Ten Mighty Mujeres turned up to lend a hand at Saturday's ¡Spring Garden Blitz! at the Head Start Family Garden. Head Start moms and their little ones, ladies of the Food Forest and a crew of girls and a mom from Fort Bragg 4H spent the afternoon making a new bed, building shelves in the toolshed, weeding, planting, turning compost, mulching and more!

We are gearing up for the spring at the Head Start Family Garden in Fort Bragg. We are planting seeds in our new greenhouse! It was generously donated by Dave at DIY Greenhouse Kits. If you are on the coast you check out his greenhouses at Simply Succulent on Airport Road just north of Fort Bragg, or on the web at doityourselfgreenhousekits.com. Thanks Dave!!!




We also planted raspberry bushes this month that should be bearing delicious ripe berries when the next school year starts up in August.




More broccoli and lettuce starts went in last week and we are still harvesting kale, chard and herbs.



And of course our favorite garden friends…the worms! This week they came inside for a classroom visit on a rainy day.



We’ll be having a garden work party on March 20th along with all the other Gardens’ Project gardens for the Spring Garden Blitz. Our focus will be digging three more beds and starting a mural on the tool shed. Many thanks to Rossi’s for donating the paint!

The Noyo Food Forest entertained about 300 guests at the Black Tie Boogie, held at the Redwood Coast Senior Center on February 13th. The Senior Center was transformed into a red, black and silver classy dining room and adjacent jazz lounge, complete with a kids activity room and silent auction. The event had something for everyone and truly brought together people from different generations and pockets of the community.

The Senior Center served 180 meals that featured locally grown and organic food. Everyone was dressed to the nines and enjoyed a beautiful meal by the Senior Center’s Chef and yummy desserts provided by the Montessori del Mar Learning Center.



In the other room the Richard Cooper Trio and Lavender Grace entertained the crowd that mingled at the bar and relaxed at the cocktail tables while sipping local wine and beer. The silent auction was a hit with exciting items generously donated by local businesses and community members. The kids had a great time with activities provided by Sue Magoo and Jenny, Too of the Mendocino Coast Children’s Discovery Mooseum.



Later in the evening the jazz ended and DJ Selector Science played as people young and old boogied down on the dance floor. There was even a special performance by three superstar hula hoopers!

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The Food Forest would like to thank everyone who helped make his event possible! We are so grateful for all of our WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS and all the SUPPORT from our GENEROUS COMMUNITY!

Save the date for the Noyo Food Forest’s next fabulous and fun FREE fundraising festival….
Earthday 2010
Be the Change!
Saturday April 24th
at the Learning Garden at Fort Bragg High School.
Live music, food, pedal-powered smoothies, workshops, interactive community art, kids activities and performances, and more!!! For more info or to get involved please contact the NFF office at 964-0218.

The Gardens Project has a rockin’ sister partner on the coast – the Noyo Food Forest (NFF), a group dedicated to growing the local food system in Fort Bragg. In the past 4 years, the NFF has created 5 innovative and unique community-based garden projects on the coast.

The NFF’s main project is The Learning Garden, a Farm-to-Cafeteria program at Fort Bragg High School where organic food is grown on-site by students, staff, and volunteers and served directly in the school cafeteria and snack program. Several exciting expansion projects are also in the works at The Learning Garden: this fall the NFF had a Rainwater Catchment Workshop where they installed a 3,000 gallon water tank to collect rain in the winter; they planted a 30-tree apple orchard with the help of Common Vision and 90 local students; there is a big ol’ strawberry patch in the works, and they eagerly await the arrival of another hoop house to grow more warm weather loving plants! Workdays are every Friday, 1-5. Everyone is welcome! To learn more or get involved, click here

Other gardens include: the Senior Kitchen Garden, growing fresh organic produce for the Redwood Coast Senior Center lunch program; the Head Start Preschool Family Garden, a hybrid school/community garden creating opportunities for students and their families to grow their own fresh produce, with workdays every Thursday from 1-3pm; the Noyo Come-Unity Garden, a traditional community garden where individuals and families rent plots to grow their own fresh produce; and rounding out the quintet is the Grey Whale Garden, which provides a haven for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators and provides a beautiful site to passers-by on HighWay 1!

Join the Noyo Food Forest at Casparfest August 29th and 30th and enyoy the all-day entertainment on the outdoor stage, stewardship workshops, children's tent, green films, crafts, food, fun and friends!

The Noyo Food Forest will be selling plants, baked goods, drinks, and our famous pedal powered smoothies all weekend.

Want to volunteer in the Food Forest booth? Call Kim at 357-1529 or email morgankimberlina@gmail.com.

See casparfest.org for more details.

Today I harvested 12 pounds of zucchini from the Head Start Family Garden! We are picking peas, lettuce and cherry tomatoes and herbs, too.





With the help of community volunteers from the neighborhood, Head Start families and the Noyo Food Forest Youth Interns, the garden is taking shape and producing food. There are carrots, several kinds of beans, more peas, radishes, potatoes and pumpkins on the way...they'll be ready for the Head Start meals this fall.





A neighborhood volunteer built us gates that will be installed this week and a new donated greenhouse is coming soon.




Each time I work in the garden people walk by headed to football practice in the field, working on the building, or cutting through the field...they are all so happy to see the progress and to have another school garden here in Fort Bragg!

Family Garden Days are every Thursday 2-4pm. Everyone is welcome! Come lend a hand and share in the harvest.

With the help of several Head Start families and Noyo Food Forest volunteers the garden at Fort Bragg Head Start is taking root! We have received generous donations of lumber and other materials to build a small tool shed and frame the beds to line them with hardware cloth...there are so many gophers! Peas, cherry tomatoes, sunflowers, lettuce and green beans are in the ground and more will be planted each week as we finish the beds.



Family Garden Days are every Thursday from 2-4pm this summer. Head Start families and community volunteers of all ages are welcome!



This summer we will be planting and tending food that will be served to the Head Start students in the fall. Produce will also be for volunteers who lend a hand. Join us this Thursday as we create more beds and plant more food!

Five years ago, I drove into the town of Fort Bragg with little more than my weary truck could hold, my sweet dog Kenya, a broken heart and a sprinkle of hope for a better life on the Mendocino Coast. Within days, I found a job, I scored a cabin in the redwoods, and I met incredibly helpful, inspiring, loving people who let me know that I was welcome here.

I quickly found that my passion for positive, meaningful, lasting social change through community agriculture was shared by many people here and within no time I found myself united with several motivated, capable, fun-loving people. We decided on a name and a mission and we became the Noyo Food Forest.

Flash forward to the Earth Day Festival held last month at The Learning Garden at Fort Bragg High School. A fabulous gathering of the beautiful people of the Mendocino Coast! At one point during the day, from my viewpoint on stage as the event’s emcee, I welled up with tears at the sight of my community. When I looked out over the crowd, I saw the familiar smiling faces of children, elders, and every age in between celebrating the Cool Blue Planet. Over 1,500 people celebrated with us that day and over 30 local businesses and organizations came together to produce the event for the community. It was a true community event, made possible by the generous donations of 20 business sponsors and the volunteer efforts of 70 local people. Incredible!

As we cleaned up the Garden at the end of the day, I remembered my personal journey from sleeping in my truck on my first night in town, to the first meeting of the five women founders of the Noyo Food Forest in Katrina’s garage, to the digging of beds at The Learning Garden at Earth Day 2007, to this wonderful, sunny day in April 2009. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the people of this community, this place I call home, Fort Bragg. I am humbled by your openness to an outsider from Louisiana, your warmth, and your willingness to work hard for a better world. I’m not sure if my story would be possible in any other place.

Thank you, Fort Bragg, for embracing the vision that “Another World Is Possible!” Thank you to all of the individuals, businesses, and organizations that made Earth Day a living example of what we want our world to be like. Thank you to each of you who make this community such a wonderful place to live. And thank you, fellow Noyo Food Foresters, for your commitment to “Being the Change we wish to see in the world.”

Howdy folks

Redwood elementary students will be munching on sweet tender carrots today as we made the first harvest from the greenhouse boxes yesterday. Yummy!
The highschoolers have done a great job this week planting three more beds of cucumbers, sowing greens, forking a pea bed, and helping weed as well as caring for their personal beds.Ashton made the first student harvest from his bed last week and also made a new screen for the compost. Yeah Ashton!
Veronica got in the rest of the basil, double dug a new flower bed, and prepped the outside tomato bed.
Today we will start compost tea, plant zucchini,sunflowers, cherry tomatoes and peas, and also get started on some new planter boxes for the greenhouse.
If we are lucky it will rain tonight and tomorrow. For the market today we will have delicious greens, edible flowers, and perhaps a few bouquets.
For the work day on Friday we can plant more flowers, prep a big bed for sweet peas, make compost, and work a little on the dripsystem. Please join us 1-5 nibbling on peas, Sakina

This Saturday May 9th is the Fort Bragg Mill Site Specific Plan CommunityWorkshop at Dana Gray Elementary School from 9am to noon. This is a very important step in the redevelopment of the millsite and we need FoodForesters to show up and express support for the development of a LocalFood Center on the millsite! Imagine a year-round covered farmers market,greenhouses full of food, a compost/bio-remediation test-site, and aneducation center with workshops, classes, etc. Yes!

Saturday afternoon from 1-5 is a garden workday at the Head Start Gardenright next to Redwood Elementary School. Call Kim for more info, 937-0113.

Monday May 11th is the next NFF community potluck from 5:30 to 7 at theGrey Whale Inn. Join us! Remember to bring your own plates, cups, andforks. I'll be bringing a garlic scape stirfry. Yum!

The Farmers Market is back! Stop by the Noyo Food Forest booth for fresh greens, herbs, and nursery starts. The Fort Bragg market is every Wednesday from 3:30 to 6 at the corner of Spruce and Main Street on the north end of Fort Bragg. Bring your "Certified Noyo Food Forester"membership card for 10% off! Or find out how to become a member yourself!

Okay, thats all folks. Hope to see ya'll around town.
Still stoked from Earth Day,Susan

Hi folks,
Hold on to your hats! It's a good thing we have greenhouses to play inotherwise I'd just have to go home and hide there. This wind sure is frisky.The garden is holding up well, the row covers are intact and shelteringbroccoli and lettuce.
The peas have a good grip n their trellis' and thecarrots are bravely sprouting. The lettuce and spinach planted under cover amonth ago is looking fabulous and will go into the Earth Day salad. It's been a bit quiet this week as the high school is on spring break.
This weeks lettuce and spinach went to the Redwood Coast Senior Center and Piaci's,both great places to have lunch. Today I started organizing the nursery in preparation of the plant sale on the 26th and I noticed we have some broccoli,celery and flowers that are ready to plant.
If you would like to get someplants for your garden please come by the garden this Sunday in the afternoonf or a little 'pre-plant sale'.
The Friday work days have been great fun.I send many thanks to all of you terrific volunteers for all you do and special hurray to Scott for installing new vents in the greenhouse. This Friday we will continue to get ready forEarth Day and also tend to the Food Forest which needs weeding and prepping.
We also have celery to plant, the turnips need thinning, the old brassicas need to go to the compost pile, and we can harvest lettuce, spinach, cilantro, chardand kale. 1:00 -5:00.

cheers Sakina

Greetings garden friends:
Yesterday was a whirlwind of little kids from Redwood elementary. The childrenin the after school program came over to help out in the garden and wereassisted by adult and high school helpers. A good time was had by all sowingseeds, making compost, and giving the nursery a grand new covering of woodchips.
This week we will continue to work in the nursery setting up tables andmoving plants out from the shade house. Many thanks to volunteer Steve forforking another carrot bed for the next round of seeds we will sow today.Friday is always compost day if you want to learn more about composting, theworkday starts at 1:00.
The adult ROP gardening class will be taking a field trip to Noyo Hill Farm onSunday. Farmer John grows organic vegetables, mushrooms, eggs, sheep, andprovides 60 food boxes a week to our community. I would especially recommendcoming to see his row covers. We will car pool from the high school parking at10:00 am and get back by noon.
Do you have an hour to spare? We are still looking for volunteers to help atour Earth Day celebration April 26th. It will be a fun day of music, food, andworkshops with many informational booths and kids activities. To help out callKim at 937-0113.
calling for rain.
Sakina

Community gardens are spaces of common ground where all kinds of people come together to grow healthy food. Each garden is unique in its own way: some provide space for individuals to grow their own fresh produce, others grow food collectively and distribute the produce to volunteers, while others grow food for the Food Bank or local schools. All improve our quality of life, beautify neighborhoods, provide food security, strengthen social connections, and preserve green space. If you’re looking for a healthy way to make new friends, learn useful skills, and reap the abundant harvest, check out one (or all!) of our Coast Community Gardens.

The Learning Garden at Fort Bragg High School (300 Dana Street, Fort Bragg) is an on-site Farm to School program and center for education in community-based agriculture. Volunteer workdays are held every Friday from 1-5pm and volunteers always leave with helpful gardening tips, new friends, and fresh produce in hand. Low cost workshops and events are held periodically in the garden, including an annual Earth Day celebration held the last Sunday of April. Contact Sakina Bush, Noyo Food Forest Learning Garden Manager, at (707)964-9232 for more information.

The Noyo Come-Unity Garden at Thanksgiving Coffee is a traditional community garden where individuals and families rent plots to grow their own fresh produce. It is located in the south harbor of Fort Bragg adjacent to the world famous Thanksgiving Coffee roasting headquarters. The Garden hosts eleven individual plots and a large communal garden space where food is grown and donated to local shelters and food banks. This garden is led by Noyo Food Forest Community Gardens Coordinator Katrina Aschenbrenner who can be reached at (707)964-3979. Community workdays are held most Sundays from 1-4pm, weather permitting.

The Caspar Community Garden provides space for people to garden and encourages community members to grow organic produce for themselves, for the Caspar Community Center, and for people in need. Volunteer workdays are held on Sundays from 10-2 and can also be scheduled during the week by contacting Liz Haapanen at (707)964-1674 or Alexandria Alexander at (707)964-5512. The garden is located behind the Caspar Community Center at 15051 Caspar Road.

The Mendocino Community Garden was founded in 1997 and is the longest growing community garden on the coast. The organic garden is tended jointly by all who work within it and the bulk of the food goes to the Fort Bragg Food Bank and local soup kitchens. Community workdays are held on Saturdays from 11-2 and the garden is located on the east side of the Mendocino Recreation Center. Contact S.A. Ephraim at (707)937-3037 for more information.

Contact the Noyo Food Forest at (707)964-0218 if you are interested in supporting community gardens or if you have land within the City of Fort Bragg that could be turned into the next community garden.

The garden has shed her winter coat and is wearing a spring jacket of fava beans and purple sprouting broccoli.The favas are doing their thing fixing nitrogen for the soil and making great greens for the compost. If you haven't grown purple sprouting broccoli I highly recommend it. If you plant it in late summer it makes delicious purple florets through the late winter and early spring and it's very pretty.

This free community event is made possible by 20 of your favorite local green businesses.
Call Susan Lightfoot at 964-0218 for more information.

Mark your calendar! The Noyo Food Forest is throwing a fabulous party, in honor of the Earth and Her Sweet Waters, at The Learning Garden on Sunday, April 26th from noon to six pm. We will have live music from several bands, including JUCE, a hiphip/reggae band from Humboldt County, as well as rainwater catchment workshops, locally grown food, a kids tent, organic plant sale, educational activites, etc. etc. etc!! You don't want to miss this! Huge thanks to our business sponsors, including 3D Organic Solutions, Mendocino Botanical Garden, Being Water, Anderson's Alternatives, and Thanksgiving Coffee! See you there!

This past Sunday, a motivated and energetic group of Noyo Food Foresters planted 500 redwood, pine and cedar saplings at Simcha Ranch near Ten Mile River. It was an incredible experience and I really hope we can do it again and invite more people to participate! We had a blast and the rain held off until we were almost done....perfect timing to water in the babies we planted. Thanks to Tom for organizing the planting fundraiser! We raised .45 cents for each tree we planted. Sweet!

The Head Start Family Garden Project will be having a workday Saturday, February 21st from 10-2. We will be building a fence and removing grass for beds.

Greetings Food Foresters!

I hope this note finds you healthy and happy. As always, there's alot
going on with the Noyo Food Forest, and I wanted to let ya'll know whats
happening!

In this newsletter you'll find information about:
-Groundbreaking on Nov. 22nd at the Head Start Family Garden Project
-Three Available plots at Noyo Come-Unity Garden
-"Seed to Plate" Afterschool Program at the Learning Garden
-Mendocino Coast 2020 at Caspar Breakfast
-Noyo Food Forest Volunteer Appreciation Party, First Friday, Dec. 5th
-Outreach to wanna-be farmers!

Please contact us to get involved with our work here in Fort Bragg. Our
dreams are big and we need YOU to help make them happen! There are plenty of
ways for you to engage with the Noyo Food Forest, like helping out at the
gardens, harvesting food for the Food Bank, bringing flowers to Sherwood
Oaks, painting signs, writing songs, translating information, and offering
up whatever skills you have to helping build a healthier, more sustainable
community. Your ideas and input are important! Please contact me if you'd
like to learn more about the Noyo Food Forest and how you can participate!
Call me at 964-0218. Mornings are the best time to reach me.

Okay, here's the info:

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GROUNDBREAKING AT HEAD START FAMILY GARDEN PROJECT:
Saturday November 22nd
11am-2pm.

This new garden is a collaborative project with North Coast Opportunities.
It will be a school garden for the Head Start Preschool with beds for
Head Start Families to grow their own produce in a healthy, collaborative
environment. Now Fort Bragg students will have exposure to gardening from
preschool through high school! We will be sheet mulching the garden site-
layering manure, hops and straw to decompose with the winter rains and
create beautiful soil to plant in in the spring. Come lend a hand and
support this new project...and wear your rubber boots!
Head Start is located next to Redwood Elementary School on the corner of
Lincoln a Chestnut in FB.
Contact Kim Morgan for more info 937-0113 morgankimberlina@gmail.com

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PLOTS AVAILABLE AT NOYO COME-UNITY GARDEN

The Noyo Come-Unity Garden on South Harbor Drive in Fort Bragg is
beautiful. We opened the gates in May of this year and the gardeners were
blessed with fertile soil and bountiful harvests. There are three new
plots available this fall. The rental rates are extremely affordable at
$45/year for the large (8'x20') family plots and $25/year for the small
(8'x10') plots. The
prices are retroactive from May; what a deal! Don't hesitate to call. I am
sure they will go fast.

Contact Katrina at katrina@mcn.org or 707-964-3979

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"SEED TO PLATE" TEEN AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM STARTS WED. NOV. 12TH

The Noyo Food Forest has teamed up with the Mendocino Coast Parks and
Recreation District and Fort Bragg High School to offer an afterschool
enrichment class at The Learning Garden on Wednesdays from 3:15 to 5:15.
Susan Lightfoot will be leading the class on an adventure from "Seed to
Plate" where students will learn how their food choices affect the world
we live in. This unique class will be designed by the students themselves
and they will select projects to work on and share at our Earth Day
Celebration in April 2009. Please let your teenage friends know about the
class and encourage them to join up. Call Susan Lightfoot for more
information at 964-0218.

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MENDOCINO COAST 2020 CONVERSATION CAFE AT CASPAR BREAKFAST

Mendocino Coast 2020 will host a social networking gathering at the Caspar
Community Fourth Sunday Breakfast on November 23rd, the Sunday before
Thanksgiving. Join us for breakfast at the Caspar Community Center
anytime between 9:00 and 11:00 AM, for good food and networking. At noon,
after breakfast, an informal ‘conversation cafe’ will commence, focusing
on the question “What is something happening in our community that gives
you hope for the future?” Contact Charles Bush for more information at
964-9232.

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NOYO FOOD FOREST VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION PARTY December 5th!

Thanks to you, we exist, so let's party! Join us on the First Friday of
December at Living Light for sangria, snacks and a special song by one of
our most committed volunteers, George Reinhardt. The party will be from
6-9pm during the First Friday Art Walk. A short slideshow and George's
Garden Song will happen at 7pm. Call Susan for more info at 964-0218.
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OUTREACH TO NEW FARMERS:

There's alot more land available here for farming than there are people
who are willing to farm! We have a list of willing landowners who want to
see their land in production and there are countless markets ready and
waiting to buy local produce. If you or anyone you know is interested in
becoming a farmer or production gardener, please contact Susan Lightfoot
at 964-0218.

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Thats all folks. Thanks for reading! Hope to see you soon,
In peace, love, and lots of hope,
Susan Lightfoot
Noyo Food Forest

Its a beautiful morning here on the Mendocino Coast in Northern California. The ravens woke me up with their rantings over last night's compost additions.....corn cobs, tomato skins and other random bits of yesterday's harvest. There's a tiny bit of frost on the ground, and I'm a little worried about the baby spinach and peas at The Learning Garden. While its a little sad to see the end of an amazingly productive growing season, I am stoked to have a few months to slow down, check in with myself, and get ready for next year.
Its a perfect time to reflect back on the year and review what we've accomplished here in Mendocino County. There are gardens popping up all over the place! Its amazing to see our motto manifesting all over the county. The Gardens Project certainly has alot to do with all the progress we've seen in 2008. Good job Miles and everyone who has picked up a shovel and got down and dirty with the earth! There has been a ton of effective organizing happening this year too, from the STEPS meetings, to the Coast Farm Futures meetings, to Earth Day celebrations and Harvest Gatherings and community workdays at countless gardens. I feel honored to be a part of this revolution in the way we sustain ourselves and our communities. It gives me so much hope for the future, that we can get ourselves out of this mess we've created and move forward into a more just and sustainable world. Its just a matter of time.
Peace!
Susan Lightfoot