Alemany Farm: San Francisco Urban Farming
Inspired by the historic Victory Gardens of San Francisco, which supplied the area with 40% of the food consumed during WW2, and motivated by a desire to eliminate the high energy costs of trucked-in produce, the Alemany Farm started by volunteers taking over a former illegal dump as an experimental urban garden, with the surrounding homeowners’ blessing.
I lived in Daly City over 25 years ago, so watching this video of a farm springing up next to the 280 freeway near Daly City interested me. Well, not right next to the freeway, there’s enough land for a buffer zone. Quoting from the history page on their website:
The pluralism of the Farm’s history is indicated even by all the names given to the land: St. Mary’s Youth Farm, the SLUG Farm, and Alemany Farm. Rather than attempt an incomplete history of the Alemany Farm, you will instead find here a collection of narratives and archives starting way back in 1994.
The crops planted have expanded from just one row to a large flat area of the 4 and 1/2 acres and into another large section. The harvest was originally divided among the weekend volunteers but now there are plans for a farmers market, chickens and goats to provide fertility for the soil and keeping their own bees for pollination.
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