Spring is Happening in Koshland Garden!

The rains have been kind to Koshland Garden, making the days of damp socks and winter colds all worth it. After all the grey, muddy weeks we’ve been through lately, the plum tree is now blooming, a sure sign that Spring is here! It’s a beautiful sight. Be sure to stop by and see it soon, blossom season is a wonderful time! The red-tailed hawks have returned after the rainy spell, and there are lots of hummingbirds zooming about in the afternoon. We’ve got flowers on the fava beans and strawberries – a great sign that soon we will have lots of yummy garden treats!

We have some new changes coming to the garden, which are all very exciting – current garden volunteer and future community gardener Arif Husain is leading a renovation of the herb garden at Koshland. Arif works with the San Francisco Botanical Medicine Clinic (www.sfbmc.org), selling home-made tea blends at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market on Saturdays – they are delicious! He is putting his skills as an herbalist-in-training and plant fanatic to work in shaping the new herb garden, which will begin construction on Sunday, March 9th.

The design includes an herb bed shaped out of Cob, a natural building technique using clay, sand, and straw to make the walls for the herb bed. It’s a fun project if you like to get dirty! If you are interested in helping out in the construction of the herb garden, please contact Elokin at gardenkids@gmail.com. We will also have a container garden example set up soon, which will have information for people interested in growing food and plants in their apartments. Come check out these new additions to the garden, and give your input – we want your help in shaping the garden as it grows!
Now there are more ways for you to get involved in Koshland Garden with our new Wednesday afternoon work parties! The garden educators involved with Koshland will be there every Wednesday afternoon from 2–5 pm, running activities and available to answer your garden questions! Come get your hands in the dirt, learn gardening skills, have fun, and take home some veggies at the end of the day!

Time: Every Wednesday 2 pm–5 pm
Place: Koshland Garden, at the corner of Page and Buchanan
For questions about the community garden part of Koshland Garden, contact Community Garden Coordinator: Nora Brereton (415) 424-5770 noraborealis@juno.com
And last but not least, we have an exciting new teen program starting up in April through Koshland Garden, a project of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood PARKS Group. Our new BEET Ranger program is a green job training internship that we are offering to Western Addition teens. The youth will be paid a stipend to get training in Park Maintenance, Recycling, Composting, Nutrition, Organic Gardening and more. They will participate in park clean-ups, help out with our Lettuce Grow summer camp, and lead a community event to share the knowledge they gain with their peers. In turn, we will be helping them find job opportunities in the growing field of green jobs, to help make environmentalism more than just a great cause, but also a way of life that can support them financially. At this point we have received applications, and begun interviewing potential youth. The program starts next month, and we are very excited!

For more info, contact BEET Ranger Program Coordinator: Elokin gardenkids@gmail.com, (415) 643-3638

All in all, we have a lot of exciting new happenings in the garden starting up this Spring! Please get in touch with any questions, or to get involved with these great new projects. Come celebrate the great weather with us, we hope to see you in the garden soon!