FREE FARM STAND: SHARE WITH THE POOR

The Free Farm Stand, a project of the No Penny Opera (a tax exempt organization) is about sharing the wealth of urban farms and gardens.

We are dedicated to aiding the food security and health of our community through garden and food education and the growth, harvest, and dispersal of organic backyard and community grown produce. We support the right of all people to have access to fresh, nourishing food and we believe that empowering youth and adults to take part in their local food system can create change that will systemically improve the way we eat. We also believe that food education will improve our health and well being as a whole.

We especially like to partner and work with people with common values and convictions. Our organizations, the Free Farm Stand, Urban Share Community Gardening Project under the sponsorship of Welcome Ministry, Produce to the People, Cultivate SF, Stanford Glean, the Community Garden at Holy Innocents Episcopal Church,the Secret Garden, Esperanza Garden Center for Sustainable Living, and the San Francisco Permaculture Guild have formed a partnership by working together on garden projects in San Francisco. We are focused on ensuring access to healthy food for underserved and low-income members of our community. We are convinced that we can only achieve food security through a collective effort, and we are committed to working together toward a more sustainable and healthy food system in San Francisco. Our goal is to create a successful model that can be replicated by local communities worldwide.

What we currently do:
•We grow as much food as can in San Francisco with a focus on our Mission neighborhood and distribute it for free at our Sunday Free Farm Stand. We have also been partnering with the SF Permaculture Guild turning a 17 year old vacant lot on Potrero Hill into a Food Forest. We have just started working with several groups in starting a farm and neighborhood garden resource center in the Civic Center neighborhood (at Gough and Eddy Sts.)
•We offer garden advice and help to those who want to put in a backyard garden.
•We grow seedlings and starts to give away and other plants.
•We offer a place where neighbors can come and share their extra produce that they have grown with others.
•We provide a drop-off place for local organic surplus food from both local gardeners and organic farmers.
•We offer a weekly gathering spot where neighbors can get to know each other and share their diverse cultures and traditions.
•We harvest organic fruit from backyard fruit trees and public spaces give away it away at the Free Farm Stand.
•We give away honey from local bee keepers and educate neighbors about bees and gentle beekeeping.

We set up at noon and anyone is welcome to join us to help out (there is always plenty to do including gardening in Treat Commons). We share produce until we run out and it is somewhat seasonal so winters we might be finished earlier. There is a line and we are there rain or shine!