Ecological Education

"Plant the tree of friendship and harvest the fruits of love
Uproot the roots of hatred for it brings forth boundless agony"

– Hafez

Planting Justice organizes free community work-parties and low-cost educational workshops at Oakland schools, at San Quentin Prison, on our rooftop garden, and at various homes and housing projects across the Bay Area. These give community residents the chance to participate in each implementation phase of our gardening projects, from harvesting water to planting low maintenance edible gardens. This kind of experiential learning is incredibly empowering. As community members cooperate to turn unused land into beautiful and productive edible landscapes, Planting Justice helps to produce capable, confident, and inspired urban farmers and active citizens who can take back some sovereignty over the health of their bodies and the health of their neighborhoods and planet.

We take as many opportunities as we can to provide hands-on training to local youth and other residents in urban gardening, bio-intensive organic food production, and urban Permaculture techniques. Some of the topics that we cover during these community work parties and educational workshops are Urban Permaculture Design; raising chickens, fish, and rabbits for protein; designing and implementing food forests; using beneficial micro-organisms to increase organic harvests; composting methods; water harvesting and greywater recycling; seasonal cooking; companion planting; and aquaculture/greenhouse production.

Check out the links below to find out more about our curriculum for the 2009-2010 afterschool program in Food Justice and Culinary Arts at Explore College Preparatory middle school as well as a prospective syllabus for a college-level course on Food Justice developed by Haleh Zandi.