Come and be inspired on July 31 by local gardens and a mini farm in Berkeley, Albany and El Cerrito. All cyclists welcome. We will keep to bicycle-friendly routes (thanks to EBBC). There is no charge for this event, and no need to RSVP unless you want to come on the Early Bird Special. Please bring lunch, water, sunscreen, helmet, and, if you like, something to share from your garden. The Main Tour round trip is approximately six miles, with lengthy breaks!
(Note, next time we would like to include more Albany gardens. Please contact transitionalbanyca@gmail.com to be included.)
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL (for those who RSVP only)
9:00 am
Simone's mature quarter-acre plot in the El Cerrito hills, with bee hives, dozens of chickens, fruit trees and raised beds is well worth the climb if you're up for it. This portion is for cyclists who don't mind hills, though the route is a lot less steep than Moeser.
Please email Claire Norris at songsparrow22@yahoo.com if you're interested, and she'll send you details of where to meet.
MAIN TOUR (no need to RSVP) All times are approximate.
10 a.m.
Meet up at parking lot, 1249 Marin Avenue, Albany.
Travel via Ohlone Greenway to
10:15 a.m.
Gilman Street, Berkeley: first stop, Jim & Eva Wert's certified Bay-Friendly garden and tiny back yard with cooped chickens, fruit trees and intensive year-round vegetables.
10:45 a.m.
Travel via Acton and Virginia to...
11:10 a.m.
Bancroft Way, Berkeley, near San Pablo Ave: Jim Montgomery's Green Faerie Farm, a sustainable urban mini farm with fruit trees, veggies, goats, chickens, bees, and rabbits. See a short video about Jim at http://www.ediblecitymovie.com/donate/
Noon
Option A: travel via Ninth and University Village to Madison Street, Albany, then to B, or
Option B: travel via Ninth and Virginia directly to Cornell Street, Berkeley
12:20 p.m.
A: Madison Street, Albany: see Catherine and Leonard's tiny but productive Albany yard with rainwater dispersal and greywater features, fruit trees, flowers and vegetables and a cob chicken house in the making, then continue to
B: Cornell, Berkeley: Susan Silber's new permaculture-style Berkeley garden with raised beds, where there is room for us to have lunch and pick plums from her tree.
1:30 p.m.
Travel via Dartmouth and Ohlone Greenway to...
1:45 p.m.
Peralta and Hopkins, Berkeley: tour the Eco House (a permaculture garden with rainwater catchment features, a banana tree growing in greywater, ducks, and a whole lot more.
2:30 p.m.
Make your own way home.
E-mail transitionalbanyca@gmail.org to be included on the tour.