COMMUNITY NEWS
We are thrilled to present this amazing video to all of you! It's a fantastic video that provides an in-depth look at Planting Justice’s Nursery and the valuable insights about permaculture ethics such as Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. We are committed to building a sustainable future where people's needs are met with compassion and dignity, allowing individuals to grow from their past experiences and pass on knowledge and wisdom to their communities.
We had the honor of hosting Andrew Millison, a permaculture teacher, practitioner, media maker, and video producer, at our Nursery. Andrew recently visited us and dedicated an entire video on his popular YouTube channel to showcase our Nursery and our incredible staff!
Our staff emphasize the importance of living wage employment opportunities, dignified work that goes beyond a paycheck, the chance to become leaders in their communities, and the significance of giving back.
We invite you to join us in watching, liking, and sharing this captivating content with your family, friends, and followers. If you haven't already, make sure to follow us on social media to stay informed about offers, nursery coupon codes, and the latest news about Planting Justice!
For more information on our current projects, visit us at plantingjustice.net or feel free to pay us a visit at 319 105th Ave. Oakland, CA 94603.
There are many ways to support Planting Justice!
You can make a one time, monthly, quarterly, or annual donation to Planting Justice all donations are 100% tax-deductible
Planting Justice also accepts Stock Donations!
Ameritrade DTC#: 0188
Account #: 488498580
Account Name: Planting Justice
Not able to contribute financially? No problem! There are still many ways to support us, such as volunteering or sharing our work. Every bit helps and we appreciate your support!
In The Community
Meet Bonnie & Sylvia! Longtime members of The Good Table and Mira Vista! Bonnie and Sylvia share their excitement with us about the Good Table Cafe's opening as well as their gratitude to the El Sobrante Community for being so supportive of the project!
Special thanks to Jacob Day for conducting and editing the video, and to Bonnie and Sylvia for chatting with us!
Join us for our next Work + Fun Day!
When: Saturday, February 25th from 12-3 PM
Where: 5166 Sobrante Ave, El Sobrante 94803
Sat. February 25th will be our Community Work + Fun Day @ 5166 Sobrante Ave, 12- 3p. Wear sturdy shoes and clothing and bring work gloves and favorite gardening tools. And please bring a good quality mask so we can all stay safe from COVID and construction dust.
Help us share the Good word by following us on Facebook and Instagram
In The Community
Meet Mikki Norris, an activist, former publisher, and author working with Keep El Sobrante Clean and Beautiful. KESCB is a group of local residents, businesses and organizations who share a vision of nature and beauty. Mikki speaks with us about her work in El Sobrante as well as her hopes for the community once The Good Table Cafe opens its doors to the public.
You can learn more about her organization and how to volunteer by visiting their official website at: https://keepelsobrantebeautiful.info
Special thanks to Jacob Day for conducting and editing the video, and Mikki for chatting with us!
Join us for our next Work + Fun Day!
When: Saturday, January 7th from 12-3 PM
Where: 5166 Sobrante Ave, El Sobrante 94803
Sat. January 7th will be our Community Work + Fun Day @ 5166 Sobrante Ave, 12- 3p. Wear sturdy shoes and clothing and bring work gloves and favorite gardening tools. And please bring a good quality mask so we can all stay safe from COVID and construction dust.
Help us share the Good word by following us on Facebook and Instagram
In The Community
Meet Sam Lustig who has lived in the Bay Area for the last 16 years, working in agriculture for 15 of those years. A longtime Swanton Berry Farm employee (and a proud member of the United Farm Workers!), Sam was responsible for recipe development, interior design, baking and sales at America’s very first unionized organic farm and the oldest certified organic strawberry farm in California. Sam talk's to us about his work with Planting Justice and The Good Table and his hopes for the future!
Special thanks to Jacob Day for conducting and editing the video, and Sam for chatting with us.
Join us for our next Work + Fun Day!
When: Saturday, December 3rd from 12-3 PM
Where: 5166 Sobrante Ave, El Sobrante 94803
Sat. December 3rd will be our Community Work + Fun Day @ 5166 Sobrante Ave, 12- 3p. Wear sturdy shoes and clothing and bring work gloves and favorite gardening tools. And please bring a good quality mask so we can all stay safe from COVID and construction dust.
Help us share the Good word by following us on Facebook and Instagram
In Our Community
For those of you new to the blog, Planting Justice is our sister organization.
They’re a 501(c)3 non-profit benefiting local Bay area communities
They have local, organic nursery with rare and heirloom varieties
Programs include food justice education, holistic re-entry from prison, permaculture landscaping team, urban farms and training centers
They provide living-wage jobs for formerly incarcerated people
They’ll have an organic plant nursery at the site, as well as a commercial kitchen that will sell jams, jellies, and other products sourced from fruit from their orchard.
Image courtesy of Planting Justice
Wrapping up 2021 and moving into 2022, they’ve got a lot going on! (All excerpts from the Planting Justice Newsletter, which you can sign up for on their site.)
Expanding to Sacramento
We're moving into The Old City Nursery!
The old city nursery building
Our newest project will revitalize a long-vacant City-owned property by transforming it into a nationally significant center for urban agricultural training, entrepreneurship, multi-faceted bio-diversity, youth mentorship and education.
In addition to housing a Planting Justice plant nursery that features dense and climate-resilient plants, we'll be establishing mentorship and urban agricultural programs led by community partners Three Sisters Gardens and Yisrael Family Farm at the 5-acre former City Tree Nursery in Sacramento.
Our site plans include roughly 1.2 acres of outdoor field production, 7,000 sq ft of indoor greenhouse production, and more than ¼ acre of nursery retail. We'll be using the space to sell products produced on site as well as products made by local crafts-makers and artisans utilizing natural and nontoxic materials, such as Sacramento-made soaps, essential oils, jam, and honey.
We'll also be creating a beautiful 1-acre production farm growing nutrient dense, medicinal vegetables and herbs. Produce will be distributed not only to restaurants and CSA members paying full price, but also to low-income elders, adults, and youth for free/sliding scale.
We're super excited to see this dream project come true! Our dear Victor was instrumental in bringing PJ to Sacramento, finding the perfect site and pushing through to make it happen. We're honored to open this site in his honor and to play a hand in training a generation of Sacramento community farmers.
Image courtesy of Planting Justice
Under Construction: Planting Justice Aquaponics Farm
How do you grow healthy food where there is no healthy soil to plant in?
Earlier this year we closed escrow on a 3 acre piece of land in East Oakland that will help us answer that exact question. Just a few doors down from our nursery at 319 105th Avenue, once opened, the aquaponics farm will produce over 200,000 lbs of fresh, organic produce per year. All grown using aquaponics technology!
Image collage courtesy of Planting Justice
top: Gordon (l) & Jon (r) clearing away leftover materials, bottom left: Otis and Yenni working together like Jordan and Pippen, bottom right: nursery team getting it done!
We're taking the site of a historical plant nursery and turning it into a new food production site for local communities, starting in East Oakland! Our team has been hard at work for MONTHS, tearing down old structures and making way for the new! We plan to open in 2022. This will be the first site of its kind and we hope it will set the foundation for many more to come.
By Kelly Knight, Marketing Manager for The Good Table
Gavin Raders
I sat down with Gavin Raders, Co-Founder of Planting Justice and Co-Manager of The Good Table, to discuss how the pandemic has affected his organization, what he’s looking forward to at the new Planting Justice Organic Nursery at The Good Table site, and his hopes for the community in the future.
Hey Gavin, thanks for meeting up with me. So, can you tell me how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Planting Justice?
Yeah, it’s been interesting: in many ways, I feel like this is something Planting Justice has been preparing for. We’ve been able to respond in a really strong way as an organization: we got a small business loan that allowed us to keep everyone on staff, for one thing, and we were also able to actually expand our staff with seven new hires!
That’s incredible! How did that come about?
Well, in part, it happened because the pandemic got everyone refocused on gardening, food security, and creating sustainable food systems in local communities. We saw how the pandemic impacted the food supply chain, with lots of items being unavailable, so everyone turned back to gardens as a way of creating that food security for themselves and their neighbors.
The sales in our nursery more than doubled, and sales of our edible starts have been the highest ever. That speaks to a real need in the community for gardens and accessible food.
So when it comes to the organic plant nursery at the new Good Table site, what will that space provide for the community?
We’ll have certified organic heirloom crops at the new site, including 1,200 varietals of fruit trees and perennial plants. We’ll be able to offer things that other nurseries don’t have, which will contribute to the overall food diversity in the El Sobrante community.
Another thing I’m excited about is the commercial kitchen on-site. This will provide additional culinary value, with an offering of locally made foods. We’ll have collaborative workshops on how to plant and care for edible starts, which will allow us to leverage the knowledge already in the El Sobrante community—we’ll encourage everyone to participate in community group sharing to all learn together.
And lastly, but also important: we’ll be creating jobs, since this will be a brick and mortar location.
What are your hopes for The Good Table and Planting Justice Organic Nursery site? What will make this space so special?
I feel like the community really needs a place like this. There are so few community gathering spaces in El Sobrante that don’t require a purchase or admission fee to get in. The pay-as-you-can model is not widespread, and pretty unique for this area. That allows folks to just come hang out, which is really valuable from a social isolation perspective.
Absolutely. I’ve been reading a lot about the diminishing amount of “third space” in the United States — places you can go hang out that aren’t work or home. America doesn’t have a lot of civic spaces for people to congregate that are free.
Yes, and that’s a huge issue! You’re likely to get ticketed for trespassing or loitering, which is a social justice issue. The Good Table and Planting Justice Organic Nursery can be that third space for the community; a place to gather and collaborate for communal sharing, knowledge and celebration.
We all hope that too—and that we’ll be able to open in 2021. Thanks Gavin!
Note: if you’d like to help us open in 2021, please consider donating to our Go Fund Me campaign: Donate
About Gavin: Gavin Raders is a co-founder and co-director of Planting Justice, a father to two amazing daughters, a social justice activist, and a permaculture demonstrator/teacher. Rather than fighting against the things that we don't want and continuously reacting against the onslaught of oppressive systems, Gavin decided at a young age to build solutions that bring healing, health, peace, opportunity, and justice to those around him, using his privileges strategically for reparations and redistribution, and creating space for those most impacted by structural violence to live out their own dreams and enact the solutions they know to be necessary, while simultaneously supporting themselves and their families.