Flatland Flower Farm supports Graze the Roof!

Here is a great article published on CUESA's (www.cuesa.org) online newsletter.

Graze the Roof has been blessed by having dozens of plants from Flatland Flower Farm's nursery over the past several seasons.

Thank you to Dan and Joanne for all your hard work and dedication to the urban agriculture movement!

You can find Dan selling his delicious edible plant starts every Saturday at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market.


Spring rains have come and the days are getting longer, which means business is picking up for Dan Lehrer and Joanne Krueger of Flatland Flower Farm. The Sebastopol-based nursery has been providing plant starts to Bay Area gardeners at the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmers Market since 1995. "We have customers who have been buying our starts for 17 years," Lehrer says with pride. "People show us photographs and bring us tomatoes from plants they got from us. We get to share in people's success."

Flatland's long history at the market belies its humble beginnings. In the 1990s, while Lehrer was completing a master's in journalism at Berkeley and Krueger was working as a magazine editor, they moonlighted as helpers at the Berkeley Farmers Market. One cold February day, they decided to bring some bunches of cut sweet peas from their backyard garden to the market, and Flatland Flower Farm was born.

"The 'farm' part was kind of joke," Lehrer laughs. "We'd have the organic inspector come and inspect our backyard. It was always funny." They started selling their sweet peas and plant divisions regularly, and the business began to grow. While the two knew little about plant propagation, Krueger shadowed fellow marketeer Annabelle Lenderink of Star Route Farms to learn more about seeding.

In 1999, they decided to go full-time and, with Lehrer's parents, purchased 22 acres in Sebastopol. "Originally, we were just growing plants between the trees in the apple orchard. We didn't know deer would come and eat them," said Lehrer. Their first growing season, they lost all of their starts to a late frost, because they hadn't built any greenhouses yet. "I have to say, we've made every possible mistake you can make. It's just been figuring it out as we go."

Fresh Starts
In 2008, after receiving a letter from one of their seed suppliers saying that vegetable seed sales were on the rise, Lehrer and Krueger decided to focus on edible plant starts, which now make up about 98 percent of their business. When the recession hit later that year, they were poised to meet the urban gardening boom. The nursery grows starts that will thrive in San Francisco's cooler microclimates. "We're not planning on Walnut Creek," says Lehrer. "If you can grow it in the Sunset, you can grow it pretty much anywhere."

Though they're no longer in the Berkeley flats and no longer a flower farm, the name has stuck, and Flatland now sells their starts to retail nurseries around the Bay Area. Remaining part of the farmers market community has been invaluable in helping Lehrer and Krueger find seed sources, stay on top of the popular vegetable varieties, and receive feedback on what works in what conditions. Being at the market every week also gives them the opportunity to educate and learn from their customers. "You can't just say, 'That'll be $3.75' and send people on their way, because many people don't know how to grow stuff," says Lehrer. The farm has also hosted school tours for CUESA's Schoolyard to Market program, teaching San Francisco high school students about the basics of plant propagation.

For Lehrer and Krueger, growing a bit of your own food complements shopping at the farmer market as another basic way to connect with your local foodshed. "If you grow something yourself, it tastes that much better," he says. "And there's the aesthetic value, too. Even the lowly lettuces are beautiful. It's nice to have this connection to your food and the natural world available at your doorstep."

Ready, Set, Grow
Lehrer has talked to thousands of Bay Area gardeners over the years and offers a few tips to inspire and empower beginners.

Don't be shy. When buying plant starts, expect a conversation. "I always find out people's back story when I'm talking to them because that's crucial to giving them a successful growing experience," says Lehrer. He asks a lot of questions ("Where do you live? What are the conditions like? What are growing now?") and expects you to do the same.

Start small. If you're new to gardening, try growing low-maintenance and versatile herbs like thyme and rosemary, which are perfect for containers and are only harvested a bit at a time. All you need is a sunny windowsill. Arugula and lettuce are also ideal for newbies because they grow fast and are well suited to San Francisco's varied microclimates.

Plant for success. Many beginning gardeners have their sights set on tomatoes, which, unfortunately, are not well adapted for San Francisco. Lehrer knows gardeners who have had success with certain tomato varieties, but if your plot is a container garden on a chilly, wind-swept balcony, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead, choose plants that are climate-appropriate. "The reality is, you can have great lettuce, great Swiss chard, and awesome kale," he emphasizes, "but you have to be careful with tomatoes."

Be water smart. Keep your plants hydrated and protect the soil by putting mulch, such as pebbles or bark, on top of your pots to slow down evaporation. Place saucers under your pots to catch water that can later be wicked back up by the plants. Lehrer recommends checking out The Urban Farmer Store for classes and supplies to make watering plants easier and more efficient.

Just do it. The best piece of advice Lehrer gives budding gardeners is to just do it: "The thing that prevents people from gardening is thinking they don't know enough. The worst case scenario is that the plant doesn't do well or you kill it. I can tell you that you are not a real gardener until you've killed some plants. But the more experience you get, the more you observe the way the plants grow and the more stuff starts to make sense." Read more...

Get your garden GROWING this Spring! We'll show you how!

On Sunday March 4th YOU ARE INVITED to PARTICIPATE in a seasonally inspired workshop on how to get your Spring garden GROWING! Now is the time to equip yourself with the skills, the resources, and inspire the passion needed to cultivate a healthy, beautiful and most importantly...a delicious spring garden.

Join us at Graze the Roof on 3/4/2012 at 1p for "Designing your Spring Garden," led by Nikolaus Dyer of Purple Carrot Gardening. Nikolaus designs, installs and maintains edible gardens throughout San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma counties. He has been practicing stewardship in gardens, farms and backyard food forests for over a decade and brings expertise, passion for growing food and a gift for teaching the art of gardening.

This workshop is great for beginning gardeners as well as those who have been at it for awhile - get inspired, learn something new, refine your skills all in the context of GLIDE's unique rooftop gardening project!

COMMUNITY POTLUCK TO FOLLOW WORKSHOP! PLEASE BRING A DISH TO SHARE!
AND BRING YOUR OWN PLATE/BOWL, CUP AND UTENSILS!

PLEASE RSVP at grazetheroof@gmail.com

Sunday March 4th
1p-3p Read more...

We LOVE worms!

Join Booka Alon, self-professed worm whisperer, at Graze the Roof, GLIDE’s Rooftop Garden on:
Sunday, February 19th from 1p-3p for a two hour Introduction to
Worm Bins for Urban Dwellers.

Did you know, if you compost the scraps from your kitchen using a worm bin, you can create the world’s greatest all in one fertilizer-plant-food-and-pest-deterrent known to mankind?

If you’re on a budget, like to be resourceful and are wondering how to reinforce your organic matter without manure, kelp or other expensive mediums, then VERMI-LOVE is just the workshop for you!

In this in-depth 2 hour workshop, Booka Alon guides you through the process of creating a 2-bin, worm system with readily available materials such as newspaper, rubber tubs and a drill. It’s easier than you think you to maintain a balanced, happy home for the voraciously hungry Red Wrigglers. Aside from the basics of worm bin startups, Alon will also lead a casting harvesting session. From 4 years of vermicomposting practice, Alon will teach some tried and true techniques in gleaning the most castings, while sorting worms methodically and efficiently, so they can return to the worm bin for more rounds of eating your garbage.

RSVP for this unique workshop on vermi-composting at
grazetheroof@gmail.com

WHAT: Meet Booka the Worm Whisperer and learn all about Worm Bins for Urban Dwellers
DATE: Sunday February 19th 2012
TIME: 1p-3p
LOCATION: Graze the Roof the rooftop of 330 Ellis St. Read more...

Creatin' Compost. Cultivatin' Community!

A big "Thank You!" to all the new volunteers who came out to the garden yesterday! We planted a forest of diverse salad greens, buckets of bunching onions and REBUILT OUR COMPOST SYSTEM!

We arranged 9 pallets, used an array of tools like saws, screws, drills, crow bar and our hard working hands to construct the vessel that will house our dynamic compost pile.

Nik Dyer of Purple Carrot Gardening described the needs and elements for any successful compost pile to work, including the ideal dimensions of 3ft * 3ft (which informed our use of wooden pallets), ample moisture, a healthy balance of organic matter: greens (nitrogen) and browns (carbon). Following these simple guidelines, we created conditions for the microorganisms of our pile to stay healthy and fed, while heating up and breaking down the organic matter we add to the pile.

The final product!?! Nutrient rich, organic matter to put back into our thriving rooftop garden system!

Look out for the next edition of our Sunday Workparty/Workshop coming up on February 19th from 1-3pm.
VERMI-LOVE with Booka Alon of Roots to Fruits and Kitchen Garden SF.
Booka will teach us about the benefits of Vermi-composting (composting with worms) and we will build a few worm bins for the garden.

RSVP grazetheroof@gmail.com Read more...

Winter in the Garden + REFRESH our COMPOST

It has been an unusually warm and sunny winter in San Francisco. I know gardeners all over the city who are praying and dancing for rain as well as happily harvesting greens, brassicas, fava beans and radishes from their unusually productive winter gardens. At Graze the Roof we're loving the sun, yet also dancing for rain! ...

This last week during our volunteer workday we harvested a hefty 11.5 lbs from the garden, getting us to a comprehensive 50 lbs since we began our weekly harvest in early November of 2011. When we got to the basement to hand it over to the kitchen crew, we bumped into one of the prep cooks who delightfully dug through the bag of fresh greens, herbs and bulbous radishes! He was excited to work with such fresh and tasty seasonal fare!

In other news, the Graze the Roof crew is visioning for how we want to continue increasing food production as well as designing and building out more niches on the roof, to gather, learn, teach and be...lots of great projects on the horizon! Join us on Thursdays from 10a-2p to be a part of this visioning and support the development of our rooftop garden!

We will be offering more opportunities for the community to experience and work in the garden on Sundays this season. Our first Sunday workparty of the year will be Sunday January 29th from 10a-3p! We will round out our workday with a potluck lunch! Bring something delicious to share!
...
REFRESH OUR COMPOST
As gardeners in this fine city, we are learning how important living, breathing soil is to any successful garden community. In our rooftop garden story, we are growing all our goodness in containers. The soil is a dynamic medium that needs a lot of attention. In the spirit of this new year, we want to re-build our compost system to heighten the efficiency and fertility of our soil. Our compost system needs to be REFRESHED and RENEWED. We will be building a classic 3-bin system with pallets and chicken wire. WE NEED YOUR HELP! Join our special Sunday workparty to rebuild our compost!

January 29th 2012
9a - GLIDE Celebration Service
10a - GTR Workday begins...
10:30a - Tour of GTR
11a - GLIDE Celebration Service
12:30 - Tour of GTR
1p-3p - REFRESH OUR COMPOST workparty!
3p - late afternoon potluck! Bring a snack to share! We'll harvest a great big salad from the garden :)
*****(bring your own bowl/plate and utensils)

For a special treat, consider starting your Sunday off by attending one of GLIDE's celebration services at either 9a or 11a. These gatherings of song, compassion and community are inspiring and a great way to connect to the heart of GLIDE.

Feel free to contact Lindsey Goldberg, Project Manager of GTR (grazetheroof@gmail.com) with any questions concerning the workparty and/or other Graze the Roof related inquiries!

Happy gardening! Read more...

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...

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...