A Day In The Life of Oak Park

In January, Viewpoint Gallery will be working with local photography curators to present an exhibit of images documenting a day in the life of the Oak Park neighborhood. Hundreds of amateur and professional photographers spent a day in Oak Park in 2008; the resulting images are moving testimony to the vibrant life of one of our city's oldest neighborhoods.

Viewpoint Gallery

2015 J Street

5:30 - 9:00 PM

Second Saturday Reception

January 9th, 2010

5:30 - 9:00 PM

DIY's House Crashers Invade Oak Park

The DIY Network will feature one of Sacramento's very own on the Wednesday, December 3rd episode of House Crashers. Eli Bob, a bartender and native Sacramentan is the owner of a loft at the 4th Avenue Lofts development in Oak Park which was recently the focus of a "crash". Eli's loft was inundated with droves of contractors, production crew, friends and host Josh Temple back in October for three days during the remodel.

The upcoming episode is entitled, "Rock N Roll Loft Lounge" and the shows website describes the crash as follows: A single young bartender transforms his plain loft into a place to mix up drinks, fun and edgy style. With a stone covered wall, mounted stainless fireplace, diamond plate dining room table and leather flooring, the living area becomes a hip hangout for entertaining.

House Crashers is ambush renovation at its best. Host and contractor Josh Temple stalks a big-box home improvement store looking for unsuspecting weekend warriors, then follows them home with a large crew of experts in tow. Watch as stunned homeowners who journeyed into the store to fix a simple leaky faucet end up winning the remodeling lottery with dramatic, eye-popping room transformations.

Tune in at the following times (Check local listings for times and channels):

December 02, 2009 - 10:00 PM e/p
December 02, 2009 - 1:00 AM e/p
December 16, 2009 - 10:30 PM e/p
December 16, 2009 - 1:30 AM e/p

Old Soul at 40 Acres - Food Drive Thanksgiving Day

"Soul of the Soul" Food Donation Drive

Thanksgiving Day 2009

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Old Soul at 40 Acres in Oak Park

Broadway @ 35th Street

12:00 - 3:00 PM

***All are invited, FREE T-shirts, coffee, pastries & yummy food from Rick Mahan of The Waterboy!***

Old Soul Co. Holds Open House In Oak Park

Local Coffee Roaster and Baker to Occupy Former Starbucks Location In Oak Park

Old Soul Co., a local roaster, baker and coffeehouse currently operating at two locations in midtown, announced it will be opening its third location at the 40 Acres Art Gallery and Cultural Center in Oak Park. The community and local media are invited to an Open House, where the Mayor and local civic and business leaders help Old Soul Co. celebrate the growth and renewal of a vibrant and vital neighborhood.

With a proven track record of investment and commitment to the community they live in, Jason Griest and Tim Jordan are proud to bring the Old Soul Co. brand to another corner of the central city that they love and admire; with renewed investment of time, energy and financial resources, these owners are excited about all that the Oak Park community has to offer, and are thankful to St. Hope Development for sharing in their vision of creating "THE" community gathering spot for the area.

WHO: Owners – Tim Jordan and Jason Griest
Mayor Kevin Johnson
Council member Lauren Hammond
Oak Park Business Association President Terre Johnson
Community members and supporters

WHAT: Open House; Meet-n-Greet; Coffee and Pastry Giveaway

WHEN: MONDAY, October 19, 2009 at 11:00am – 4:00pm

WHERE: 3546 3rd Avenue, 40 Acres Art Gallery and Cultural Center (former site of Starbucks Coffee Co.)

Green Oak Park and Green The Block !

Date/Time: September 11, 5:00-8:00 p.m.

Hosted by: Ubuntu Green, Oak Park Neighborhood Association, Oak Park Weed and Seed, Oak Park Business Association, Oak Park United Methodist Church

Location: Oak Park Methodist Church (Parking Lot) 3600 Broadway

Contact: (916) 669.0671

• Green The Block is a national movement to Green the Block events in communities nationwide on September 11 (National Day of Service)


• Community members will participate in creating a green community art project.


• Join us and help educate Oak Park residents on how they can continue to green their lives and community.


• Music, healthy food, fun activities, FRESH the movie, giveaways, education on green lifestyles, tree planting and more...for the entire family!
  

Oak Park Crop Swap Tonight in McClatchy Park

Here come the crop swappers: (left to right) Neil Thomson, Kara Thomson and Bill Maynard.
PHOTO BY COLE ALLEN

The Oak Park Crop Swap runs every Monday night from 6 to 7 p.m., July 6-September 28 at McClatchy Park (5th Avenue side). For more information, visit www.oakparkcropswap.org.

Recent article from the Green Guide section of Sacramento News & Review:

Crop swap fever
Oak Park program means produce won’t go rotting
By Sena Christian More stories by this author...

Here come the crop swappers: (left to right) Neil Thomson, Kara Thomson and Bill Maynard.
PHOTO BY COLE ALLEN

The Oak Park Crop Swap runs every Monday night from 6 to 7 p.m., July 6-September 28 at McClatchy Park. For more information, visit www.oakparkcropswap.org. The Colonial Manor Crop Swap runs every Wednesday night from 6 to 7 p.m., July 22-September 16 at Bill Bean Jr. Memorial Park.

Oak Park has deep backyards, and in some of these yards, residents grow their own food. Sometimes they have too much, and edible produce ends up rotted on the ground and tossed into the garbage.

But a group of neighbors figured out how to prevent the waste while improving their own variety of fruits and vegetables, through a practice known as a crop swap.
“I’ll have all these people ask me how we do it,” said Kara Thomson, coordinator of the Oak Park Crop Swap. “It’s really very simple.”

For a crop swap, neighbors trade unwanted or excess produce grown in their own yards. No money is involved. Organizers of the Oak Park swap only require that the produce be organic, grown without the use of pesticides or petrochemicals.

With Oak Park’s crop swap entering its second season and a new swap starting in Colonial Manor, Sacramento’s local-food movement is at an exciting juncture on the eve of the inaugural Food Independence Day (July 4), say members of the swap. The city has so much food capacity, they claim, let’s use it.

In January of 2008, two groups met in hopes of developing a community garden for Oak Park before one group branched off to establish something much more immediate—a crop swap. The small group of five neighbors, including Thomson, held two community meetings and more than a dozen people showed up at each one.

“We couldn’t believe so many people were interested,” Thomson said.

Between five and 25 households gathered at the park each week last year, and by the end of the season, 363 pounds of produce had been traded.

Because crops have different values, the group devised a trading guide based on organic prices. Organizers weigh the food then convert that number into units. For instance, 1 pound of tomatoes might equal three tradable units. The system basically operates under an honor code, but Thomson said last year the group had plenty of leftover food, which would be redistributed at the end of the evening. Each person usually takes home about one grocery bag full of produce.

Neighbors in the Oak Park group will meet at McClatchy Park every Monday night for an hour to trade vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers when the swap starts next week. It runs through September.

As part of the weekly gathering, speakers will present on such topics as composting; beekeeping; cover crops; solar ovens; and how to can, dry and preserve food at home.
The swap featured chard, tomato, cucumber, zucchini and eggplant last year, Thomson said. The swap system allows for residents to barter for produce they either don’t or can’t grow themselves. For instance, people with shady yards might produce leafy greens and blueberries, and those people with sunny yards might more easily grow tomatoes and watermelons.

The simple premise of a crop swap has already caught on. The Colonial Manor Neighborhood Association has started its own crop swap, which will run every Wednesday evening from July 22 to September 16 at Bill Bean Jr. Park, according to association president Diana Portillo.

Meanwhile, another group of neighbors in Oak Park and East Sacramento called Harvest Sacramento recognized last year that there was an abundance of fruit trees underutilized. So they knocked on residents’ doors and asked if they could harvest some fruit off the trees. Workers take a cut and then donate the rest to the Sacramento Food Bank. Davis residents recently started a similar program.

For many participants in the crop swap and Harvest Sacramento, the goal of their activities is to reclaim and fix our food system, while building a community in which food is a focal point.

Members of the Oak Park Crop Swap recently canvassed their neighborhood to expand the group. Eight volunteers recently planted raised flowed beds for an elderly neighbor so she could also participate in the swap. It doesn’t matter if people don’t have food to exchange; they can still attend to learn about gardening and hang out with neighbors.
“I have met so many of my neighbors through this,” Thomson said. “It’s so cool.”
Crop member Jaclyn Hopkins has lived in Oak Park for three years now, and she and her husband call their house with its large backyard and multitude of crops their “urban homestead.” She grew up in an agricultural area of Kentucky and always wants producing her own food to be part of her life.

“From the beginning, it was a very social endeavor,” Hopkins said. “It’s not just about food, but about building community. It’s a hoot. It’s a lot of fun. Hopefully, eventually, every neighborhood will have something like this.”

FOOD, INC. Screening At The Crest: July 3rd

This Friday, July 3rd, Pesticide Watch Education Fund will host a special opening-night screening of the new film Food, Inc. And we hope to see you there!

Local advocates and leaders will share their perspective and provide solutions to many of the problems raised in the film, hailed as the next Inconvenient Truth. Learn more about the event at our website.

WHAT: Food, Inc., lifts the veil off our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of the US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration. A handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment now control our nation's food supply. Food, Inc. reveals surprising -- and often shocking truths -- about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are headed.

The Sacramento Valley is home to a number of the largest industrialized agri-businesses in the country, growing crops such as olives, rice, nuts, and citrus as well as cattle-raising. However, the region is also home to an emerging movement of local and sustainable agriculture.

Following the film, chefs, academics and activists will participate in a lively discussion on how the region, state and country can tackle the challenges facing farms and the food system.

WHERE: The Crest Theatre, 1017 "K" Street, Sacramento

WHEN: 8:00-9:30pm Film; 9:30-10:30 Panel

WHO: Ann Martin Rolke, chef, blogger, author; Gail Feenstra, Food Systems Analyst, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program; Jaclyn Hopkins, coordinator EAT Sacramento; Elizabeth Martin-Craig, Pesticide Watch Education Fund community organizer.

COST: $12.00