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From the Open-Publishing Calendar From the Open-Publishing Newswire Indybay Feature Related Categories: East Bay | Education & Student Activism | Environment & Forest Defense | Global Justice and Anti-Capitalism | Health, Housing, and Public Services
Occupy the Farm's Fifth Harvest Pulls Many Pounds of Fresh Produce for East Bay Community: photos
Two dozen urban farmers harvested crops sown earlier in the year by a group of environmental and food sovereignty activists who call their ongoing project "Occupy the Farm." The latest was their fifth harvest this season. The farmland they tend in Albany, California is formally known as the Gill Tract and is legally controlled by the University of California at Berkeley.
 [Pictured above: "Come Harvest with Us" banner invites all comers to assist with harvest number five]
In response to the university's continuing development of the "last, best agricultural land in the East Bay" for commercial and other non-farming purposes, Occupy the Farm staked a claim to an unused portion of the remaining farmland on April 22nd, Earth Day 2012. While UC Berkeley forcibly removed the activists from the land on May 9th, it was not until after thousands of vegetable starts had been planted and tended over the previous two and a half weeks. Occupy the Farm continues to harvest and maintain the crops they have sown, finding their own ways onto the land when denied access by police and university officials. Another harvest will happen in two weeks, and plans are being made to plant a variety of winter crops in the coming months. Occupy the Farm http://www.takebackthetract.com For background info, see:
§Vegetables that want to get out
 Well, the corn viewed through the fence here is a UC research crop, most likely a genetically engineered monocrop, and perhaps should not actually be allowed out.
     Produce boxes sit empty.
 Ready to harvest, farmers let themselves in.
 A small boy picks cucumbers with his father. The family who farms together stays together.
     Police watch in background. UC actually opened the Jackson Street gate they had originally denied entrance through, after farmers had made their own way onto the land to begin harvest #5.
     ...and this was probably only about one half of the harvest.
§Decorative display at the Jackson Street gate represents a sampling of the bounty from this harvest
 Squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, greens, kale, green beans, and cherry tomoatoes, all with a sunflower garnish
Comments (Hide Comments)
Wednesday Sep 12th, 2012 9:14 AM
So glad to see that the produce isn't going to waste!
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