Abandoned lot to be made into urban farm for two to five years

Photo by Chris Martin

Hayes Valley Farm – San Francisco

Our Vision

Hayes Valley Farm (HVF) is an education and research project with a focus on urban agriculture. Situated on the city-owned lots bordered by Oak, Fell, Laguna, and Octavia streets, the project is organized by an alliance of urban farmers, educators, and designers that comprise the HVF Project Team. HVF is a Parks Partner, a fiscally sponsored project of the San Francisco Parks Trust.

The project is founded on an interim use agreement between Hayes Valley Farm and the City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development- a two to five year time frame – until which time the City moves forward with other development plans for the site.

1. to create a successful, sustainable urban farm where community members can access healthy local food
2. to serve as a model and a resource center for urban agriculture education and green job training
3. to build community resiliency around local food production

What does this look like?

We envision Hayes Valley Farm as a place where people come regularly to meet and connect with each other. Friends exchange food, recipes, stories and knowledge about ways we can all live in greater harmony with our surroundings. They are surrounded by an abundant and rich forest of food that encourages connection and understanding of the vital life systems that support human kind.

Video by Chris Martin

Where is Hayes Valley Farm?

We are located in the heart of Hayes Valley in the city block formed between Oak St., Octavia St., Fell St. and Laguna St. Our main entrance is located at 450 Laguna St., San Francisco, CA 94102.

What are some of the activities that exist at Hayes Valley Farm?

We are offering urban agriculture courses and classes including fruit tree care, kitchen garden basic, herb garden basics, backyard bio-intensive farming, bee care, sustainable landscape design and many more. View a full listing of our activities.

I’m not sure I want to eat the fruits of this garden because it used to be a freeway. How much lead is in the soil?

I can’t say health is our number one priority, because access to water, mulch and manure was, but it was our second. Honestly, we take the health of the community seriously. We’re not just interested in understanding the issue, but overstanding it. Before we started planning we lab tested 64 soil points across the site, all parts of the site came back with lead levels lower than the EPA’s standard for soil (400 ppm by weight) with the exception of the southern facing hill along Oak St. between Laguna and Octavia. Second, our plan is to place 3-4 ft of organic material thus building 1-2ft of soil on top of the current site fill, which is a proven method of diluting lead levels if they do exists. Third we plan on measuring the lead in the plant roots, shoots, leaves and fruits after the first harvest before allowing human consumption. Fourth, plants that produce fruit (apple, tomato, pepper, etc) tend to store minuscule amounts of lead inside the fruit with the majority being taken up into the roots and some remaining in the shoots.

See Hayes Valley Farm website here.

See more photos of the project here.

See From Freeway To Farm In San Francisco here.