Urban Homesteading
The urban homesteading movement is alive and kickin’ at the Eat Real Festival. Come meet local farmers, homebrewers, beekeepers and food organizations to learn about what it means to take food into your own hands. We even have a special chicken butchering class with Novella Carpenter
Eat Real Ranch
Goats, chickens and farmers, oh my! Come by the Eat Real Ranch near Jack London Cabin, where urban farmers and chicken coop builders will bring their backyard goats and chickens.
Mario Klip of Holland Hen Houses will be bringing his beautiful hand-built chicken coops to Eat Real this year. Mario has kept his own backyard chickens and worked in carpentry for years, so his coops reflect his personal chicken experience and his honed craftsmanship. He builds them in Mill Valley.
Kenny Kirkland of Wooly Egg Ranch will be populating Mario’s coops with chickens. All of the chickens on display are for sale! Kenny will provide you with a starter kit and tips on chicken-keeping. Fresh eggs every day!
Eat Real Goat’s Milk
Come by and meet an urban dairy goat! A number of local urban farmers will be bringing their goats to the enclosure and discussing the ins and outs of urban goatherding. Don’t miss the milkings!
Saturday
10:30 – 3:00 – Heidi Kooy of Itty Bitty Farm in the City
3:00 – 7:00 – Frankie Morrow and Jeannie McKenzie (Milking at 6 PM!)
Sunday
10:30 – 2:00 – Mateo Rutherford of Green Faerie Farm
2:00 – 5:00 – Kitty Sharkey (Milking at 4 PM!)
The Home Brewery
Want to learn how to make your own beer?
More Beer, the Better
The great folks at More Beer will be breaking down the basics of making your own homebrew at The Home Brewery tent, located near the Beer Shed. They will display their brew sculptures, create beer pairings with beer and food sold at the festival and brew beer on-site all day long!
The Bee Hive
Learn all the buzz around urban beekeeping by visiting The Hive, the go-to place for all things bee-related! Talk to local beekeepers about the do’s and dont’s of raising bees in the city, check out real life honey beers and be sure to ask any questions you might have about swarms, salves, and sweet sweet honey.
On Saturday, the San Francisco Beekeepers Association will show how to extract honey using just a jar and some cheesecloth. In addition, they’ll have a presentation on how to make your own honey wine! And on Sunday, the Alameda County Beekeepers Association will present a workshop on how to make a great salve using beeswax, olive oil and herbs.
Saturday
10am – 5pm – San Francisco Beekeepers Association (2pm Make Your Own Mead)
Sunday
10am – 5pm – Alameda County Beekeepers Association (2pm Make Your Own Bee Balm)
The Locals
City Slickers Farms
Voted “Best Urban Farm” by East Bay Express readers, City Slickers Farms has been providing fresh organic produce to West Oakland residents and beyond since 2001. Look for their raised garden bed in the Urban Homesteading Zone.
Far West Fungi
For over 25 years Far West Fungi has been dedicated to the growing and distribution of organic specialty mushrooms. They’ll teach you how to identify wild mushrooms and cultivate delicious ones at home with their grow-it-yourself kits, which will be available for purchase. Don’t forget to check out their grow-your-own mushroom demo at the D.I.Y Foods Stage!
San Francisco Permaculture Guild + Hayes Valley Farm + SF Glean
Get into guerrilla gardening with the San Francisco Permaculture Guild and its sister projects, Hayes Valley Farm and SF Glean. They’ll be teaching people how to make seed bombs to take home and explain the basics of composting and sheet mulching. David Cody of the guild will also talk about the basic principles of permaculture on our Food Skills Stage.
People’s Grocery
People’s Grocery, a leading food justice organization, works to create access to healthy food and organic produce in West Oakland. They will be selling starter vegetable plants and subscriptions to their CSA-style Grub Box.
Chicken Culling With Novella Carpenter and Abeni Ramsey
Learn the lost art of preparing your own chicken by coming to this chicken culling event hosted by urban farmers Novella Carpenter and Abeni Ramsey. They’ll cover how to humanely butcher a chicken at City Girl Farm in West Oakland. This event is free for curious observers. Want to participate? Tickets go for $50, which includes your own chicken.
Sunday, August 29th
11am-2pm @ City Girl Farms
12th and Campbell Street, West Oakland
Free to watch, $50 to participate and take home a chicken!
Click here to RSVP.
Questions? Email Abeni Ramsey at [email protected].