Happy Summer Everyone!
The sun has tipped over the peak and the long days are a panacea for the spirit. Gardens everywhere are awash with color. Here in the North Bay I sit in my temporary home amongst a fantastic array of dahlias, poppies, roses, zinnias, sunflowers and gladiolas. Finally decompressing a bit after our two fabulous farm tours and looking forward to playing in the garden, camping, visiting with friends, practicing sheep shearing, hunting rats on organic farms, canning, cheese making, working with flour and flint corns, dreaming up new curricula and maybe starting on the next book project.

falling-in-love poppy, drama queen, himalayan blue

2 gardens awash with color

Urban Farm Tours
REPORT BACK
THANK YOU to all who attended this years Urban Farm Tours! We felt great about the outcome of both the Walnut Creek and Oakland tour this year. Both events were well attended and successful in the goal of educating and inspiring. In Walnut creek were were amazed by the hospitality provided by the Mt Diablo High School students (lunch was incredible!). We loved having a staging area to meet as a farm tour community and we thought the sites successfully portrayed a diversity of ways to create sustainable alternatives in the suburban landscape. The Oakland tour featured 9 amazing and diverse sites with enthusiastic and knowledgeable hosts. Attendance seemed substantial without being too overly crowded and our farmers all enjoyed the visitors. On a financial level the tours represent a boon for us at institute of Urban Homesteading. We were grateful to the folks who offered support in the form of purchasing a ‘Friends of the Farm Tour” ticket and were able to share with all the farmers involved as well as put some funds away for next years programming (stay tuned!)

PHOTOS
Photos from the events (these are Facebook albums—apologies to those without Facebook access).
Do you have Farm Tour photos to share? Please let me know and we’ll figure out the best way.
Ruby’s Picture's of Walnut Creek
Ruby’s Pictures of Oakland
Mitchel Davidowitz’s Pictures of Oakland
Craig Mullens' Pictures of Oakland

FEEDBACK REQUESTED
If you attended and have a few minutes, we would love to get some specific yet informal feedback—short or long. Please be sure to let us know which of the two tours you attended.
What was your favorite part of the tour?
Which site or sites particularly stood out for you and why?
What did you learn or how were you inspired?
How were the logistical aspects of the tour?
(Walnut Creek) How was check in, hospitality and having a set itinerary? Did you go to all the sites you were scheduled for? Did the tour length feel appropriate and doable?
(Oakland) How was digital program, ticket purchase, driving, parking, timing etc?
Did you feel the pricing was fair for what you experienced/received?
What suggestions do you have for improvement?

WHAT”S NEXT
Hayward Farm Tour
September 12, 2015 9am-3pm
The Hayward farm tour offers a look at four very different farmsteads, plus a wonderful community garden as our staging area.
Tickets will go on sale July 20 or so.

For 2016 the following tours are in the works or under consideration.
We always love to hear about potential sites and areas—do tell!
Berkeley
Community Farms of Berkeley & Oakland
Vallejo/Benecia
Petaluma

In the Garden: Actively Aerated Compost Tea
Now that your summer garden is installed (it is installed, right?), it is time to engage the multiple benefits of compost tea. Compost tea boosts microbial activity in the soil, inoculating it with the bacteria and fungi vital to plant nutrition and health. It also adds nutrients and protects the plant by boosting immune systems. You can use the tea as a soil drench or as a foliar feeding (spraying directly on the leaves) which can help protect your plants against a host of bacterial and viral pests including the dread powdery mildew so ubiquitous in our foggy coastal climate. Compost tea is like kale…it is nutrient dense and can be used continuously without any negative impacts. Set up your system to run full time and drench your food and container plants on a rotation every 10-14 days. The set up is easy and can cost as title as $20. Wanna know more? Compost Tea equipment list and recipe HERE.

CLASSES
We have a few “floating” classes Mid-September.
Our Fall season of classes will run October 17- November 22 and will be updated and announced on September 1st.

Native Bees and Natve Plants: Pollination for the People!
Sunday September 13, 10am-1pm

Natural Beekeeping 3: Fall & Winter
Sunday september 13 2pm-5pm

Canning Extravaganza
Saturday September 19, 1-5pm