urban farm | Backyard Roots

A volunteer (left) with Jarryd Smith and Pac Rucker.

Believe it or not there are places in the Bay Area that the economy has forgot. If you head south of San Leandro to the unincorporated areas of Ashland, Cherryland, San Lorenzo and Hayward you’ll find a land of little hope. Densely populated; there are few parks, few jobs and few places places to buy healthy food. The popular hang-out spots are in front of liquor stores. The Alameda Sheriff’s Activity League was looking for a new way to prevent crime and improve the community. They already had boys and girls clubs, and programs for kids. Why not create opportunites for the people that lived there?

In 2010 Marty Neideffer, a sergeant at The Alameda Sheriff’s Office and founder of the Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Activity League read The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones. The book that suggested the best way to solve environmental problems and socioeconomic inequality was to create jobs in low income areas, jobs for the people who lived there that would improve the communities they lived in. The book made a lot of sense to Neideffer and he set out to establish urban agriculture as a way to do just that. He got grants, raised money and later that year they started the farm with just 1/3 of an acre. Dig Deep Farms and Produce was the result. The group employs local people to plant, harvest, pack, deliver and sell the organic produce. They now have several plots including eight acres at the newly acquired City View Farm next to the juvenile facility in the San Leandro hills. They grow greens, lettuce, onions, potatoes and more year round for their CSA “grub box” and also sell the vegetables at local produce stands. They coordinate with People’s Grocery in Oakland that helps distribute the boxes that range in price from $10-$25. If you’re an East Bay resident and you’d like to get healthy local organic food that provides jobs, sign up for the grub box here.

One of the group’s sites in Ashland.

Fresh collard greens

Hank Herrera shows the brand new City view farm plot in 2012.

Tommie Walker (yellow t shirt), volunteer Evelyn Manalang and Bo Faulkner pack the “grub box” bags.

Tommie Walker helps load the truck for delivery.

Bo Faulkner helps load the bags for delivery.

Tom and Didi with their backyard La Mancha goats in Seattle.

Sometimes there’s no grand plan to having an urban farm, it just happens. That’s the way it went with Tom and Didi’s Seattle backyard. Didi had always been a big gardener and wanted chickens, so growing vegetables and getting chickens was easy. Next a friend needed someone to take over her bee hive, so they adopted the hive and got bees. And then they met Jennie Grant, a neighbor whose son went to school with the Burpee kids. When Jennie needed help getting backyard goats legalized they naturally gathered signatures for the petition. (Jennie Grant’s story is in Backyard Roots.) Tom even made a hilarious music video about the process called Justice League Blues. Check it out, the entertainment value is high! After tasting how good fresh goat milk was, the Burpee family became interested in the idea of getting goats. The deal was sealed when Jennie’s baby goat needed a new home. Tom says at that point the backyard became “the land of milk and honey.” Now the animals and garden is just part of the daily routine.

Tom cautions others to not “jump into goat-keeping lightly.” The amount of work that goats require is a lot more than chickens. He and Didi milk the goats twice a day for up to 18 months after they give birth. He says a big part of being successful requires having patient neighbors. “Bribe them regularly with cheese, eggs and honey,” he advises. It’s also crucial to have friends and neighbors trained to help you milk the goats when you need a break. The Burpees have La Mancha goats that tend to be quieter, calmer and better milk producers than other small breeds.

Tom and Didi haven’t pushed their kids with lots of farm chores but the two girls help collect eggs, harvest honey and like to cook and eat whatever is in season. Ada is the expert in making goat milk ice cream in exotic flavors like candied ginger and they both love having the animals, especially the baby goats.

Ada (left) and Mette on the back steps with chickens.

Ada looks for eggs (left) and walks Phyllis, the goat. Since these photos were taken, Phyllis has gone on a diet and lost close to 50 lbs. They found controlling her food portions of everything except hay and walking her regularly helped her get down to a healthy size.