Friday, December 23, 2011

To a BRIGHT New Year!







It has been an incredible year for Graze the Roof!

Highlights include:

-Interdisciplinary afterschool and summer enrichment programming in the garden for students of the FYCC Kinder-Teens

-Collaborations with Candice Jacobs (art), Paul Koski (Bees), Bruce McKinley (food, education and advocacy) numerous university student groups, and a burgeoning partnership with the Museum of Craft and Design

-Weekly seasonal harvests for the GLIDE kitchen totalling over 40 lbs in two just 2 months!

-Monthly educational tours in tandem with Sunday Celebrations

-Weekly volunteer workdays

-We've increased our biodiversity tremendously and are cultivating rare, unique and heirloom varieties of FOOD, flowers and native plants!

-We are visioning for the BRIGHT new year and cannot wait to share it with you!

SUNDAY JANUARY 8TH TWO EDUCATIONAL TOURS FOLLOWING CELEBRATION - 10:30A AND 12:30A

JOIN US FOR OUR FIRST VOLUNTEER WORKDAY IN 2012 ON JANUARY 12TH 2012 FROM 10A-2P

email grazetheroof@gmail.com

In gratitude for the opportunity to grow food and community with you all,
Lindsey Read more...

Monday, December 12, 2011

Gift to the Garden ACTIVATES fenceline







In collaboration with Candice Jacobs, Creative Arts Leader of the FYCC (Family, Youth and Childcare Center), our afterschool garden classes (Kinder-Fifth grade) participated in gifting Graze the Roof a vertical garden this holiday season.

The vertical garden consists of dozens of diverse potted succulents and drought-tolerant rosemary strung along the eastern fenceline. Each potted plant is labeled with the child's name and age who is responsible for planting the plant; offering ownership and connection to the environmental stewardship and arts-integrated project.

The children and staff of the FYCC were incredibly respectful in their participation and support of this collaboration. We hope to continue to activate this vertical space into the new year; transforming a chain-link fence into a garden, hummingbird and butterfly sanctuary, and mosaic of art, and living plants! Read more...

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Gratitude, Nourishment and Community






Thanksgiving morning at GLIDE Memorial Church was buzzing with activity, community, prayer, song, and delicious food.

We harvested 8 pounds of food from the garden to integrate in the free meals program distributing meals to the community over the holiday weekend. Read more...

Friday, November 18, 2011

Get to know the plants growing at Graze the Roof






At Graze the Roof, we have an abundance of BIODIVERSITY; plants of different sizes, shapes, colors, tastes, textures, and functions. The biodiversity of the garden is one of the factors supporting the resiliency, and health of the system.

As my own gardening experience expands and my knowledge and skill-set become more and more refined, I am getting to know, really know and understand the vast world of plants. Like human beings, plants have personalities, tendencies, and unique characteristics. It is fascinating, magical and as I learn more, I become more enchanted by the miracle of life, growth and gardening...and it is so much FUN.

The first plant I am excited to introduce you to is PINEAPPLE SAGE or Salvia Elegans. It is a perennial shrub, meaning that it has an extensive root system and you do not need to re-plant it year after year like many edible annual plants that we know and love: broccoli, tomato, carrot, etc...

The leaves do smell like pineapple and the bright red tubular flowers are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.

In traditional Mexico, this plant is used medicinally to treat anxiety and to lower blood pressure.

It is a beautiful plant and can thrive and be enjoyed in both in a containers or in the ground.

Visit our two pineapple sage plants at Graze the Roof during our volunteer workdays (Thursdays 10-2p or the first Sunday of each month between 10a-1p).

Happy planting! Read more...

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Gift to the Garden




Give a GIFT to the Garden this holiday filled season.

In collaboration with Artistic Program Director, Candice Jacobs of the Family Youth and Childcare Center, Graze the Roof is facilitating an arts integration opportunity for the youth in our after-school programming.

BEAUTFIY THE FENCELINE WITH YOUR TREASURES…AND WATCH IT GROW

A chain link fence has GREAT potential! Imagine the fence that surrounds Graze the Roof, GLIDE’s rooftop garden as our canvas…it can be colorful, interesting, imaginative, alive... It can be food, beauty, habitat…how will you leave your mark???

Give a GIFT to the garden by bringing in a container (shoe, tin can, old coffee mug, flower pot, toy truck, etc..) to become a part of our living wall! We will hang our treasures all over the fence, fill ‘em with soil and grow plants out of them!

WHAT WE NEED!...

Bring in a container…all shapes and sizes are encouraged! Please donate your old shoes, vintage boxes, and more to our living wall...help us transform a chain link fence into a vibrant edge of color, creativity and life!

All containers need to be turned in by: MONDAY DECEMBER 5th !!! Please bring to Graze the Roof every Thursday through Nov. 24th, 2011.

THANK YOU!

Email Lindsey at grazetheroof@gmail.com with any questions you may have regarding Gift to the Garden! Read more...

Friday, November 4, 2011

Graze the Roof Harvest meets the GLIDE Kitchen!






WE DID IT!

Over the past few months Graze the Roof has boosted food production and increased biodiversity and overall fertility of the garden and is now READY to offer this great abundance to the GLIDE kitchen. The GLIDE kitchen distributes 60,000 meals a month to community members in need of nourishment. The meal program is supported by food banks and local family farms.

Besides the meal program that serves 3 hot meals a day, seven days a week, GLIDE facilitates community-based nutrition and wellness education programming and advocacy programs for Seniors. The fresh greens and herbs from the rooftop garden will be distributed throughout these different offerings!

On Thursday morning we harvested 9 lbs of food from the garden! We will begin doing a weekly harvest for the kitchen and work with the kitchen team to plant and grow seasonally relevant herbs and vegetables that align with the needs of the dynamic food programs run by the kitchen team!

Thank you to all the volunteers for your support in boosting production and making this dream a reality!

Join us on Thursdays from 10a-2p to continue the dynamic cultivation of a food forest within the Tenderloin.

Email grazetheroof@gmail.com with comments, questions and/or ideas for raising awareness about this inspiring food security project. Read more...

Bunker Bags full of Spawn!







Using an urban mushroom cultivation technique as taught by Paul Staments in Mycellium Running . We created bunker bags yesterday during the workday! Graze the Roof now has 9 bunker bags sprinkled throughout the garden. A bunker bag is a burlap sack filled with layers of pasteurized straw and sawdust bricks filled with mushroom spawn. In the photos look under the milk-crate raised beds to see our bunker bags nestled underneath the crates as a shade-loving understory.

Thank you to Four Barrel Coffee on Valencia St. in the Mission for the donation of burlap sacks and to Far West Fungi in Moss Landing for the donation of the mushroom bricks. And a BIG thank you to all the volunteers who came out to make it happen! Read more...

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Mushroom Gardens come to the Roof







FUNGUS is fascinating, colorful and as a new forager of the forest, hunting for wild edible mushrooms, I have to say, fungus is fabulous! Mushrooms are rich in nutrition: vitamins and minerals as well as dense with regenerative properties, medicinal benefits and research shows we can partner with mushrooms for sustainable bioremediation projects. I'm a fan of fungus and as a gardener and foodie love this time of year because it is mushroom season in the forest and have always been intrigued by the idea of growing my own mushrooms...

Far West Fungi is a local, family run business that grows mushrooms and distributes widely. You can find their mushrooms at the Ferry Building and at farmer's markets around the city. They had an open house on Sunday to share the magnificence of their mushroom production; to teach and empower fungi.philes to grow their own gourmet mushrooms at home. We made the trek to beautiful Moss Landing where we met other folks passionate about mushrooms and the dynamics of urban agriculture.

We left Far West Fungi with trunk full of saw dust bricks colonized by shitake and oyster mushroom spawn...the foundation for creating a vibrant mushroom garden.

This week's volunteer workday will focus on creating mushroom gardens in the shady wet regions under our raised beds!

...Also I just observed oyster mushrooms growing out of our compost bin! Amazing!

Come on up to the roof this THURSDAY NOV. 3rd from 10a-2p to learn about and participate in the installation of mushroom gardens!

See you then!

-Lindsey Read more...

Friday, October 28, 2011

Fall Flowers, Autumn Abundance








Each of the photos tells a story; these are stories of seasonality, microclimate, taste, color, texture, habitat, nourishment, learning, community and wonder.

As we work together in community week after week, we learn more and more about the rooftop where we garden. The potential for growing an abundant food system in the Tenderloin is huge! We aspire offer our abundant harvest to the GLIDE kitchen so that a fresh salad of mixed heirloom greens or fresh herbs to season and flavor can be enjoyed by those benefitting from the meals program at least once a week.

Yesterday during the volunteer workday, we planted six heads of garlic, built foundations to support our milk-crate container raised beds, and marveled at the robust size of our arugula growing at the base of the lime tree.

We had visits from nurses who work in the health clinic on the 6th floor, they enjoy their lunch in the garden every Thursday, past volunteers and students from UC Berkeley interested in helping to raise awareness about Graze the Roof throughout San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.

Under the hot autumn sun, we laughed, celebrated, turned and sifted compost, planted and created.

We hope you'll join us next Thursday from 10a-2p for our weekly opportunity to support the food forest atop GLIDE Memorial Church.

email grazetheroof@gmail.com with any questions/comments you may have!

THANK YOU Read more...

Friday, October 14, 2011

Vibrant and Bountiful!





The garden is thriving thanks to the spectacular October weather we are having: sunshine and light fall rain. What a blessing it is to step into the garden; I find myself in awe of the colors, the diversity and abundance that fills our garden beds and containers!

Graze the Roof is looking for an Intern to support our youth education programming in the garden!

If you are interested, please contact: grazetheroof@gmail.com

JOIN US NEXT WEEK: THURSDAY OCT. 20TH FROM 10A-2P
COMMUNITY LUNCH EVERY WEEK AT 1:30P... BRING SOMETHING DELICIOUS TO SHARE! Read more...

Monday, September 26, 2011

GOLDEN and DELICIOUS








WE EXTRACTED 20 LBS OF HONEY FROM THE BEE HIVES!

The honey is in jars and will be on sale soon! There are only 40 precious bottles of this delicious, sweet and floral honey made by our hardworking honey bees. Contact Grazetheroof@gmail.com if interested in purchasing a jar for friends, family and/or to enjoy with a bowl of yogurt in the morning! All of the money goes to keep our community garden growing!

Thank you! Read more...

Friday, September 16, 2011

Harvesting the Abundance






these photos provide a taste of what's in season!

JOIN US FOR OUR WEEKLY WORKDAY TO TASTE FOR YOURSELF!

THURSDAYS
10a-2p

CONTACT: GRAZETHEROOF@GMAIL.COM
With questions, ideas, and thoughts you'd like to share! We'd love to hear from you! Read more...

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Tastes of Summer




TOMATOES
TOMATOES
TOMATOES

25 plants are happy, green and the fruits of our stewardship are hanging heavy and ripe from their fertile branches! Graze the Roof has tomatoes!

Please join us in our extended late summer-early fall hours of 10a-2p each Thursday to taste a tomato, turn the compost, build soil, container garden construction, weed, water, and experience the continued transformation of a rooftop into a thriving and abundant food system.

Integrating the GLIDE kitchen/meal distribution program has been a part of the long-term vision of Graze the Roof since it’s inception. In recent weeks we have been retrieving coffee grounds from the Thursday morning brew to help heat our compost, as well as food scraps to feed the worms in the vermicomposting bin. These are steps we are actively taking in collaboration with the kitchen team to integrate these two food/community centers within the GLIDE Foundation.

This week, September 12th-16th, FYCC garden classes start up again. This season Kinder, 1st and 2nd grade as well as 3rd through 5th grade will all get the opportunity to spend time in the garden on a weekly basis! The youthful energy truly helps the essence of the garden to come alive!

Calling all honey-bee lovers! ... DON’T FORGET!

HONEY HARVESTING WORKSHOP
SEPTEMBER 24TH
10a-12p
Meet at 330 Ellis St.
RSVP: grazetheroof@gmail.com
***Suggested Donation Read more...

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

I AM GLIDE



GLIDE - I Am GLIDE - Graze the Roof from GLIDE on Vimeo.

Read more...

Monday, August 22, 2011

HONEY HARVEST IS ON THE HORIZON




Paul Koski of San Francisco Bee Keepers Association joined last week at the end of the volunteer day and we went into the hiveS! ...Our bee colony was doing so well over the past couple of weeks, that Paul decided that we better split the hive into two hives to prevent a swarm; this happens on occasion if the colony becomes too large for it's present accommodations, which can inspire the queen to take her colony from it's hive out into the world in search of a better fit, be it a tree, barn eves or in the case of an urban environment, billboards....

We now have two hives with two happy, healthy and fertile queens. The honey supers (top box) is filling up with nectar and capped honey! In a couple of weeks, it will be time to harvest the honey, bottle it and share it with the community as a fundraiser for Graze the Roof and other greening projects at GLIDE.

JOIN US:

SEPTEMBER 24TH 2011
10A-12NOON
HARVEST HONEY
with Paul Koski of the SF Bee Keepers Association
Free community workshop!

Learn about bee keeping in the city!
Harvest Honey!
Support Graze the Roof!

RSVP: grazetheroof@gmail.com Read more...

Monday, August 1, 2011

A Summer of gardening and cooking!






This summer Graze the Roof partnered with FYCC's Teen Program to launch the first annual "A Taste of Place," an eight-week series that brought together the worlds of gardening and cooking. This program became one of the cornerstones of the dynamic Teen Program, serving GLIDE youth 14-18 throughout the summer.

From cheese making, to sowing seeds, transplanting seedlings, to nutrition education and fresh garbanzo bean hummus; the Teens were invited to explore the colorful and delicious world of local food from seed to celebration! Read more...

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Sweet Summer Sunshine Invigorates Garden




The garden is flourishing thanks to the volunteers old and new, and of course the incredible the summer sunshine!

If you've been coming to the garden regularly, if you've just had a first visit, or if it's been awhile since you've worked in the garden, I want to thank you for your interest in urban gardening, your creativity, your questions, your participation, joyful presence and willingness to support Graze the Roof. We could not do it without you!

I will be away next Thursday July 14th; I will be participating in a week-long garden teacher training course at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, there will not be a volunteer workday next week. I hope to see you all the following week, Thursday July 21st from noon-2pm!

Also....We have our monthly workshop approaching on Saturday July 23rd on Art and Meditation in the Garden from 10-noon. Please let me know if you'd like to attend (RSVP requested: grazetheroof@gmail.com). The workshop is open to all, please tell your friends, it would be wonderful to have a big group to share this special workshop with.

In the garden:

Tomatos are fruiting
Basil smells good and tastes delicious
Sunflowers have opened!
Youth in the teen series have planted heirloom beans that they started in their classroom
Greenhouse got a makeover
Garden beds have name tags
Worms are flourishing
Bees are busy and buzzing, we added a 'honey super' to encourage honey storage for late summer, early fall honey harvest
...so much color, fragrance, texture, nourishment and deep peace...

Celebrate the Sunshine!
Garden in the city!

-Lindsey
Project Manager and Educator Read more...

Friday, June 10, 2011

Summer Season is sparkling!





Yesterday marked the first week of Graze the Roof and the FYCC's summer season in the garden.
With the first and second graders, we spent the morning discussing Garden Agreements, agreements that will help us have fun, stay safe and learn a lot all summer long! The students presented the agreements they came up with in their small groups and we created one big poster that everyone signed that is hanging at the entrance to the garden. We wrapped up our session reading a story about a Community Garden located in San Francisco and talked about all of the tasks, creatures, and yummy plants associated with community gardening.

The Kinder class is back! A group of curious, and imaginative Kinders came to the garden just as the sun was warming the rooftop, we made our agreements around the picnic table and then started exploring. It had been awhile since these children had been on the roof and there was a lot to observe. The new vermi-composting system (worm bin) was an exciting discovery. Lizette giggled as the worms danced on her palm and Ashley piled 55 worms in her hand and then shared them with the rest of the group! We tasted flowers and looked at the baby carrots.

A busy workday of planting succulents in burlap pockets along the fenceline, painting signs, planting flowers, turning the compost, and feeding the trees.

We had a visit from Jane Kim the district representative and a visit from our Integrated Pest Management expert in preparation for a workshop on the topic on June 25th, (rsvp: grazetheroof@gmail.com).

In the afternoon, I met the group of teens in the Teen Program and we began, "The Taste of Place," an 8-week series bringing the world of cooking and gardening together. After journaling and a rich discussion of food culture and tradition, went up to the roof to meet the garden. We took a great tour, coinciding with Paul Koski, (the beekeeper)'s weekly visit to the hive. The students asked great questions, we laughed together and got to witness thousands of bees dance in and out of the hive. We wrapped up our session with weeding, watering and harvesting, celebrating the day with big fresh salad of lettuce, mustard greens, sugar snap peas, purple carrots, and nasturium flowers. Yum!

What a day!
I love summer! Read more...