by Sara Weihmann, Farm Manager

As Paul & De’Andre mentioned, we have now completed our 4th workday on our farm in West Oakland!! I am so thrilled with the seven youth individuals I get to work with. They are incredibly hard working, inquisitive, and supportive of each other which makes for a fantastic team.

A lot has happened!

On the farm, we have turned in a cover crop of crimson clover to add nutrients to the soil, mulched pathways to prevent weeds, installed drip irrigation in all of our beds, built a cold-frame to germinate seeds for transplanting into our beds, built compost piles that have reached temperatures of 130 degrees (“hecka hot”), planted seedlings and sowed seeds directly into our annual production beds (for our customers) and also our kitchen garden (for us!). We have planted 4 out of 10 production beds with pea shoots, arugula, mache, radish, chervil, mustard and braising greens. Soon they will sprout up, produce an abundance and be harvested for sale. Next day we meet on the farm, we will be planting out our next 3 beds in carrots, lettuce, cress, and more arugula and radish.

Off the farm, we have been meeting one day a week in the Game Theory Academy classroom and have been learning together about supply & demand, willingness to pay, assessing risks and more. We went to the farmers’ market a couple of Sunday’s ago and began researching competitive pricing for our goods, as well as packaging specifications. As Tessa and Casey mentioned, we have also begun networking with local chefs and restaurant owners trying to assess their needs to help inform our business model.

Also tremendously note-worthy was our first $10 earned selling nettles to Hibiscus Restaurant in Downtown Oakland for their opening night!!

Here are a few table-flower arrangements our associates put together using our border plants.