On The Farm

GreenFriends Farm was happy to host Dr. Elaine Ingham once again on February 29th-March 4th. Dr. Ingham is a world-renowned soil biologist and the founder of Soil Food Web, Inc. This was the ninth year in a row that she has come to the Farm to teach a week long workshop read...

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Throughout the month of January, our stalwart volunteers have been trudging through the rain and mud and on up into the bright green hills to dig holes. They were creating new homes for a new batch of fruit trees in the ever-growing Maha orchard. On Saturday, January 30 read...

We are happy that the new year has blessed us with lots of rain and a full pond. The swans and frogs are happy too! The hills are turning a brilliant green and the surrounding wildlife is thriving. Sadly we lost 60 trees to gophers last year, a hard reality to swallow, but undeterred we keep planting on. We have several tree plantings scheduled for the spring season. This time we will be using more preventive measures to protect the trees from the gophers by using gopher baskets. Gopher baskets are large mesh wire baskets that are put in the hole before the new tree is planted. Gophers can’t get through the wire mesh and so the juicy young tree roots are protected until they are large enough that the gophers cant chew them and kill the new tree....

This slideshow requires JavaScript. 2015 has been a very busy year here at the Farm. At the start of the year Common Vision and Green Friends Farm joined forces with Girl Guides and planted 64 trees in total. In March, NetApp also jumped in and helped us plant 49 trees that help protect the soil from weathering impacts. In April, our beloved soil scientist Dr. Elaine Ingham educated us on the importance of soil biology. Our team continued with the day in and day out maintenance of the trees; everything from watering, pruning, mulching, weeding, pest management, and ofcourse harvesting. Collaborating with all these great groups, and a continual stream of volunteers from around the Bay Area, has nourished and invigorated life in the Green Friends Farm Orchard. We...

This slideshow requires JavaScript. The Soil Food Web with Dr. Elaine Ingham April 13-17th, 2015   For the eighth year in a row, GreenFriends Farm hosted Dr. Elaine Ingham, a world renowned soil biologist, for a soil food web workshop. Participants came from around the country and from as far away as Germany. The 5-day Soil Food Web workshop, held April 13-17th, featured hands-on lectures on the soil food web, composting, compost tea and more. The soil food web is the intricate network of organisms above and below ground that provide the basis for all plant life on earth and therefore most life. Participants learned how to make and evaluate good compost that benefits the right microorganisms for their plants needs. On the last day people brought soil samples...