxes- we already have tomatoes that are about 2 weeks from being harvested. The basil is growing great and the peppers are growing slow but steady. This is our second year of growing cotton. We are growing Mississippi Brown and Arkansas Green Lint. We are hoping for a bumper crop! At least enough to spin and make a hat this year. We had a very small yield last year- but I planted the cotton in soil that is much too clay based. This year one of the planter boxes in the front is being devoted to just cotton. I think we will be able to plant 4 plants in the box.

Do you have any other ideas on re-purposing material that would have ended up in the landfill? Let us know!

Pictures from Celebrate Oak Park

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:41:00 +0000

Pictures from Celebrate Oak Park

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Celebrate Oak Park

noreply@blogger.com (Jaclyn) — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:52:00 +0000

Celebrate Oak Park this past Saturday was oodles of fun. We planted seeds with young & old alike. Thanks to Bill for providing the seeds. I also had the opportunity to meet several folks from the neighborhood whom I had not yet met. There were many discussions about bringing more fresh produce into our community. The Crop Swap is one means of providing more food options. Community gardens & farmer's markets were also a hot topic of discussion throughout the day. In addition to the seed planting activity, we also gathered signatures for a petition to establish a community garden in McClatchy Park. Everyone I spoke to was very supportive! If you haven't signed the petition yet, please do so at our next gathering. Happy Gardening!

Volunteers

noreply@blogger.com (Randy) — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:03:00 +0000

And I'm not talking about an 80's Tom Hanks movie. My understanding is that volunteers are plants that grow in your garden or yard that you didn't intentionally plant. Well I got lots of volunteers from last years garden. They litter our backyard lawn. Sunflowers, snap peas, zucchinis and tomatoes have grown into the middle of what is now the backyard lawn but was a garden last year. I don't have it in me to mow them down. I am asking you today (in my best evangelical preacher voice) to come down here and save these volunteers. If you can save just one, save one. If you can save twenty then, God bless you, there will be a place in tomato heaven right next to the beafsteaks* and romas.

*What a great name for a tomato. It pushes my eating buttons more than any tomato has a right to. BEEFSTEAK!!!!!!!

Email me if you are interested. horkdorker@yahoo.com

Poorly taken photos of volunteers:

These are mostly sunflowers -

These are snap peas -

These zuchinnis were awesome last year. Organic seed! -

100 Foot Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:15:00 +0000

Many of us have read Barbra Kingsolvers "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and learned about the 100 mile challenge, eating food produced in a 100 mile radius of our home. The Path to Freedom Institute has raised the bar and is challenging us to participate in a home grown revolution, to eat one meal per week from produce grown in our own backyard. Any members of the Oak Park Crop Swap who would like to participate are encouraged to! Neil and Kara plan on signing up for the challenge- but we might wait until at least until the tomatoes are ripe! If you're interested in more information check out the link on side bar.

A Community Project

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:19:00 +0000

Neighbors from the Oak Park Community in Sacramento, Ca, have created the Oak Park Crop Swap. This is a community effort to grow produce in our front and backyards and meet on a weekly basis to trade our vegetables. The trading will begin in July 2008 and continue throughout the growing season. Neighbors will meet at McClatchy Park at 3:00 every Sunday to trade produce. Additionally, speakers will be scheduled after the trading to give community members tips on gardening and food preserving. If you have ideas for speakers or would like to give a presentation leave a note in the comments. Enjoying the food we grow and visiting each other's gardens is a big part of our group- periodic potlucks at members homes will be organized.