Legalize Chickens in Sacramento!

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 To learn more about changing this outdated law please visit this website: www.eatsacramento.org.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

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!

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!

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

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

The Crop Swap Swings into Action

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.