Monday, September 30, 2013

Wrigley Neighborhood Tree Planting


November 9th, 2013 
9:00am - 12:00pm

Gathering Place: Walgreens - please park on the street - 2627 Pacific Ave., Long Beach, CA

CANNED FOOD DONATIONS WILL BE COLLECTED BY CUB PACK #21 ON BEHALF OF THE SALVATION ARMY

The November 9 Wrigley tree planting is part of the Port of Long Beach's I Dig Long Beach 6,000 trees by 2020 program. Wrigley is Going Green is partnering with Wrigley Association, Pack #21 Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts Troops #113 & #3433, Farm Lot 59, New Choices Recovery Centers, Helpline Youth Counseling, Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, Beachgreens, Blue Gecko Design, Walgreens, Neighborhood Leadership Program Alumni, TreePeople, Port of Long Beach Employees, and the Neighborhood Services Bureau.

The tree planting area is bordered by Willow (south), Spring (north), Pacific (east), and Magnolia (west). 

Bring: Canned foods for drop off, plus, please wear comfortable clothing and shoes, check the weather to see if you need rain gear or sunscreen and a hat. 

Gloves and tools will be provided.

Volunteers can receive credit for community service hours. Please bring necessary forms. 

We look forward to seeing you there. More updates to come.

Fall Wreath Making Class on the Farm!!

Fall Wreath Class
 
 
Join us for a beautiful morning on the farm as we welcome fall with our Fall Wreath Class. Sasha Kanno, our farmer and floral designer by trade, will be teaching us how to make fall wreaths that you enjoy for many years to come.  We hope to see you there:

Farm Lot 59
 
 
2714 California Avenue
 
Saturday - October 19
 
10:00 - 11:30 am
 
Cost: $45
*10% off for Long Beach Local Members

The cost of the class includes all materials, your take home wreath and beverages.

Preregistration/payment is required. You can use the paypal link to the right or you may mail your check payable to Long Beach Local to:

Long Beach Local
2076 Eucalyptus Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90806



----------
Long Beach Local is responsible for the content of this email.
Sasha Kanno, 2714 California Ave, Long Beach, CA 90755

Had Enough? No hard feelings. Unsubscribe now or copy and paste the following URL into your browser:
http://www.longbeachlocal.org/mailinglist/remove/6ffba194f68ea67b9035c45e2d1e1d5a

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Fall Wreath Class

Fall Wreath Class


Join us for a beautiful morning on the farm as we welcome fall with our Fall Wreath Class. Sasha Kanno, our farmer and floral designer by trade, will be teaching us how to make fall wreaths that you enjoy for many years to come.  We hope to see you there:

Farm Lot 59

2714 California Avenue

Saturday - October 19

10:00 - 11:30 am

Cost: $45
*10% off for Long Beach Local Members

The cost of the class includes all materials, your take home wreath and beverages.

Preregistration/payment is required. You can use the paypal link to the right or you may mail your check payable to Long Beach Local to:

Long Beach Local
2076 Eucalyptus Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90806



Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Join a community garden from the very start!

We are excited to announce that Orizaba Park Community Park is moving forward. We are looking for people to come down and help us clean up the garden to begin the preparations. The clean up should only take a couple of hours and is a great opportunity to meet fellow interested gardeners while helping prep the site.

Coffee and breakfast treats will be provided.






1435 Orizaba Avenue, Long Beach, Ca
 
If you or anyone you know is able to attend, please send an email or call:

Bridget Sramek
562-570-6918
Bridget.Sramek@longbeach.gov


Friday, September 20, 2013

Fwd: LocalHarvest News - Organic Eggs: Help Keep them Real






Here is an email I received today. Very disturbing to know that they rules for organic labeling are so easily swayed. This is why its so important to know your farmer. Ask her what her methods are and how she is growing your food. Don't be scared just be informed!


LocalHarvest Newsletter, September 20, 2013

Welcome back to the LocalHarvest newsletter.
This month and next we are devoting this space to two important sets of regulations that, if implemented as written, would seriously undermine the integrity of organic food and the viability of small scale vegetable and fruit production. It is one of those times when people who care about good food need to make our voices heard — because what's at stake is important, and because some of what is being proposed just plain defies reason.
Today's concern is the new FDA's proposed guidelines for organic egg producers. One cornerstone of the existing organic law regarding egg production is that chickens must have access to the outdoors — you know, grass and sun, dirt and bugs. Stuff chickens like. Under the new FDA guidelines, organic egg producers could forego actual chicken yards in favor of enclosed porches attached to the henhouse. But the porches don't need to be big enough for all, or even most, of the chickens to use at once. Allowing some hens to crane their necks and see the great outdoors from their confinement does not uphold the spirit of the existing laws governing organic.
Our concern here is that the guidelines give large-scale egg facilities the green light to tack on a little porch to the outside of the poultry house, close down the chicken yard, and continue to call their eggs "organic". In fact, this already happens. According to The Cornucopia Institute, giant organic egg operations are currently housing 100,000 birds in a building equipped with a porch so small that only 1-3% of the birds can elbow their way out there. The USDA, the agency charged with enforcing organic law, is already being threatened with lawsuits for failing to enforce the outdoor access rule. With these new Salmonella guidelines, the FDA is essentially building a backdoor for the USDA to get out of enforcing this rule, thereby undermining both the spirit of the organic law and the efforts of those egg producers who take on the extra work of letting their birds roam outside.
The goal of the FDA's proposed guidelines is to reduce exposure to Salmonella. This is a worthy goal, without question, but scientific studies have demonstrated that eggs raised in systems providing true outdoor access for the birds have lower incidences of Salmonella than do those of confined birds. For more on this point, I recommend reading The Cornucopia Institute's evaluation of the scientific literature.
I mentioned above that aspects of the proposed guidelines fly in the face of reason. Here comes that part. One way that the FDA is attempting to limit exposure to Salmonella is by directing farmers to limit the hens' exposure to wild birds and other wildlife. Never mind that the science doesn't demonstrate a significantly lessened risk ofSalmonella among hens kept away from other birds — though that does seem relevant. But let's picture it for a minute. We're egg farmers. We're organically certified, so we have a nice yard where the birds spend a good deal of the day sunning themselves, scratching around, pestering one another — being chickens! Wild birds fly overhead. Sometimes they land on the fence and once in a while they light in the yard. If we follow the proposed guidelines, we'll have to keep the birds away. How will we do it? The FDA suggests several methods, including putting bird netting or a roof over the entire chicken yard. This would be costly and a maintenance nightmare. The FDA's second suggestion is to use noise cannons. These emit an "almost sonic level" sound every minute or so, according to one cannon manufacturer. The cannons would no doubt frighten away the wild birds. Trouble is, they are also going to scare the chickens, and scared chickens don't lay eggs.
If organic farmers are required to keep wild birds away from their hens, having the birds outside is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Kind of makes the enclosed porch seem like a good idea, doesn't it? …except that common sense and the science both say that hens are actually healthier and their eggs have fewer incidents of Salmonella when they are allowed to roam around outside.
At LocalHarvest we feel that there is a significant difference between eggs laid by chickens who spend time in the sun and those from chickens who don't. If these federal agencies either fail to enforce the National Organic Standards or throw up roadblocks to their implementation, the "organic" label will not allow consumers to tell the difference.
We have to wonder if that isn't the point.
Just today a journalist writing about the local food movement asked me if I think there will be a point when small scale agriculture threatens large scale ag enough to result in some push back. I said, "That day is here!" and told him this story as an example. It isn't the small scale organic egg producers asking for work-arounds to the outdoor access rule.
The FDA's official comment period for this issue closes this Monday, September 23. We are hoping you will take a few minutes to weigh in with them before then, though it would still be worth doing even after the 23rd. You can do so directly here or through The Cornucopia Institute. They have done a lot of good work on this issue and have a proxy letter you can sign that they will hand deliver to the FDA.
Thank you for your attention to this issue. We'd love to hear what you think about it.
Until next time, take good care and eat well.
Erin
Erin Barnett
Director
LocalHarvest









Thursday, September 5, 2013

Orizaba Community Garden - opening soon!

I am very proud to announce that the Orizaba Community Garden is moving forward. We have been asked to aid in building yet another community garden, hooray! Our first work day is happening, if you are interested in gardening at this site come on down. There will be information as well as applications for you to take. People who live closest to the garden get first spots after that it opens up to the city.

Info below see you then!

Good afternoon!  I am reaching out to you because you had previously expressed an interest in being part of the Orizaba Park Community Garden.  I am happy to announce that the development of the garden is moving forward!

I am assisting in setting up a work party  to clean out the garden and begin preparations .  This will happen on Saturday, September 28 at 9:00 a.m. at the site of the future garden.   The clean-up should only take a couple of hours.  This is a great opportunity to meet fellow interested gardeners and to prep the site.  

If you or anyone you know is able to attend, please send me an e-mail or call on our office line below.  
Thank you and have a great day!


Best Regards,
Bridget Sramek
Chief of Staff
Office of Councilmember Patrick O'Donnell
333 W. Ocean Blvd. 14th Floor
Long Beach, CA 9080
Phone: (562) 570-6918

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Staffing up for fall

Hello Long Beach Locals-

Its hard to imagine cooler days as I sit here typing with 90 degree temps outside. I'm hoping for cooler weather and rain, lots and lots of rain.

I posted our farm on the WWOOF site today. I hope it will give the wondering farmer a nice slice of what its like to farm in the city. A lot of host farms provide housing and since we cannot do that if any of you are interested in hosting for a farmer please let me know and I'll put you on the list.

In addition to looking for WWOOFers we are also opening up to our work-share program. The application is linked at the bottom of the page. We are taking on farm hands as well as help in our farmstand. If you are unable to work physically we could use help with a newsletter or perhaps bee keeping is your thing. Lots of opportunity to learn on our farm. There is a weekly hourly commitment and we do require at least 2 days a week.

I've also written a grant to expand our fruit orchard. If you know any corporations who might be interested in being attached to this project please let us know.

I hope you are all having a great end of summer. Cooler weather coming soon I promise.

*on farm brunch coming in October, date TBD
*4th Annual Harvest Pot Luck dinner November, date TBD

Thank you for supporting local agriculture in the LBC. I posted a bunch of pictures on fb hope you check them out.

See you on the farm!

-sasha kanno, farmer