First Strawberries

The first strawberries of the year. All the kinds are producing ripe
fruit now. We have Albion, aroma and chandler.

Della Fattoria Bakery

Shaping loaves by hand

Della Fatttoria Bakery Tour:

Meaning "from the farm" in Italian, there's no better phrase to describe this small bakery in Petaluma. The bakery was founded in 1995 by Kathleen Weber, and has since grown into a family operation. Most of the ingredients in Della Fattoria's breads are organic and sourced locally, many coming from the Weber's farm and close neighbors. Each loaf of bread is shaped by hand, leavened with a natural starter, salted with course grey sea salt from Brittany and cooked in a wood-fired oven.


Dough resting in antique french bread baskets

Assorted tools


Wood fired ovens

Cowgirl Creamery Tour

Cowgirl Creamery Tour:

Founded by cowgirls Sue Conley (pictured) and Peggy Smith in 1997, the artisan cheese company has come a long way since first opening in 1997. After much success in their small barn in Point Reyes Station, Cowgirl Creamery has expended to a new location in Petaluma's Foundry Wharf. Cowgirl makes a small selection of organic aged and fresh cheeses using milk from neighbor Straus Family Creamery.

Co-founder Sue Conley shares the story of Cowgirl's beginnings.

Here you can see the pasteurization tanks in the Petaluma facility. The stacked forms on the left are cheese molds.

Cheeses soaked in brine for several hours

Stacks of cheese during the aging process

Eric Patterson, who manages the aging of the cheese, allows us to taste cheese at various ages, as well as Cowgirl's different vatieties.

Guerrilla Garden #1 - Sprouts Ahoy

So in under one week our first large guerrilla garden has taken shape. The dirt is pretty sandy and rocky so we have taken a lot of time to pull up rocks and remove old roots masses. We have been stirring up the dirt in hopes we can keep it soft enough for some root crops. Currently planted is chard, cilantro, radishes, mesclun salad mix, green leaf lettuce, potatoes, snap peas and carrots. In the picture you can see the mesclun salad mix has sprouted and taken off very quickly.

There have been no vandals and we have found a water supply that is very close. Treasure Island itself can be miserable. Yesterday the wind was so strong we could barely stand it. However, our location is completely shielded from the wind and once you reach the garden it is 10 degrees warmer inside.

I am kind of curious how long it will be till someone notices us. Carrying 4-5 gallons of water from a faucet in front of a convenience store to the back of an abandoned building has to look kinda fishy.

Gordan Ale

Gordon Ale
Oskar Blues Brewery
Lyons, Co

"If you knew Gordon Knight, this ale needs no explanation. If you
didn't, we're sorry."

Big, Red, Sticky

Stevenson Alley, April 25, 2009

So its been just over a month since we posted the last picture of our stoop garden. In this picture you will see that the snap peas have take off from several places. There are 2 kinds of nasturtiums starting to slower as well as some purple wave petunias. Scarlett runner beans and jasmine have just started to climb the gate from the bottom and purple passion flowers are just a week away from starting to flower. Our mint still lives a sad existence under the buildings dryer vent but at least it lives there. Our herb garden is lower in the center inside the porch. The dill, oregano, rosemary and chives are doing great but the cilantro and basil seem to have gone on strike. Recently I was given some blackberries starts from and invasive spot. They hopefully with grow from the empty bottom right corner, we'll see. There is also some broccoli that has begun to take off in the very top planter.

The most challenging thing for this poor garden has been the extreme weather. It was very very hot in SF this week and the peas all got very angry and droopy in the sun. After it cooled down the wind picked up and it loves to do a number on the vines. Every day we have to help train the vines towards the fence or the wind will rip them right off eventually.

Lady Bugs Go!

So our community garden has bugs. Our poor center planter has thrips
on the artichokes and our roses have aphids. To help prevent future
aphids we just released 1500 ladybugs. They will eat the aphids,
thrips and other insects and let the plants live. For one week these
guys will spread out throughout the garden and procreate. Hopefully
our ladybug population stays steady, we need all the help we can get
to fight these bugs.

Orange Irises

Life Learning Academy Garden

This beautiful food garden is located in the middle of treasure island. It is used as a learning resource for local youth and is a great example of how gardens can be incorporated into any curriculum. There is a great article about the garden here. To learn more about the life learning academy and how it helps at risk youth in the SF area you can check their site out.


Each one of these plots in their garden is planted with one crop. There are some great cabbages, beans, lettuces and many other herbs growing. One section of the garden is dedicated to native plants and is left to appear overgrown as a native plant garden should since it is a symbiotic relationship.

Guerrilla Garden #1 - Treasure Island

Abandoned naval dorm on Treasure Island. Cleared of trash, clover, weeds and dead plants all in a couple of hours. Re-planted with potato, chard and mixed greens. Mostly shaded or diffused light but we plan to add carrots and a few other shade tolerant plants on our next visit.

The site had no disgusting debri but a very strange collection of plastic bottle squirt lids was collected. Upwards of 100 bottle tops were found in the center area.

So we tried to begin collection of green debri in a compost pile and trash pile. Since we bike and bus to the spot the trash will need to be removed little by little. Hopefully we can sweep and rake the area on next visit. There are benches and an arbor that have been abandoned for years that surround the plot. This space is wide open for public use. Though the island can be wind
swept in places, and it's all landfill, there is some good dirt in the empty planter boxes. It is sandy but you just need to plan and work with what you have.

Well, this final shot shows the border pieces we dug out of the undergrowth as well as our sign. The wood for the sign was trash found on-site.

We planted 3 things today and will return for more. There is plenty of water nearby so we will need to return somewhat often to water.

No telling if this will make it for long but it seems to be an abandoned area that just needs someone to use it. Hopes are our sign will detour vandals and the mysterious water top bandit.

Atmosphere

Atmosphere at Warfield, SF.
April 2oth, 2009

Sless' Oatmeal Stout

2008 World Beer Cup Gold Medal
Best oatmeal stout in the world
Brewed in honor of Barry Sless; one of the finest peddled steel
players around

Iron Springs Brewery
Fairfax, Ca
7% ABV

Beet Down

Harvested for dinner salad yesterday this perfect beet was red on the
outside and white inside. The only beet that survived one of our
periodic rat swarms.

Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A

Schmaltz Brewing Company - SF / NYC
Tribute to Jewish Stars #1
Leonard Alfred Schneider "Bruce"

Double IPA with Rye Malt
10% ABV

Green Day

Green Day
21st Century Breakdown Tour
Fox Theater - Oakland, Ca

The complete setlist:

21st century breakdown
Know your enemy
Viva la Gloria!
Before the lobotomy
Side note: title came from the headline of a San Francisco Chronicle article
Christian's inferno
Last night on earth (with a disco ball made of skulls as the background visuals)
East Jesus Nowhere
Peacemaker
Last of the American Girls
Murder City
Viva la Gloria? (Little Girl)
Horseshoes & Handgrenades
The Static Age
21 Guns
American Eulogy pt 1: Mass Hysteria
Pt 2: Modern World
See the Light
Very short break.... American Idiot
Jesus of Suburbia( with a shout out to Gilman St)
St. Jimmy
"I'm gonna play all night long. I don't give a f*ckk!"
Longview
Welcome to Paradise
Going to Pasalacqua
King for a day/Shout
Minority
Homecoming

Pre Green Day

Just after sound check. Show is being filmed for release and first
time the upcoming tour stage set is released. Amazing stage to follow.

Russett Tater Starts

Another potato tower is in the future. These delicious local organic
russett potatoes should produce a fine fall garlic mash potatoes. You
only want to use organic potato starts since many conventionals are
treated not to spout and can be disease haborers.

Sacrilicious Bunny

Rabbit sausage, ham steak, BBQ rabbit, salad, carrott top sauce and
beans. Served with Firestone Walker Little Opal Saison beer.

Easter dinner by Fatted Calf Meats and Ryan Farr at Bloodhound SF.

Bacon Brownie & Peeps

w/ peanut butter

Today's Harvest

The last of our winter carrots and a dozen eggs

Bees!

Yonder Mountain String Band

Yonder Mountain String Band

04/11/09 The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
Darol Anger on fiddle for entire show

Set I: Casualty, At the End of the Day, Pockets1, Red Rocking Chair, Wildewood drive> Lord Only Knows (Part One)> All Your Dreams, Only A Northern Song, On the Run> Crow Black Chicken> On the Run

Set II: Whipping Post> Keep on Going> Out Of The Blue> Sisters and Brothers1> Keep on Going, Rain Still Falls, Mental Breakdown, Must've Had Your Reasons, Old Plank Road, Too Late Now, Sideshow Blues> I'd Like Off> Ten
Encore: Brown Mountain Light, Sharecropper's Son, Boatman

1 First time played

Potato Rainbow

Red, White and Blue. Ready to plant.

April 10 Harvest

A few simple carrots and some rosemary for tonights dinner. We tend to
harvest as needed rather than all at once.

Hot Rocks

Port Brewing