CONTENTS: SPRING 2012
LOCAL HEROES
Laney College Bistro
Terra Bella Family Farm
Berkeley Bowl Marketplace
URBAN ADAMAH: Jewish farm takes root in West Berkeley
ALL THAT AN URBAN FARMER NEEDS TO KNOW: A book review of The Essential Urban Farmer
SUPPLY UP! Resources for your spring garden
A BEAN’S DEEP ROOTS IN THE EAST BAY: Portuguese and a love of fava beans
SEVEN STARS OF SPRING: Ideas and recipes from Jessica Prentice
WATER: Another kind of harvest
FORAGING FOR THE GREATER GOOD: Why and how to target alien invasives
ABOUT OUR COVER ARTIST: Last spring, denizens of Oakland’s vibrant Temescal district looked on in awe as a new enchantment unfolded in the neighborhood. Some may have hovered around watching as Oakland muralist and artist Alan Leon transformed the 52nd Street Highway 24 underpass and 15 nearby columns into a fanciful wonder entitled Temescal Flows.
For years, North Berkeley residents have been enjoying Alan’s work near the Peralta Community Gardens, Elk Tracks to Bart Tracks: Parallel Migrations Along the Bay and The Garden is the Gateway. Visitors to the Lake Merritt-Uptown District Association Office at 388 19th Street, Oakland, may have seen his Oakland cityscapes done with watercolor and color pencils.
Alan’s career has encompassed work as a landscape architect, summer camp director, and yoga instructor. As an artist, his calling has been to interpret the environment through drawing and painting. He also shares his talents through teaching, with courses bearing titles like Creativity Principles, a Million Ways of Seeing, and Imagining Your World showing up on schedules at Oakland libraries, as well as at Studio One, and the Esalen and Omega Institutes. He facilitates workshops such as Yoga, Art & the Creativity of Life. Alan is available for creative projects of any nature. Look for his work at alanleon.org. (Photo of Alan Leon painting Temescal Flows is by Karen Schneider)