April 2024
Every LEAF Day is Earth Day
From Elaine, President of LEAF
Earth Day is LEAF's biggest outreach event of the year. This year it is on Saturday, April 20th from 11 am to 3 pm at the Fremont Downtown Event Center. The good news is most of the volunteers and collaborators who ran the booths last year will be returning this year to answer your gardening questions. We will also be announcing some of our weekend fun classes on Earth Day.
This past month we have been busy working on rebuilding our gardens. It has been going slower than expected due to all the rain. We have made good progress with Pretzel, our lath house, so named because of its twisted frame from multiple wind events. Pretzel is now upright and with the help of a Civic Spark volunteer team the inside is ready to go. They weeded, lined the ground with weed cloth, added mulched and put the tables/cages in place. Civic Spark focuses on Climate Change & Energy by elevating climate change awareness. They selected us because of our focus on regenerative agriculture in an urban environment. Thank you Civic Spark for helping us with Pretzel ; )
I am happy to announce that our
2023 Annual Report is published.
Special thanks to Monica for her creative design and Nate for his beautiful photographs.
Please hit the donate button if you feel aligned with our mission so we can continue to develop spaces to educate our community, build healthy soil, and provide food for those most in need.
Any amount you can give is greatly appreciated.
We also accept checks. Payable to LEAF at PO Box 2816, Fremont CA 94536.
2024 LEAF Earth Day
LEAF will have 19 booths at the City of Fremont Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 20 from 11 to 3 in the grassy area outside the Fremont Downtown Event Center. Our booths will focus on environmental sustainability with an emphasis on gardening and composting. We will be the bringing the crowd favorites, our buzzing bees and friendly worms. This year I'm excited to announce that we are going to have an Artist Circle. Local artists will be creating masterpieces right before your eyes and one of them will teach you how to create botanical drawings. We will also be announcing some weekend fun classes.
Mark your calendars for LEAF Earth Day Celebration on April 20th from 11 to 3. See you there!
2024 Earth Day Recycling Project
We try to think of multiple ways to reduce useable materials from going into the landfill. In our gardens, we repurpose wood, compost plant debris including nasty perennial weeds, and work with local arborists for wood chips. In that same spirit, this Earth Day we are asking you to bring your used and unused crayons, bras and socks. We will then send them to organizations that redistribute, repurpose or recycle these items. In this way they will have a second life instead of them going into the landfill. Happy Earth Day ; )
LEAF Center Planters Available
Last year we focused on a beautification project at the LEAF Center. We planted a sensory herbal garden, orange and heirloom apple trees and the unrented planters were planted with edibles for donation to local food banks.
Large 4' x12' raised planters filled with custom soil and equipped with automatic irrigation are available for rent. (Cages are not included.) Planters are available through our annual Community Gardener Membership. Questions? Contact info@fremontleaf.org.
LEAF Honey Sales
Our bees were busy last summer which means we have honey for sale.
BTW, honey sales fund the care of our bees, their hives and our pollinator gardens. Honey is $24 for a 24 oz jar, $13 for 12 oz jar.
Purchase at our LEAF Shop or on Earth Day, Saturday April 20th
Students for LEAF 2024
Students for LEAF, will be in full swing once again this summer for young people who are interested in being outdoors, gardening, the sciences, and living sustainably on planet earth. LEAF educators will provide students hands-on experience being environmental stewards in areas such as the food production cycle, worms and beekeeping. Registration is now open for 2024 Students for LEAF summer program details at
fremontleaf.org/students
Food Donations
At LEAF, we work year-round to feed our community by planting, nurturing, and harvesting fresh produce that we donate to our local food banks.
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YTD Produce Donations: 563 lbs.
Our 2024 Goal is 4500 lbs.
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You can help us meet the goal by harvesting your fruit and dropping it off at LEAF Stone Garden. See info below under Fruit Tree Gleaning.
Fruit Tree Gleaning
Every Monday and Thursday from 9 am to 11 am, you can bring donations of fresh fruit from your trees to LEAF Stone Garden. Your donations will be added to the volumes of produce we grow and deliver to our food banks to help out our friends and neighbors. More info at fremontleaf.org/glean.
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Fresh imperfect fruit is good!
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Thanks for your donations of 421 pounds of fruit so far this year!
Got questions? We've got answers at info@fremontleaf.org.
LEAF Stone Garden is located behind
Mission Valley Veterinary Clinic at 55 Mowry Ave near Mission Blvd.
Lazy Saturdays?
Get BUSY as a LEAF volunteer! On the 2nd Saturday of every month from
9am to noon, your help is needed to tackle projects that benefit
from a group effort. Be a part of a community helping a community.
More info at fremontleaf.org/volunteer.
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Our next volunteer work days are: Saturday April 13th and May 11th
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Gathering, Gardening
It's tough to find knowledgable gardeners to ask questions. Talkin' Dirt will
provide you with a platform to engage with others from the comfort of your own home on the first Wednesday of each month from 7 pm to 8 pm. Join Master Gardeners and a Horticulturist for this special hour-long online gathering.
Regardless of your gardening experience, we'd love to have you!
To register, visit fremontleaf.org/talkindirt.
Our next online gatherings are: Wednesdays April 3rd and May 1st