Current News & Upcoming Events
The Linkery Champions San Diego Roots!
Jay Porter, owner of one of our favorite restaurants, The Linkery in North Park, has been a constant and visible supporter of local food. From the get-go, his eatery has sourced as many ingredients as possible from local farms and ranches. He's also been a huge supporter of San Diego Roots' work, always with class and kindness. The Linkery has been named one of the 100 Best Farm-to-Table Restaurants in America by Gourmet Magazine, and one of the 10 Top Gastropubs by Draft Magazine. The guy rocks.
One unique practice at The Linkery is that they do not accept tips, instead charging a flat fee for table service. But if anyone does decide to leave a little extra on the table, he chooses a charity to donate that money to, and this month he has selected San Diego Roots to be that charity.
To find out more, read Jay's blog by clicking here.
So if you're looking for a fabulous place to eat, we urge you to dine with class, taste and style -- emaphaisis on good taste -- and visit The Linkery. And leave a little something on the table for Roots. We thank you!
The Linkery is located at 3794 30th Street at North Park Way in North Park, 92104
Link to their website.
Schoolyard Pizza Oven Workshop
for California Schools
Feb 6 and 7,
9am to 4pm
Fee: $65 both days, $50 for one day.
Location: Central San Diego
Workshop offered by Las Casitas~ Design Build Lab
Learn to build an earthen oven using natural indigenous materials and simple building techniques, often called cob building.
You will learn how to design and build a clay bread oven similar to what indigenous people built for thousands of years. We mix the cob with our feet and sculpt the oven dome with our hands. This is a hands-on workshop for all abilities. The oven is a clay sculpted dome and will be used by school age students to bake vegetables from their garden and bread made from their wheat field.
For registration, click this link.
Water Harvesting Open House
Saturday, February 6,
10am - 2 pm
Taught by Brook Sarson,
Suggested donation: $5
RSVP: or call 619.964.4838 for location
Come see water harvesting in action! Guided by Water Harvesting Professional and Permaculturist, Brook Sarson, you'll see how a 1320 gallon rainwater tank combined with laundry greywater and bath greywater work together to grow a garden of edibles using only 1/4 of the water that most San Diegans use each day.
As you tour this urban farm setting, you'll see natural building techniques including a cob chicken coop, decorative benches as well as an earth pizza oven. Brook will be on-hand to talk to you about solutions for your space and how you can make a difference during San Diego's water crisis and beyond.
There will be a tour starting at about 10:30 and another one around 12:30 where you learn about simple greywater systems, do-it-yourself options, rainwater-harvesting systems, resources, or you can schedule an appointment with Brook to assess greywater opportunities at your site. Suggested donation of $5 will go toward supporting water activism in San Diego.
Open House @
La Milpa Organica Farm
Saturday, February 20
3pm to 10pm
9928 Protea Gardens Road, Escondido California 92026
Potluck & Wood-fired Pizzas
Family-friendly Film after dark
This is a perfect opportunity to visit this little agricultural gem. Farms are nice places to hang out, and what Barry Logan has created here is a perfect example of how beautiful things happen when a community embraces a farm -- and a model of what we intend Willow Glen Farm to be.We'll serve freshly made, wood-fired pizzas. After dark we'll show a family-friendly, inspiring movie under the oak trees.
Rain cancels.
Please bring something tasty to share, a chair to sit on, and your own plate, cup & utensils to keep this event zero waste! Organic food is appreciated, local and organic is the best! Consider providing a dish description: organic, vegetarian, vegan, local, etc.
Click here for a map to
La Milpa Organica Farm
Click here to go to the
La Milpa Organica website
Click here for a blog post about one foodie's experience at a La Milpa
Open House.
Easing into Slow Food Look Reporter Mike Lee's account of a recent open house at La Milpa Organica Farm in Escondido and its celebration of San Diego's bounty. SignOnSanDiego, July 15, 2008.
PolyCultures:
Food Where We Live
Official San Diego Premiere
Meet filmmaker David Pearl
Tuesday, March 2, 6pm
San Diego City College
Check back here later for details.
Click here to view the trailer.
"Polyculture" is an agricultural term for planting multiple crops in the same area, in ways that allow the plants to naturally support each other's requirements, as in the wild. Polyculture techniques minimize the need for outside inputs, such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which tend to be derived from fossil fuels and have a negative impact on the environment.
PolyCultures: Food Where We Live is a freshly-completed movie that portrays this method of farming and, in addition, uses the concept metaphorically to describe social efforts in greater Cleveland to re-establish a robust and healthy food system for people of all backgrounds and income levels.
A range of national and international experts, such as David Orr (11th Hour) and Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma), convey how the industrialized food system of the 20th century has provided very cheap, convenient food but also plays a major role in the massive ecological, social, and personal health problems that are being experienced around the world. Alternative styles of raising high-quality food with minimal environmental impact are shown in action, with the spotlight on what residents of Northeast Ohio are finding to work in this climate and in their distinct neighborhoods. They must be doing something right, because Cleveland ranked #2 for local food and agriculture in the 2008 SustainLane U.S. City Rankings.
Seeds at City
Gardening Workshops
City College Urban Farm
Click here to download a flyer and class application.
Winter Fruit Tree Pruning
Saturday, February 27,
10:30am to noon
Stay after and share a farm lunch!
What are the considerations of pruning your fruit trees in the Winter, and why is it crucial to maintaining your fruit tree’s health? We’ll tour the Seeds at City Farm and take a look at the deciduous fruit trees in our small orchards, assessing their needs, and do some on-site pruning to share techniques in different types of cuttings.
Preparing Greens From the Garden
Saturday, March 27, 10:30am to noon
Are all those greens growing in your Winter garden overwhelming your cooking knowhow? Lament no more- let us help you put together some simple and delicious meal plans for those fabulous brasicasseae greens and other super foods growing in the garden. We will all also harvest some fresh vegetables from the farm and share a delicious meal of greens and other savory vegetables together for lunch.
Seeds at City is a program of San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project
and the San Diego Community College District.
San Diego Natural History Museum presents
Sustainable Planet:
Food
Lecture Series
Hosted by Loren Nancarrow
You are what you eat. Learn how what you eat affects the world around you.
$5 per person. Advance registration recommended.
Click here to go to the website.
Click here to download the flyer.
NOTE: because of unforseen circumstances, the lecture scheduled for February 2, Eating Greener: The Ecology of Food has been canceled.
New Lecture Added:
Thursday, February 18 at 6:30pm
The Road to Healthy Meals in Our Schools
with Chef Ann Cooper
Co-presented by Whole Foods Market and
Slow Food Urban San Diego
Meet the leader of the School Lunch Revolution, Chef Ann Cooper, a.k.a. "The Renegade Lunch Lady" and author of Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children. Chef Ann is on a mission to ensure that every child in America receives healthy, delicious food every day in school. Hear her thoughts on how San Diego area schools can make simple, yet significant changes to improve lunch programs. Pre-lecture reception with local food artisans and community food groups 6-6:30pm.
For more information or to register, contact 619.255.0204
or visit the museum's website.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 6:30pm
Victory Gardens: Join the Garden Revolution
At no point in our lifetimes has the interest in gardening, urban agriculture, and local food systems been so intense. It’s coming from all fronts—economic need, challenges presented by climate change, community-development needs, health and nutrition, food security, reconnecting youth with land, changing understandings of how we use space in urban areas, and a growing desire of Americans for civic engagement and participatory democracy. The past has the ability to inform the present. Review historical case studies, learn about current national policies and models, and discover the future work needed to sustain the Victory Garden model as part of the overall local food movement. Also, learn about urban agriculture and how the local food-systems movement is addressing a wide range of challenges facing Americans today.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 6:30pm
Developing Sustainable Foodsheds
The panel, resulting from the Developing Sustainable Foodsheds Conference in July 2009, will discuss current issues related to the development of foodsheds in the United States.
Local hero pledges support for SD Roots as weight-loss incentive
San Diego resident Jed Sundwall has pledged one hundred dollars to Roots if he reaches his target weight in time for his birthday in May. You can follow Jed’s weight loss and pledge additional money to his campaign by visiting his website.
He needs your help!
If you’d like to encourage him in reaching his goal, you can also pledge money to San Diego Roots. To join the campaign, click here. Your money will not be donated unless his goal is reached. That is, if he doesn't make it, he will effectively withhold your charity from this noble community group. Don’t let his failure weigh on his conscience!
California Small Farm Conference in San Diego
February 28 to March 2
The California Small Farm Conference is the state's premier gathering of small farmers and those who support them. The three day educational conference includes on-farm tours, focused workshops, general educational sessions and opportunities for peer networking.
The theme of the conference – Sustaining our Bounty – reflects the incredible bounty of agricultural products that the state of California produces. California leads the state in the production of many valuable agricultural products and California Grown is a respected symbol of quality throughout the world. California's small farmers are an integral part of this agricultural system and are the leaders and innovators whose efforts are helping to prepare the state for the challenges ahead.
As the nation and the state continue to struggle in a weakened economy and with a statewide drought, small farmers, as well as farmers' market managers, are seeking ideas to help them sustain the progress they have made and find opportunities to continue to diversify, grow, improve and expand their operations. The 2010 California Small Farm Conference will bring them those ideas.
Through day-long short courses and farm tours, intensive classroom workshops, engaging keynote addresses and numerous networking opportunities, the 2010 California Small Farm Conference will give small farmers, farmers' market managers and others in California's small farm industry the information they need to be successful.
Conference registration is now open. Don't delay! To find out more, click here.
You Are What You Eat
The environmental consequences of your food choices
This talk by SD Roots President Matt Finkelstein was given October 24, 2009 at the Bright Green Future Conference at UCSD. The conference brought together experts on San Diego's regional energy, natural resources, transportation, green business, job training, sustainable living and building, and much more. Bright Green Future provided useful, real-life information on how individuals, businesses and government agencies can start to address the economic and environmental challenges required to create a "Bright Green Future" for the San Diego region.
Matt spoke as part of the Protecting Local Places panel about the effects, problems, and challenges created by a global, industrialized food system on our local communities and then showcased the local solutions being developed and implemented to address these issues. From environmental sustainability to social justice, the food choices we make every day have vast impacts on the health of ourselves, our communities, and the Earth at large. Eating is always an environmental act and we must address our food system to create a bright green future!
Industrial Agriculture accounts for one-third
of all greenhouse gas emissions.
For all kinds of information like this and how you can make sensible food choices to minimize your own carbon footprint,
Click Here.
Is your lunch causing global warming?
Click here to find out.
San Diego Roots T-shirts
Learn + Grow
Organic Cotton t-shirt
$25 donation.
Shirts are 100% Organic Cotton, natural color, and will shrink about one size when washed.
We will either ship directly to you, or if you are in the North Park, University Heights, Normal Heights or City Heights area of San Diego, hand deliver your shirt(s) by bicycle!