Ontario Real Food

Abejas - Building friendships at huerta del valle

12/8/2014

Every Saturday Huerta del Valle hosts Abejas, a program for the kids of the community members involved with the garden. Children of all ages are welcome to come learn, read and craft together. This month, the kids are learning about holidays, celebrations and traditions from around the world! We asked each of them what they love most about the garden:

Names: Kevin & Kevin
Ages: 5 & 5
Favorite things about the garden: Apples and Carrots.

Names: Kevin & Gabi
Ages: 5 & 3
Favorite things about the garden: Arts and crafts.

Name: Lynette
Age: 10
Favorite thing about the garden: Is going to Saturday Abejas classes at the garden.

Name: Angelia
Age: 11
Favorite thing about the garden: Gardening, watering the plants and helping all the people in the garden.

Name: Kimberly
Age: 12
Favorite thing about the garden: Is reading at Abejas.

Name: Michael
Age: 13
Favorite thing about the garden: All the fruits and vegetables you can plant and a place where his best friend and pet is welcome.

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Community building and Empowerment

12/1/2014

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Huerta del Valle is more than a space for growing food. Beyond being a garden, it functions to bring people together, creating a safe space for discussions, empowerment, and community building. November's monthly meeting began by asking the question, share a time in which you had to fight for your rights; how did you stand up for yourself and what happened in the end? Each person in the circle took turns recounting their story, building a sense of trust, understanding, and support with each word. The meeting continued by featuring Ruben Bambrilla of the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. He led a workshop for the community members at HdV about how to best take advantage of the resources the city has to offer. He began by going over the names and roles of the people on city council, the mayor, and the community service director. He reminded each person of their rights and strategies for change making within their communities. Bambrilla gave advice on how best to interact with city council members. He discussed these tools in the context of the garden, such as receiving city funding. However, much of his workshop translated to many of the issues people had discussed previously. The workshop aimed to eliminate the sense of powerlessness and provide concrete strategies for voicing concerns. Bambrilla sparked discussion that continued during a delicious dinner of squash, tortillas, beans, potatoes, and a refreshing cucumber water. Even after the sun set, everyone stayed to talk about how to use the strategies Bambrilla shared without compromising their own self-respect. People offered alternate ways of change making, discussing the strengths and draw backs of each.

As the discussion wound down, Maria Alonso, a leader at the garden, reminded everyone about a gathering at the Mexican Consulate in LA later that week to protest the horrendous actions against 43 students in Ayotzinapa. She offered the garden as a meeting place before going to the event as a group. Many people expressed interest in attending and planned to go together. Throughout the meeting, the garden opened up as a space for sharing personal experiences, discussing strategies for empowerment, and community organizing. Beyond growing food, Huerta del Valle works hard to grow relationships and community.

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Halloween @ the garden

11/4/2014

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Huerta del Valle hosted a Halloween party full of crafts, snacks & trick-or-treating within the garden. Kids of the community dressed up, played games & went home with a bag full of treats and books!

Click on the photos to find out more!

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Composting workshop @ Huerta del valle

10/23/2014

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Did you know that more than 40% of edible food in the US goes to waste every year? Most of this waste ends up in a landfill, releasing methane gas that is extremely harmful to the atmosphere. Composting is a great way to recycle waste and provide nutrients to new plants. Huerta del Valle has been composting since May of 2013 and is on track to compost 500,000 pounds of waste by May of 2015. Ontario community members came together with Pitzer students to help create a fresh pile of compost, working together to transform food waste into a productive part of the garden.

Click on each photo to learn more!

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Huerta Del valle screening & workshop

10/1/2014

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Tri-City Community Garden Photo Essay

5/5/2014

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Interview with Bing Turner of Heritage Education Group

4/28/2014

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Are you a master gardener?

4/23/2014

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In light of Growcology's move, you might be wondering: What has taken it's place?

In the place where Growcology Riverside once resided, 3569 Crowell Ave.
Riverside, CA 92504, there now lies a great gardening experimentation lab for the Garden Masters of Riverside County. The University of California provides research and educational support to amateur and commercial gardeners. By training volunteer UC Master Gardeners, the program extends the ability of local Cooperative Extension offices to provide practical scientific horticulture and gardening information to the citizens of California. These masters are doing their seed experiments and early germination at the beautiful gardens of Frank and Lucy, two local Riverside residents with green thumbs and the itch to travel. The property is home to the grow lab, kitchen gardens, an orchard, a four seasons garden and a low-water native California garden. With plans to turn their home into a Botanical Garden for events and tours, both Frank and Lucy were amazingly kind and inviting. You can watch Lucy on local Riverside television on her gardening show, Gardening with Lucy.

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GrowCOLOGY has moved!

4/23/2014

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The Growcology growers community that once managed a plot of beautiful community gardens in Riverside has now moved to their Vista location. This awesome group of green educators, environmental practitioners, artists, community organizers, and public servants has left their community garden in the shape of a circular mandala, vegetable gardens, propagation house, orchard, and a 100-year old barn to the family that lives on the property and to the Garden Masters organization as a grow lab. The labyrinthine mandala garden still stands proudly and the property owners still work with the growcology team from time to time but for now if you are interested in visiting the growcology site, your better bet is to head over to 1850 Gopher Canyon Rd. Vista, Ca 92084 and check out what they have going on there!