The best view in Alameda County may be down on the farm -- City View Farm, that is, a new eight-acre parcel of fruit treees and vegetables being grown on county land in an effort to in low income areas.
City View Farm is being cultivated by Dig Deep Farms & Produce, a project started in 2010 by the Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs’ Activities League (DSAL).
Dig Deep was designed to keep city kids out of trouble by teaching them to farm while providing needy residents with good foods in the process.
As a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) enterprise, Dig Deep has already been supplying local residents and restaurants with fresh produce from three "farm" sites totaling 1.5 acres in the Ashland and Cherryland neighborhoods.
Thursday afternoon, Dig Deep will dedicate City View Farm, built on a slope overlooking San Leandro on land adjacent to Camp Sweeney, the county facility to rehabilitate non-violent juvenile offender.
The new eight-acre farm and orchard will quadruple the area under cultivation and help Dig Deep increase its supply of fruits and vegetables to catch up with demand for its products, while providing more training and job options.
Dig Deep had a lot of help getting to this point.
Through its partnership with New Beginnings, a county jobs initiative, Dig Deep received access to the unused county land. The County of Alameda gave Dig Deep a grant to build a terraced, four-acre vegetable field and a four-acre orchard with 150 fruit trees.
Waste Management's WM EarthCare helped with materials and technical advice, as did Food First, the Oakland-based food-justice organization.
Many of those who helped the project along will be on hand for the dedication, including: Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern; Supervisor Nate Miley; County Chief Administrative Officer Susan Muranishi; Food First executive director Eric Holt-Giménez; Nikki Henderson, People’s Grocery executive director; and Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Marty Neideffer, executive director of DSAL.
Read more Patch coverage on local urban farming.
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