All Blog Posts (33)

It's been quite a summer! We've been going strong since April when we were announced as finalists in the contest. We have since grown, foraged, raised, and produced a multitude of vegetables, fruits, and food projects. All 10 teams from California, Washington, and Colorado are gearing for their block parties. We look forward to hearing about everyone's feast.

The contest deadline was extended until October but we were too far along to change our course. We had carefully…

Check out my blog post about my huckleberry foraging trip with Freya on Sunday.  It didn't exactly turn out as planned...

Huckleberry Boo Boo

*HUGS*

Kitty

Had a fantastic time today picking ripe blackberries thanks to a tip from Kim. It was a great time and very relaxing leisurely walking and listening to the sound of running water. It's amazing to know that there is such a wild place deep in the heart of Oakland. I ended up with 2 pounds of blackberries that made for some tasty scones and blackberry bread - sorry guys, I think I might have cleaned out the creek! ;)…

Throughout the summer Team Found Fruit has been growing fruits and veggies, raising livestock, foraging, and doing food projects as part of our One Block Diet contest with Sunset Magazine. It culminates with a One Block Party, a feast from the summer's bounty. We're 8 team members from a 5 mile radius in Oakland, CA and here's our menu:

                                                                              -Starters-…

...and man is it warty! I thought that this plant that turned up in my compost would be a Connecticut Carving-Style Pumpkin but  after a few months, voila! We have 3 plants producing yellow warty decorative gourds (squash?) that came from a single fruit composted in Spring. 

Due to the mild 70 degree days these, along with my eating Pumpkins, are thriving. I love the look of these things; they remind me of the Thanksgiving Cornucopia Pictures that I saw in my classrooms when…

It all started with a dozen fertile eggs purchased from the grocery store.

                              all pics by Todd Voyageur…

The Bay Area Blackberry season is on and the blackberries in Dimond Park, Oakland along Sausal Creek are ripe.

I recently picked 3 lbs on a hike.  I like to make jam and wine from the berries I gather over the month of August.  They are fine to freeze until you can gather enough of them for your…

The team met recently for a potluck to try out recipes and to finalize the menu for the feast. We're so excited for the party! In the next few weeks we will be finishing up our projects and harvesting fruits, veggies, and foraging for fish and…

Month Two:

Kitty, our bunny whisperer has been busy raising rabbits for the feast. On a 4000 square foot lot in Oakland she manages an efficient microfarm with rabbits, goats, ducks, chickens, quail, and bees. She raises the animals with love and produces nearly all of her own meat and most of her own vegetables. Her goats are trained therapy animals and she enjoys taking them for walks around the neighborhood and to visit children in hospitals. Go team…

Ever thought of adding a pond or fountain to your yard but didn't have the space, time or money?  A half barrel pond is a simple solution and can even be kept on a patio deck.

I've kept one for a few years filled with aquatic plants, comet goldfish, aquatic…

With diesel gas prices skyrocketing these days more and more people are turning to alternative fuels like biodiesel and waste vegetable oil WVO. You can buy a vegetable oil conversion for diesel engines that will allow you to run in any proportion diesel, biodiesel, straight vegetable oil SVO, or WVO. Some conversions are single tank like Lovecraft…

We are busy as bees getting our gardens planted and food projects underway. It's exciting to have 4 gardens with all heirloom varieties of veggies growing. Though the snails are continually eating our seedlings, we have planted some exciting varieties like Tigger melons which are small melons with brilliant red and yellow stripes that we're training up a trellis, Black Sea Man tomatoes that are black on the outside and green white and red on the inside, Parisian carrots which are tiny and…

In my yard is a fantastic huge prickly pear cactus. If I didn't cut it back it would overtake the house! This spring has been plentiful with fruits and new growth. Spectacular yellow flowers are also in bloom.  I decided to take advantage of the harvest and freeze some fruit and paddles away for our upcoming One Block Feast contest with Sunset Magazine.

 …

The first round of pics we sent in were our baselines, to establish the "before" look at our gardens and projects. Meet the team and take a look!

The first group of…

You may have read about Team Found Fruit getting into Sunset Magazine’s One Block Party Contest. Over the summer we will be growing over 25 different veggies and fruit, and will be taking on food projects like eggs, honey, cheese making, etc. to create a 100% locally grown feast which will happen in early September. The winners get a spread in Sunset magazine and $500 bucks. We are competing with 9 other teams from various parts of California, Washington, and a team from Colorado.…

Who needs a front yard? Grass requires so much water and really, can't that space be put to a better use? Second year goals for the Elephant House included sheetmulching the front yard and planting drought tolerant and edible landscape. Here's the before picture:

It…

Unbeknownst to me I have a fellow urban homesteading neighbor. I knew there had to be more of us in the neighborhood. Well, Kitty Sharkey at Havenscourt Homestead is the real deal. From the street you see beautiful edible and drought tolerant landscaping on a sheet mulched front yard. There’s a sign that says fresh eggs in the driveway and a swing overlooking all the flowers.  Hardly a clue as to what’s in back… As you come around the house in the narrow…