Waterfront Food Tour, Moveable Feast, & Last Call for FINAL Public Farm Tour!
Harvest Time in Brentwood
Square Dancing in Brentwood
San Francisco Waterfront Tour with Slow Money
Behind the Scenes at The Ferry Builiding
Tour the Farmers Market with MALT & CUESA
Moveable Feast
Cheese tour
Food Sovereignty Tour
In This Issue
1. Upcoming Tours!
* Last Call for FINAL FARM TOUR THIS SATURDAY: Brentwood Family Farm to Fork (Pizza!) Tour, October 8th (especially great for families!)
▪ Fantastic tours in conjunction with Slow Money National Gathering at Fort Mason
- Green San Francisco Waterfront Food Tour, October 11th
- Moveable Feast Sustainable Restaurant Tour of Berkeley, October 11th
▪ Tour with the Commonwealth Club
- Organic Cheese Tour, October 22nd
▪ New Food Sovereignty Tour in Berkeley, November 5th
2. Internships available with BAGT!
3. Green Living Project Presents: The Short Film Showcase, October 22nd
Upcoming Tours
Brentwood Family Farm to Fork (Pizza!) Tour - Saturday, October 8th - Great for Families!
Fig grove at Knoll Farm
Farm Stand Smith Family Farms
Lots of kids activities
This weekend in Brentwood will be warm and absolutely beautiful after the rains. Enjoy our last open to the public farm tour for a delicious fun filled day with family and friends at the peak of the autumn harvest in the shadow of Mount Diablo! Spend time under the canopy of a fig trees while meeting the bio-dynamic artisan farmers Kristie and Rick Knoll. Take an intimate tour of their operations and then we'll gravitate to the wood-fired pizza oven which Rick built a-brick-and-a-stone-at-a-time. Will then make our own pizzas prepared by you with produce from Knoll Farms.
After lunch we'll take a short trip to Smith Family where we'll take a hay ride and visit the farm stand, fields and herb garden. We'll enjoy live music, the labyrinth, an antique tractor show and bee hives where you can actually look into the hive and see the bees at work!
Children of all ages will enjoy the corn maze, square dancing farm animals, a replica of a Miwok Indian Village, and getting to pick their own pumpkin at the famous Smith Family Farm pumpkin patch.
San Francisco Pick Up:
9:00 AM from Larkin Street - Mc Allistor / Grove Street
Between SF Public Library and Asian Art Museum,
Returning between 5:30-6:00 PM
Berkeley Pick Up:
9:30 AM from David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way
Returning between 5:00-5:30 PM
Walnut Creek Pick Up:
10:00 AM from Walnut Creek Bart station
Returning between 4:30-5:00 PM
Morning: Knoll Farm
Visit Rick and Kristie Knoll’s unique bio- dynamic, agro-ecosystem property and learn about the focus of their growing strategy - their soil. Stroll through the lush fig orchard where they often host weddings and dinners. The farm’s predominantly local customer baseincludes high-end restaurants like Chez Panisse,Gather, Olivetto's and the Ferry Building Farmer's Market. Learn about agriculture, the local food scene, and the work of great organizations such as the Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust, Slow Food, Slow Money and much more.
Lunch: Everyone will have the opportunity to adorn their own personal pizza with farm-fresh ingredients which we’ll then bake in the impressive wood-fired oven that sits alongside their unique mosaic-tiled house (add $15.00, optional).
Afternoon: Smith Family Farm
A fourth generation farm making the conversion to organic. We’ll be visiting during the peak of their pumpkin festival! This tour stop includes a hay ride, children's corn maze, pumpkin patch, live music, an antique tractor show, animals, bees, herbs, labyrinth, square dancing and a replica Miwok Indian Village! There will be u-picks available for tomatoes, pomegranates, and apples. You’ll be able to purchase additional produce at their beautiful farm stand and everyone will go home with their own pumpkin, included in the price of your tour.
Tour and Moveable Feast in Conjunction with the Slow Money National Gathering October 11th, 2011
Bay Area Green Tours and Slow Money present two unique and fabulous events in conjunction with the third Annual Slow Money National Gathering:
DISCOUNTED PRICE available for attending both the San Francisco Green Waterfront Tour ($89) and the Berkeley Moveable Feast ($85): $164
Slow Money SF Waterfront Food Tour
Breakfast with Chef Cory Stewart in the lounge at Americano Hotel
Far West Mushrooms
Cowgirl Creamery
Behind the Scenes at the Farmer's Market
Green San Francisco Waterfront Tour - A Sustainable Walking Tour of the Embarcadero’s Green Businesses
The Waterfront Tour will bring participants to some of San Francisco’s premiere businesses that serve sustainable food and/or participate in sustainable business practices. It will begin at Hotel Vitale’s beautiful Americano Restaurant for breakfast with Chef Kory Stewart and presentations by leaders at the forefront of local food support systems. Next participants will tour the Ferry Building and Farmer’s Market with representatives of CUESA (The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) and the Marin and Brentwood Agricultural Land Trusts. There they will meet the farmers and vendors from Frog Hollow Farm, Far West Fungi, San Francisco Fish Company, and more. An all organic lunch will be served by Chef Sascha Weiss at The Plant on Pier 3, a solar powered restaurant featuring a living wall with a beautiful waterfront view.
This tour will give participants a unique perspective on how relevant sustainability is to San Francisco and the Slow Money Movement, which focuses on “bringing people together around a new conversation about money that is too fast, about finance that is disconnected from people and place, [and] about how we can begin fixing our economy from the ground up... starting with food.”
TIME:: Depart 9:15 am. Return 2:15 pm.
MEET: Restaurant Americano at the beautiful green certified Hotel Vitale, 8 Mission Street, San Francisco (easily accessible via BART’s Embarcadero Station)
COST: $89 includes breakfast, lunch, non-alcoholic drinks, tax and gratuity, tour presentations and networking
The Moveable Feast will be a unique downtown Berkeley walking tour visiting three model sustainable restaurants located within a three block radius, in a city some consider the epicenter for the US food movement. We’ll dine at Gather Restaurant, Five Restaurant and Revival Kitchen + Bar.
Since the three featured restaurants are located a short walking distance from each other, this is sure to be a relaxed and delightful dining experience!
TIME: 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm
MEET: Gather Restaurant, 2200 Oxford Street, Berkeley (one block from the Downtown Berkeley BART station, in the David Brower Center)
COST: $85 includes appetizers, main course, dessert and coffee, non-alcoholic drinks, tax and gratuity, presentations and networking.
The Slow Money Conference has had a fantastic turnout in the past and is highly anticipated this year. It will be a great opportunity to partake in field building, investing and social change. For more information about the conference, visit http://www.slowmoney.org/national-gathering/
"We must bring money back down to earth" - Woody Tasch
Prepping at Gather
Dining with Ari Darful at Gather
Co Owner Eric Fenster at Gather
The Restaurants & The Menu:
Appetizers at Gather
The delicious menu items for the Moveable Feast may include:
Appetizers at Gather:
Wine, beer or sangria along with small pizzas: spicy tomato-olives, capers, cashew puree and summer squash, Redwood Hill Farm goat cheese, pesto. At Gather Restaurant (a Slow Money project) a presentation by one or more of the following: Chef Sean Baker owner Ari Derfel, a founding member of Slow Money, and his partner Eric Fenster.
Dinner at Five
Dinner at Five Restaurant:
At the second stop Chef Banks White of Five Restaurant will present a family-style meal of Riverdog herb roasted chicken and gnudi ricotta dumplings and winter chard, served with his grandmother's cornbread recipe, local honey and house
made butter. He will also and discuss shopping at local farmers markets, where he sometimes leads tours.
Five is located in the beautiful Hotel Shattuck Plaza in downtown Berkeley, and was built in 1910 by the family of Francis Kittridge Shattuck. After undergoing a recent multi-million dollar renovation, it has been transformed in to Berkeley's newest boutique hotel.
Dessert at Revival Kitchen + Bar
Dessert at Revival:
The last stop at Revival Kitchen + Bar will feature Apple cobbler with tea, coffee and a talk with Chef/Owner Amy Murray about the history of the restaurant and their sustainable practices.
Participants will indulge in a locally sourced, organic and relaxed meal while learning about Slow Money, SAGE, Slow Food, local farms and food sources. They will also enjoy an opportunity to leisurely network (feel free to sit next to a new person at each stop!), while enjoying presentations by award-winning restaurant owners and chefs.
$85 includes appetizers, main course, dessert and coffee, non-alcoholic drinks, tax and gratuity, presentations and lots of relaxed networking with other locavores!
Organic Cheese Tour with the Commonwealth Club - Oct. 22nd
BAGT is partnering with the prestigious Commonwealth Club to offer this very delicious and exciting tour!
Sustainable Aritsan Cheese Tour
Our delicious Cheese Tour offers an insider’s glimpse into the craft of local cheese making. Visit goat, cow and sheep dairies and explore barns, milking parlors and cheese making facilities, while touring in a comfortable bio-diesel motor coach through the beautiful countryside of Marin and Sonoma counties. Participants have the opportunity to taste and purchase products on site, and to engage in dialogue with farmers, cheese makers, and a representative from The Marin Agricultural Trust which works to preserve farms in Marin. All the featured farms use organic farming practices and sell their products to local markets and restaurants. A healthful organic picnic lunch is included.
We'll visit:
Achadinha, Nicasio Valley & Spring Hill Cheese and sample goat and cow cheese and sausage.
*TIME:* Check-in 9 am. Depart SF Club Office 9:30 am. Return 5:30 pm.
MEET:
SF Club Office at 595 Market St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco
Second pick up time to be announced at Marin County Mart across from Larkspur Ferry.
COST: $125 Members of the Commonwealth Club. $135 Non-members. Pre-registration is required.
As part of the 15th Annual Community Food Security Conference, Food Justice: Honoring our Roots, Growing the Movement BAGT us offering an insider's historical whole systems view of Berkeley’s alternative food system by exploring the connections between institutional purchasing, urban farming, youth empowerment, farmers markets, alternative food enterprises and an active Food Policy Council.
Tour Highlights:
* Meet the youth leading the next generation of food fights -- preventing diet related illness and increasing food knowledge and access through urban farms, produce stands, cooking classes, farmers markets, peer to peer education and more.
* Learn about institutional purchasing and how the University of California and the Berkeley Unified School District are improving the food that students eat, from preschool to post graduate studies.
* Meet with City of Berkeley Food and Nutrition Policy officials to learn about the history of the food movement in Berkeley, which has helped to foster a sustainable local economy and assure that all Berkeley residents have access to healthful, affordable, and culturally appropriate food.
Some of the presenters include:
Martin Bourque - Ecology Center Executive Director and leader in the Berkeley Food Policy Council will discuss Ecology Center programs:
Farm Fresh Choice, the food justice program that engages low-income residents of south and west Berkeley in reclaiming their optimal health through youth empowerment, nutrition education and community outreach
The Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL) Project, which is dedicated to conserving the remaining genetic diversity of our planet's seed stock
The Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project, which encourages access to fresh, local produce and consists of a collective food production garden, a low-cost organic produce stand, intensive trainings, free public classes and an urban nursery
Indigenous Permaculture Program , a grassroots organization that supports community food security to revitalize ecological health
Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative Ecology Center Local Certified Farmers Markets which began in Berkeley in 1987.
Rebecca Prager - Berkeley Youth Alternatives Director, HEAT (Health and Environmental Awareness Training) For 40 years, Berkeley Youth Alternatives has served the children and families of Berkeley by providing comprehensive services in a supportive and bias-free haven. We'll visit BYA's community garden and meet some of the youth who work there.
Heart 2 Heart Representative - a holistic, community-based program that addresses health inequities while preventing high blood pressure and heart disease in South Berkeley. This program is a bridge between community, programs, resources, and services in partnership with local health organizations.
Amy Murray - Chef/Restaurateur who will share tales of creating very popular seasonal farm based root-to-shoot and whole-hog restaurants, Venus and Revival.
Zenobia Barlow - Executive Directer and Founder, Center for Eco Literacy, best known for its pioneering work with school gardens, school lunches, and integrating ecological principles and sustainability into school curricula.
Sibella Kraus - Director, Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAGE), a pioneer in preserving regional agriculture while meeting the equally urgent need for equitable, sustainable urban development. SAGE has developed an holistic approach to fostering linkages between rural farmers and urban city dwellers.
Senator Loni Hancock - Senator Hancock has devoted much of her career to developing public policies that support and improve public schools and career academies, and has advocated for Student Wellness programs across the state.
Mayor of Berkeley Tom Bates - A tireless advocate for youth programs, Mayor Bates will discuss the changes he has witnessed in food policy throughout his long career as a resident and public servant in Berkeley.
Ben Feldman - Director, Berkeley Farmer's Market, will lead a tour of this festive, family-friendly, open-air marketplace where you will find fresh baked goods, jams and preserves, juices, olive oils, goat milk and cheeses, prepared foods, nursery plants, and flowers and musicians. This project of the Ecology Center is committed to supporting small-scale farmers who practice sustainable agriculture.
University of California Dining's Shawn LaPean and Ida Shen- Executive Director & Associate Director of Cal Dining. They will discuss the evolution of food services on the CAL campus, where we will meet student food activist leaders representing:
CoFed - a national cooperative network and training program committed to empowering students to create ethically-sourced, cooperatively-run food enterprises on college campuses.
The Berkeley Student Food Collective - dedicated to providing fresh, local, healthful, environmentally sustainable and ethically produced food at affordable prices for the Berkeley campus and greater community. This organization seeks to educate students about nutrition and food systems, empower new leaders, and train youth to work in and manage a sustainable business.
Along the way we will also learn about: Mi Tierra Foods, The Bread Project, Three Stone Hearth and the Berkeley Youth Alternative Community Garden.
TIME: 8:30am – 2:00pm
LOCATION: Tour begins and ends at the Marriott Hotel in Oakland City Center (988 Broadway, Oakland)
COST: $65 includes light breakfast and lunch
Visit http://www.foodsovereigntytours.org/u-s-tours/cfsc2011/berkeley/ to register
on the Community Food Security Conference website (under Registration Type, select ‘Events Only’). The tour is available to non-participants of the CFSC conference through Food Sovereignty Tours, which offers opportunities to explore the realities of today’s global food system and to connect with the global movement for food sovereignty. This travel program is a project of Food First/Institute for Food & Development Policy, in partnership with Global Exchange’s Reality Tours.
Internship Opportunities
Learn about Bay Area green businesses, non-profits and farms while building up your resume, collaborating with a fabulous team, making valuable contacts, and getting hands on experience at a cutting edge organization! Bay Area Green Tours (BAGT) invites passionate and dedicated individuals to volunteer to help us further our mission of inspiring and educating people about sustainability.
We are looking for interns in the areas of: research, tour development, webdesign and computer support, administrative support, fundraising and sponsorships, graphic design, marketing/outreach/pr, and multi-media documentation. Currently we need help with the following specific types of tours: agricultural (farms and urban gardens), architectural, re-thinking waste, energy and transportation, SF Waterfront, downtown Berkeley, UC Berkeley and Berkeley High School tours covering several of the topics listed here, including Green Collar jobs. Hours and location are flexible, though we require a minimum commitment of 5 hours a week, and interns must be comfortable structuring their own time.
To apply for our internships, please send your resume (if you have one) and a cover letter about yourself and your interests and qualifications to: Beth Gelfand: beth@bayareagreentours.org, with INTERN as the subject matter. Please indicate in your cover letter which of intern positions listed above would best suit your skills, interests and experience.
Bay Area Green Tours depends on interns and volunteers to forward our efforts to shine a spotlight on our area’s sustainability pioneers. We currently have a fun and committed team, and we really enjoy and appreciate each other!!! These positions provide on-the-job experience and networking opportunities, as they connect interns with some of the most inspiring sustainable businesses and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area.
While they are unpaid positions, they do provide substantial professional benefits including:
- Training and experience working with a unique local environmental non-profit organization and with a strong, spirited and dedicated team
- Experience researching and connecting with innovative and pioneering leaders in the expanding field of sustainability
- Improved research and communication skills and experience
- Community service credit for school, if desired
- Letter of recommendation/professional reference, based on performance
- Valuable job networking (One of our interns recently got a job because of a person she met through her work organizing a BAGT tour.)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION!
The Green Living Project Presents: The Short Film Showcase, Saturday October 22nd
Join Green Living Project fans for a global adventure as they showcase their best sustainability stories from around the world!
Get ready for a NEW batch of films from the Project's most recent global and domestic expeditions! Experience adventure travel in Oaxaca, Mexico, sustainable agriculture in the highlands of Guatemala, exciting wildlife conservation work with endangered black howler monkeys in Belize, plus the premiere of the latest domestic film documenting New Mexico's groundbreaking ecotourism initiatives.
TIME: 6:00-9:00 pm (films begin at 7:30 pm)
LOCATION: 925 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103
*Special "Education Exchange" networking session from 6 - 7 pm for teachers! Educators get in free to the event with RSVP to laura@greenlivingproject.com
To provide educational tours that demonstrate the sustainable economy in action, inspire support of local green businesses, and empower people to incorporate environmental responsibility and social justice into their personal and professional lives.
