By Sami Kingsbury

Alemany Farm thrives in San Francisco, sandwiched between the Alemany Boulevard highway exit and the edge of Bernal Heights; it provides healthy food for folks next door who would otherwise be in a food desert. A food desert is where healthy and affordable food is more than 0.5 miles away (in an urban setting) and 1 mile in a suburban setting. This summer I decided to spend a day volunteering at Alemany Farm because I appreciated its mission, and wanted to connect to other people and the earth.  

The organization that runs Alemany Farm calls itself “Friends of Alemany Farm.” Their mission is to improve food security and educate residents about how they can become food producers.

Their mission states: “We strive to increase ecological knowledge and habitat value, and to sow the seeds for economic and environmental justice. All of the food we grow is given away for free to neighbors, volunteers, The Free Farm Stand, and other groups.”

Friends of Alemany Farm ensures that all of their volunteers learn the farm’s history and who it originally belonged to — the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples first occupied the San Francisco Peninsula, and were the “original stewards” of the plot of land where the Farm now sits.

LisaRuth Elliott has been a volunteer at Alemany Farms since 2010 when she did an apprenticeship. Her career has been one of service, working with San Francisco nonprofits, and as a historian telling the city’s stories. On my volunteer day, I asked her about her experience.

“I wanted to find a proactive way to help our city provide for itself in the event of a disaster,” said Elliott. “The same urgency drives my desire to be a part of the farm, and the experience of the worldwide pandemic in 2020 affirmed the need for local food security.”

Working towards food justice is land justice, which is, in turn, racial justice. Through urban agriculture, Elliott and her coworkers are working toward these goals. 

Working with the earth, Elliott has experienced great realization about the farm and herself. 

“It’s my Walden Pond,” Elliott joked. 

Elliott hopes that in the future, Alemany Farm can be one example of a thriving, genuinely green city that prioritizes healthy relationships with the natural world, with multiple versions of food production, habitat restoration, and land stewardship in an urban setting.

“The ultimate goal is that San Francisco is a food secure place, and the supply chain has less online delivery with a closer relationship to the produce we need,” Elliott said. She’s all about “inspiring the creation of small and larger versions of Alemany across the city and nation by being a demonstration farm and impacting food security.”

In my small way, during my three hours at Alemany — finding the therapeutic rhythm of pulling out weeds, adding manure, digging holes, and patting the soil around seedlings — I enjoyed feeling connected to this bigger picture. I encourage you to volunteer and support a cause you believe in, too. 

Sami Kingsbury (third from left in this photo!) is a junior at the Nueva School in San Mateo. She enjoys learning about current events and taking action towards environmental and civic movements.