Hot Homos on the "Prairie"

The kick-off tour of Homo Homestead was amazing!  Thanks to all the new and familiar faces that helped make it such a great event.  I'm including a little recap for folks to get a sense of what they missed.

We started off the sunny day at Dearborn Community Garden, where community gardener Bill Basquin was our charming tourguide.  He gave a seriously smartie-pants breakdown of seed saving plus a tutorial on how to homebrew ale (plus we tried his homebrew honey mead).  We got to tour his beautiful plot which i like to say is, forest gardened.  Meaning, it appears very wild and uncultivated but there is acutally a lot of cultivation and tending going on. A very pleasant way to start the day - gays, wine, sun and gardens!

The out little crew biked or walked on over to my house on the other side of the Mission.  Here most of us were a little HOT from the sweltering sun and were happy to lounge in my big ol' backyard being entertained by the chickens.  I showed folks my large container garden that i was in the process of winterizing.  Though it mixes medicinal herbs and flowers, the garden is mostly food based.  I had folks do some cover cropping for the winter of rye, clover and fava and plant some fall peas for eatin'.
This was our food stop as well and Rose of Apothocurious was there to fill our bellies.  She had a million pounds of grapes, two different hummus' - sweet and savory, a grain salad, cranberry pesto and a delicious fruity beverage.  Yumms.

We took off and made a quick stop to deliver all the produce from my garden that ppl harvested for the Free Farm Stand run by local garden legend, Tree.  He was a sweet host who LOVED our tour and kept telling everyone, "this is the Homo Homestead Tour" to mostly kinda blank looks:)  We got a private tour of the community garden at Parque Ninos Unidos and i took home a ground cherry to plant.

A short jaunt down the street to the Pink House rounded out the tour.  Our guides Ami and Amar (of Dirt Star, treated us to chilled teas and a leisurly tour of their gorgeous back yard paradise.  I was at their original garden party five years ago when the back yard was just a waste land and so its really special to see ho far its come.  They have spent most of this time building the soil and collecting an amazing array of native plants that make me green with envy.  They have a fair amount of food cultivation going and seed saving and shared both with the tour.  They are working on figuring out some less-intensive, simple grey water methods for watering and we all brainstormed a bit.

All in all, a marvelous day! Thanks to all the Homesteaders who helped make this a great start to a great idea. Stay tuned for the first East Bay Homo Homestead Tour!

First Bay Area Homo Homestead Tour! Sunday, Oct. 25th

Come out to see what SF gaywads are doing with their homes, their kitchens, their lives to make them a little more connected to the dirt under the concrete. We will visit three fantastic spaces and the Free Farm Stand.  There will be things to sip, things to do, and things to see at each site -  We will have a bike mechanic between stops but please bring yr own patch kits if possible, and definitely bring yr HELMETS and yr LOCKS.  Sunday, the 25th - rain or shine - its supposed to be sunny on Sunday! Please check each location for its accessibility information.

Plus, it will be semi-catered by Apothocurious- Community Supported Culinary Adventures. So please bring a small donation for the grub.

Sunday, Oct. 25th kicking off promptly at 11am and touring throughout the day until around 4pm. We should be at each space for about and hour and are giving ourselves a generous half-hour to bike between locations. 

11am: Meet at Dearborn Community Garden where gardener, artiste, and creator of kitchen witchery, Bill Basquin will give a tour of his beloved community garden and perhaps some samples of some bevvies he's concocted. Don't be late! Accessiblity info: No stairs, all the paths in the garden are mulched with woodchips.***On Dearborn at 18th Street (very close to the Women's Bldg - go up the hill on Dearborn from 18th)

12:30pm: We arrive at 24th and Bryant to check out the winterized garden and feisty chickens of Joolie Geldner. We will be chicken chatting, harvesting the last summer foods, and making wildflower seedballs for everyone to take home and toss somewhere to wait for spring.

We will also be taking a mini-lunch break here with Rose Johnson of Apothocurious showing off her delicious delectables. Please bring a little donation to help pay for supplies.  Accessibility information: Cement ramp/path to backyard. Very small cement patio area but most of the space is grass and dirt. No stairs.
*** 2621 Bryant St.  @ 24th St -  Yellow Victorian- go to side gate

2pm:  We will drop by the Free Farm Stand - www.freefarmstand.org - at Parque Ninos Unidos (Corner of 23rd and Treat) to drop off anything we've collected from the gardens and perhaps pick up a local apple or two.  This is not a specifically homosexually organized venture but a lot of gays are involved in the Farm Stand.

2:30ish pm: After scooting down the block, we will meet up with Dirt Star co-founder, Ami Puri of the Pink House at 23rd and Bryant. Here we will check out their very majical Secret Garden, have some tea for folks, a demo of laborious greywater techniques, and an opportunity for people use some seed paper from the garden. Accessibilty info: One flight of stairs into the house and two flights of stairs into the garden. Small concrete patio area, mostly mulched paths in garden.
*** Southwest Corner of Bryant @ 23rd

Please RSVP in the comments so we know how many ppl to expect.