many many apples
September 22, 2006

We are awash in apples, courtesy of Myrna's generosity and her amazing yard. She has four different heirloom trees that were planted 15 years ago, and this year produced (in her own words) "more than she had ever seen". Come pick some up at the storefront this weekend; we are adding some extra hours on Sunday 10:30-12:00 to help distribute this abundance.

tangerine marmalade
September 20, 2006

If you have had a chance to read the East bay Express this week, you might have read about Temescal Amity Works in the 3 part article by John Birdsall about scavenging urban waste. In that article, John describes a fortunate Amityworks trip to pick up surplus from a neighbor on Webster St. in the form of 2 bushels of fresh tangerines.
We gave away many of the tangerines fresh and made a dozen pints of Tangerine Preserves with the remainder. If you stop by, please sample some and/or take some home: its sweet and very "kid-friendly".

Camp Campaign at Temescal Amity Works: Aug. 10, 2006
August 8, 2006

We are back from our East Coast trip and the Creative Capital Conference, and are starting early on our fall programming:

Thursday, August 10, 2006
7:30 PM
Camp Campaign
at Temescal Amity Works
482 49th Street, Oakland, CA 94609
T: 510-428-1210
http://www.amityworks.org/ alt.html

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For over a month, artists Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri have been traveling to different cities and camp sites across the country holding public discussions, conducting interviews, filming, and documenting in places such as interment camps, detentions camps, relief camps, and other camping areas. This is part of their Camp Campaign, a cross-country drive that begins, at New York City, with the question, "How is it that a camp like Guantanamo Bay can exist in our time?"

On Thursday, Camp Campaign arrives to San Francisco's Bay Area. Join artists Ayreen and Rene in a discussion at the Temescal Amity Works, co-organized with Trevor Paglen. As part of this program, the artists will show videos of two cities, East Baltimore and Lod. Through the narration of a resident/local organizer, each video outlines how planning is used to dispossess targeted communities and groups from their property, rights, and way of life. Following the screening, the discussion will center on the difficult task of connecting these situations to one another and to those faced by the detainees in Guantanamo Bay. In the past, one possible link was posited: the relation of abandonment each of these groups may have with respect to the law.

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Camp Campaign
A new project by Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, commissioned by Art in General

In Camp Campaign, Ayreen and Rene take as a conceptual starting point the intolerable conditions confronting the detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and travel through selected locations in the USA recording interviews and holding public discussions on the subject. For the artists, Guantanamo Bay is a site from where to develop a public discussion about various timely themes in art and politics today, including security and terror, citizenship and statelessness, human rights vs. political and legal
rights, and more.

For more information on Camp Campaign, or to find out ways in which you can get involved in this program, through assistance, suggestions, or other forms of participation, check out: www.campcampaign.info

We hope to see you this Thursday!

Commemorative Broadside printed for the Temescal Farm Walk
July 4, 2006

On June 10, 2006, Temescal Amity Works organized the Temescal Farm Walk, a walking tour of four neighborhood homes that explore what a yard can truly yield. Ranging from single family houses to apartment flats to cohousing collectives, these four "farms" display a fascinating range of approaches to varieties of crop production, backyard husbandry, grey-water recovery and community structure. We asked each of them to write a short biography of their endeavour and created a broadside poster to document the whole event.

Download file

This file was designed to be printed out on 11" x 17" paper. We recommend either a tan or beige stock to re-create the full effect!

Temescal Farm Walk- June 10 2006
June 15, 2006

Citrus Season
May 20, 2006

Temescal Amity Works harvested surplus oranges, lemons, pomelos, and limes this past winter and spring. All that we gathered was re-distributed fresh or made into communal preserves or jams and given back to the neighborhood. We made a Temescal neighborhood marmalade, which is still available free at our storefront. Come see us before take a jar home with you!

The Amity Works storefront will be closed for drop in pubic hours June 1- August 22nd. Public hours and programs wll resume in the fall. Join us then for NPR (Neighborhood Public Radio) a bread baking marathon, a fall movie series and more. Look for our fall program schedule in the Temescal News and Views. Alternatively, email us at bigbackyard@amityworks.org or call us at 510-428-1210.

In the meantime if you have too many plums, apricots or lemons on your tree, pick a bag and take them to your neighbors!

salvatore's garden
May 6, 2006

Pole beans, fava beans, cacti, citrus, figs were some of the crops that SALVATORE BARBERIO grew in his large front yard on 49th street, just down the street from Amity headquarters. His garden has been a continual inspiration for Amity Works and many in the neighborhood. Salvatore passed away last April.
Born in San Giovanni in Fiore, Italy on October 2, 1930, he moved with his family to Oakland in November, 1969. Salavatore's garden tells a history of the neighborhood, reminding us of the Italian families who settled in Oakland in the 1900's and brought many of their agricultural practices with them from their homes in Italy. Many of these folks shared gardening tips with newcomers to the neighbhood, giving them cuttings of grapes and fruit trees to start in their own yards.

marmalade
March 26, 2006

Bakesale Betty generously let us share their kitchen this afternoon to make maramlade made from fruit from several Temescal citrus trees. We collected oranges, limes and lemons from Irene, Karen S., Lorraine, the Miles Avenue compound, the Avon Street compound and Mark R. to make this years Temescal Neighorhood Marmalade. We distribute the marmalade FREE from our project space. Thank you Nico, Natalie and Irene. (pictured)

adriana and avon street
March 26, 2006

We stopped to see Adriana on Avon Street and pick mexican limes and lemons for the Neighborhood Marmalade project. We are going to experiment making a pomelo and mexican lime marmalade this weekend.

sandwich board update
March 25, 2006

The last month we have been busy picking citrus, mostly oranges and meyer lemons. We have also had small deliveries of jerusalem artichokes, kale and lettuce from winter gardens.

renovate push cart
March 25, 2006

The amity pushcart has new pneumatic wheels and a rebuilt front end. This new design is easier to maneouver up and down curbs but rattles less as we go. Thanks to Reuben Margolin for rebuilding the cart! If you are interested in your own rickshaw for local transport, Reuben makes beautiful bike driven vehicles. Check them out here.

Joe's Salted Lemon recipe
February 10, 2006

More solutions for an overabundance of Backyard Lemons.
Thanks to Joe for this recipe!

North African Salt-Preserved Lemons
Prepare these remarkable pickles for a Moroccan tagine or to flavor a
seafood soup, a vegetable salad, a poached chicken, or a stuffing.
Preserved lemons will keep for 1 year as long as they are completely
covered with salted juice and not contaminated by bacteria. For this
reason, remove the lemons not with your fingers but with clean, dry
tongs.
Ingredients
1/3 cup salt, preferably coarse salt
Spoon 2 tablespoons of the salt into a sterilized wide-mouthed quart
jar. Wash, dry, remove any stem bits, and set in a warm oven for 5
minutes to finish drying (moisture in the peel can cause spoilage):
2 pounds ripe, juicy lemons

Roll the lemons on the counter to release their juice. Quarter a lemon
lengthwise, stopping 1/2 inch from the bottom so the quarters fan out
but remain attached at one end. Gently open the lemon and sprinkle the
8 surfaces with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Carefuly squeeze the lemon's
juice into a bowl--a wooden reamer is the ideal tool, or squeeze with
your hands. Close the lemon, pack into the jar, and add its juice.
Continue with the remaining lemons, sprinkling each layer with 1-1/2
teaspoons salt. If the juice does not cover the lemons when all are in
the jar, it is imperative to add:

Lemon juice to cover
Leave a 1/2-inch space at the top of the jar. Force out the air bubbles
by sliding a narrow spatula between the lemons and the side of the jar.
Slowly turn the jar while moving the spatula up and down, forcing up
any bubbles of air. Be sure the lemons are still covered with liquid
and there is only a 1/2-inch head space. If necessary, add more liquid
and force out the bubbles again. Wipe the rim of the jar. Fold a square
of plastic wrap to make 4 layers and place over the top, then tightly
cap the jar. Place on a saucer in a warm place--it can be in the
sun--and cure for 1 month. Each day, turn the jar upside down to
redistribute the salted juice. After the curing period, refrigerate or
keep in a cool, dry place. To serve a lemon, rinse under cold running
water. When the lemons are all gone, add the juice to salad dressing.
Yield
One 1-quart jar
Estimated total time > 90 minutes

Spring Film Screening and Reading Room Update
February 10, 2006

Upcoming Spring Films are:

Saturday, March 11th 3:30 - 5:00pm - Selected episodes from the Igloolik Isuma Productions Inc. Classic Video Collection: Aiviaq (Walrus Hunt), Qulangisi (Seal Pups), and Tugaliaq (Ice Blocks) episodes from the NUNAVUT (Our Land) series.
Internationally acclaimed, Igloolik Isuma Production Inc. is Canada's first Inuit independent production company. These beautiful and fascinating films are a result of the commitment of Inuit artists and filmakers to preserve their life, language, and culture.

Reading Room News:

We have added new books to our Reading Room! Our latest additions include:
Ground Work: Environmental Collaboration in Contemporary Art, published by the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Foodculture: Tasting Identities and Geographies in Art, edited by Barbara Fischer
The Shape of a Pocket, by John Berger
Culture in Action, with essays by Mary Jane Jacob, Micheal Brenson, and Eva M. Olson
To Be Continued: Artists' Interventions into the Public Realm, edited by Deborah Smith and Kate Fowle (smith +fowle) with texts by Will Bradley, Kate Fowle (smith +fowle) Peter Jenkinson, Alan Read, and Deborah Smith

These books are good resources for learning about the social implications of artists and activists working in areas such as food, agriculture, social sculpture and public interventions. Please feel free to come by and browse through the library.

Dani's Meyer Tree
January 27, 2006

Following our Orange pick on Shafter, we picked about a bushel of Meyer Lemons at Dani and Alex's house on Lawton. This year seems to be an abundant one for Meyers. When we returned to the storefront afterwards, another neighbor dropped off two more grocery bags full of Meyers picked from 41st st.

Oranges on Shafter
January 27, 2006

We received our first call for Oranges this week. Two bags were collected from Desiree's small tree on Shafter.

Meyer Marmalade
January 27, 2006

The first Meyer lemon pick already started a surplus, so we began Marmalade trials this week. The first recipe we found was from epicurious.com, and it was the most basic. We cut the sugar back and doubled the recipe, which yielded a mildly sweet marmalade with a very nice bitter finish. Stop by the space and try some on toast.

If your tree at home is bearing heavily and you want to try it at home, the recipe for Basic Meyer Lemon Marmalade follows:

12 Meyer lemons (about 3 lbs)
8 cups water
7 cups sugar

Special equipment:
Cheesecloth
Kitchen string

Halve lemons crosswise and remove seeds. Tie seeds in a cheesecloth bag. Quarter each lemon half and thinly slice. Combine with bag of seeds and water in a 5-quart nonreactive heavy pot and let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature 24 hours.

Bring lemon mixture to a boil over moderate heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 4 cups, about 45 minutes. Stir in sugar and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and skimming off any foam, until a teaspoon of mixture dropped on a cold plate gels, about 15 minutes.

Ladle hot marmalade into jars, filling to within ‰ inch of top. Wipe rims with dampened cloth and seal jars with lids.

Put jars in a water-bath canner or on a rack set in a deep pot. Add enough hot water to cover jars by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Boil jars, covered, 5 minutes and transfer with tongs to a rack. Cool jars completely. Marmalade keeps, stored in a cool, dark place, up to 1 year.
Makes 12 (1/2-pint) jars

Meyer Lemons abound!
January 22, 2006

Picking Meyer Lemons on Cavour St. at Natasha's house. We were helped that day by neighbor Jennifer Rulf, who took this picture for us. Most of the Meyers were distributed from the storefront the next day, but some were held back for Marmalade trials.

Whats Better than a Saturday Matinee?
January 2, 2006

This winter we are also sponsoring a Saturday afternoon film series. Our first screening took place on December 10th and featured The Gleaners and I (directed by Agnes Varda). Film Screenings take place from 3:30 to 5:oo pm at our storefront and are free.

Upcoming films are:
Saturday, January 7th -If Only I Were an Indian, directed by John Paskievich, a documentary about a group of Czechs and Slovaks disenchanted with both communism and its aftermath and get in touch with the North American aboriginal way of life and live it.
Saturday, February 5-Rodrigo D: No Future, directed by Victor Manuel Gaviria, "almost a documentary" about children of the streets in Mendellin, who are poor and have little to do but rob for a living, take drugs and fight for sport. Gaviria employs actual street children in the film.

Amity Works
December 25, 2005

Happy Holidays from Temescal Amity Works.
We will be closed from December 23rd through January 3. We will be back open on January 6t.
We hope to see you in the New Year. Our Winter 2006 hours will continue to be 1-3 pm on fridays and 12-5 pm on saturdays.

jeff's walk
November 14, 2005

Walk the Talk

In the empty lot of the Pussy Cat Porn Theater, a local activist and lawyer retells the story of how the neighborhood organized to close the theater in the late 1980's. The lot has been sold to local developers and there are plans pending to build townhouses.

Walk the Talk

With a boombox and mic pulled along in an American Flyer red wagon, Jeff spoke above the roar of Highway 24 which was build in the 1960's and which left the neighborhood isolated and traumatized by the dividing line. Jeff gave a brief history of the community's organizing efforts to halt and redesign the highway project to save the neighborhood and business district on upper Telegraph and Shattuck Avenues.

Walk the Talk

Jeff began the walk on the original site of Temescal Creek at Hardy Park. The creek was diverted and culverted in the 1970's. Temescal, which means sweatlodge, was named by an early Spanish landowner, as sweatlodges were once located along the creek and were emblematic of the vital and central role the creek played in the life of early settlers.

Temescal Amity Works presents:
Walk the Talk: A Guided Tour Exploring Temescal Sites and How the
Community Helped to Shape Them with Temescal artist and founder of
Shared Ground Jeff Norman on November 12th from 1-3.

Join Temescal historians, artists, activists and neighbors on a walking
tour along the path of Temescal Creek The tour features guest speakers
who participated in the community initiative and collective actions
that helped create these sites as we experience them today.

This guided walk will highlight the routing of the Grove Shafter
Freeway (Hwy24), the culverting of Temescal Creek, the building of the
Rockridge-Temescal Greenbelt, the closing of the Pussycat Theater,
development of the Temescal Plaza (Walgreens) and the creation of the
PostMark gathering site.

The tour will begin at the bulletin board in Hardy Park(a.k.a Frog
Park) located at Hardy Street and Claremont Avenue at 1:00 PM. Bring
water, a hat or umbrella as needed. The tour will end with a reception
at Temescal Amity Works project space, just off Telegraph and 49th St.

For more information, call 428-1210 or 653-7190.
We hope to see you there!

seedswap
November 9, 2005

Come visit the Temescal Amity Works and take part in a neighborhood seed swap, initiated by Sue Mark and Bruce Douglas. Bring seeds from your garden to share, take some seeds from others to plant. The seed swap board will be installed in the space all winter.

map project
November 4, 2005

Ted Purves, Scott Oliver and Darlene Rios Drapkin reviewing a final draft of the Temescal-Telegraph Resource Guide and Map.

Lower left: Scott Oliver, Darlene Rios Drapkin, Rick Raffanti, Carlo Busby,
Susanne Cockrell

Over the last several months we have been involved in creating a community resource map for the Temescal-Telegraph business district. The Temescal Merchants Association and the Temescal-Telegraph Community Association joined forces with Temescal Amity Works to spearhead the project. We asked artist and graphic designer Scott Oliver to assist in creating the content and look of the map. As a small task force we met regularly to review designs, the unweieldy database of local businesses and community organizations and have coffee and a bite to eat in Rick's Temescal cafe. The maps are scheduled to be printed after Thanksgiving and will be available in local Temescal Businesses by December 1. A celebratory event to announce the directory and map is schedule in December at the Temescal Cafe. Stay tuned!

Ursula's Apples
October 29, 2005

Clarke Street, after picking the last of Ursula and Mario's apples (with thanks to Matt Dibble for taking the photograph).

Fig Conserve Update
October 18, 2005

... a newsflash for all of you with figs falling on your lawn. We made a second round of Fig Conserve and tried the recipe with less sugar. We also swapped the orange for a lemon. The result was very good. It has a fruitier taste and goes well with either a cheese course or peanut butter sandwiches.

Fig Conserve
(makes about 5 half-pint jars)
2 pounds fresh figs (about 3 1/2 cups,cut)
3/4 pounds sugar (about 1.5 cups)
1/2 pound raisins
1 lemon, sliced very thin
1/2 cup pecans
Cut all fruit into small pieces. Add sugar and cook until thick and fruit is transparent (about one hour). Add nuts, mix well. Pour into hot, sterilizedjars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

Welcome Nancy
October 15, 2005

Welcome Nancy!
We are happy that Nancy Zastudil has joined Temescal Amity Works as a Project Assistant. Nancy will be helping keep Open Hours and will give Amity Works an extra dose of administrative support.

Apple pick on 45th street
September 29, 2005

We picked in a bountiful and huge backyard lot on 45th street. We found there 4 different kinds of apples, pear-apples, lemons an orange tree, the remains of black berries and a couple chickens in a coop. Jeanne Dunning joined us on this lovely afternoon and we harvested 2 bushels of fruit. Thank you Roger.

Jeanne and the mutant lemon.

fig conserve
September 26, 2005

So, what did we do with all of those figs? We decided to do some preserving and found this simple Fig Conserve recipe on the University of Arkansas's Cooperative Extension site. It makes a good, quick conserve (we made a dozen jars in about 2.5 hours. It is a sweet recipe, and cutting back on the sugar or the orange is worth investigating in future batches. Stop by the space and try some. Take home a jar for your household. On the assumption that we are not only ones with figs right now, we have reproduced the recipe below.

Fig Conserve
(makes about 5 half-pint jars)
2 pounds fresh figs (about 3 1/2 cups,cut)
1 1/2 pounds sugar (3 3/8 cups)
1/2 pound raisins
1 orange
1/2 cup pecans
Cut all fruit into small pieces. Add sugar and cook until thick and fruit is transparent (about one hour). Add nuts, mix well. Pour into hot, sterilizedjars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

Figs and Lemons
September 19, 2005

John Brumit and Sarah Wagner helped us out with a pick on 49th st. We pulled in a bushel of wonderfully lumpy lemons, a large basket of mission figs and rosemary cuttings.

yellow car parade
September 12, 2005

Temescal Amity Works continues its program of sponsoring artists + projects sited in the Temescal neighborhood. On September 10th we hosted The Yellow Car Parade, an interactive public spectacle created and organized by Temescal based artist Shane Montgomery. The project investigated temporary community through a population of people with one thing in common - a yellow vehicle.

Spectators join in the spirit of the event.

MC John Brumit warms up the crowd, at times calling across adjacent streets and parking lots to miscellaneous folks in yellow clothing or cars, urging them to join the fun.

Local Artist John Brumit, The Yellow Parade's MC, with Shane Montgomery.

concord grape conserve
September 12, 2005

We found this great recipe online at recipezaar.com and tried it with the concord grapes. We made about a dozen jars and distributed about half of them over the Labor day weekend. We will have more in the space for people to try during open hours.

Concord Grape Conserve

7 cups grapes, washed and stemmed
1/2 cup honey
1/4 lemon, seeded and sliced paper thin
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1. Slip skins off grapes and reserve.
2. Bring pulp to a boil in a stainless or enamel saucepan.
3. Simmer over low heat until seeds are loosened.
4. Press Pulp through a food mill or ricer to remove seeds.
5. Combine grape puree, grape skins, honey, lemon slices, raisins and pecans.
6. Simmer over low heat to plump raisins, around 10-12 minutes.
7. Pour into hot, sterile jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.
8. Seal.
9. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

The Destiny of Grapes
September 2, 2005

While picking Lemons on Boyd Ave., Ron picked us a large bag of Concord Grapes that had grown up into one of the Lemon trees from their neighbors yard. We are researching recipes for this weekend. If anyone has a favorite recipe, let us know soon. Otherwise, stop into the storefront the first week of September and pick up some preserves.

Picking Lemons on Boyd Ave. (9/1/05)
September 1, 2005

Today we visited Evelyne and Ron's backyard on Boyd Avenue. We picked lemons from two venerable and thorny trees.

plums on 52nd st.
July 23, 2005

Perfect plums picked in a backyard off Alcatraz st.

late plums
July 23, 2005

Late plums picked in a backyard on 56th st.

peaches-first of the summer
July 22, 2005

Gathering our first peaches from 42nd st. (featuring Mark Rodriguez, one of the Amity Works Team).

44th st. gardeners
July 9, 2005

We met many members of an amazing gardening collective on 44th St. Two buildings full of neighbors have removed the fences and pavement from their backyards and created a communal garden, complete with chickens and a greywater recovery system.
They will soon be giving us surplus herbs to distribute through the Amityworks space. Please stop by and try some.

Temescal: Take It With You
July 1, 2005

During the first half of June, Portland-based artist, Brittany Powell, had a residency at the Temescal Amity Works Reading Room. During her time in the neighborhood, Powell, walked extensively and made photographs and paintings of the buildings that stood out to her. She has crafted nine of these local landmarks into a series of prints titled Temescal: Take It With You, each of which can be cut out, folded together and glued into place to form three dimensional structures such as the examples pictured to the left. You can download these prints through the links listed below and put together your own Temescal neighborhood today!

RentaRelic
Caspers Hot Dogs
Global Video
Former Ace Ellis Hardware Building
Hooper's Chocolates
Kasper's Hot Dogs
Kingfish Pub
Koryo Mini-Mall
Unique Cleaners

plumstains
June 3, 2005

We are picking our first plums this weekend and it looks to be a full tree. If you are interested in a bag of fresh plums, please let us know.

Community Meetings
June 1, 2005

Our design and information gathering process on the Community Resource Guide (mentioned in the prior post) is moving forward. We hosted two community meetings to brainstorm together about what this map should include as a community document. There is still plenty of opportunity to have input on this project. In particular, we are looking for your thoughts on the following questions.

-What do we want to say about what goes on here?
-How might we best represent this particular place and community with images and language? -
How do you feel about this place and what is the best way to represent it for ourselves, to the City of Oakland and to the larger Bay Area?
-What community resources and landmarks do you feel are important for people to know about?
-Which ones have been important to you?

We will be collecting this information in the form of an abbreviated survey during the Temescal Street Fair, June 18th. The neighborhood input phase will continue through the end of June, so please get in touch with your thoughts and ideas. Look for the survey form, drop us an email or stop by the Reading Room.

Community Meetings
May 10, 2005

Temescal Amity Works is honored to be involved in designing a Community Resource Guide, a collaboration with the Temescal Merchants Association and the Temescal Telegraph Community Association. This resource guide will be a walking map and a listing of local businesses, community resources, and community activities that currently support, serve and identify this district.

We have scheduled two community meetings to brainstorm together about what this map should include as a community document; what do we want to say about what goes on here? How might we best represent this particular place and community with images and language? How do you feel about this place and what is the best way to represent it for ourselves, to the City of Oakland and to the larger Bay Area.

Meetings will take place in the Temescal Amity Works Storefront located at 438 49th Street and Telegraph, in the first alley behind the bank.

Thursday May 19th 6:30-8:00 pm

Saturday May 26 at 10:30-12:00 am

Plums are coming in soon
May 5, 2005

Plums.....
With citrus season winding down, we are beginning to think about the next cycle of neighborhood fruits that are frequently overabundant. Unlike lemons and oranges, plums come in a rush and can be overwhelming in a good year.

Temescal Amity works wants to develope a strategy for the upcoming plum storm. If you have a tree or great plum recipes or if you simply want some of your own, please drop us a line and we will keep you in the loop.

May at the Reading Room
May 1, 2005

We had a quiet April, but we are starting off the summer season with a list of movies can be seen upon request at the Reading Room. Among our new selections are a number of titles that deal with issues of community identity, social art projects, collective politics and inspired rebellion. Recent acquisitions include Rodrigo D:No Future, The Gleaners and I, Do the Right Thing, A Place Called Chiapas.
Stop by and watch one.

Broom Walk
March 21, 2005

March 19th: mending broom walk

1-make a broom , mend a broom -- co-designing participants are asked to bring a broom that needs mending or be ready to make a new broom out of native, neighborhood plants such as Scotch Broom.

2-sweep the streets-sweep the cracks of the city so the weeds can grow out of them easier - helping to
turn the concrete jungle into a real jungle.

3-trade stories about street sweepers and talk about the plants growing out of the cracks.

4, weep in the streets-- weep over the beauty of the un-sung hero let the tears drip into the cracks filling
the roots.

5- we become a guerrilla dance troop - street sweepers and weepers.

6- Meet the speed of the city with slowness. Meet the anonymity of the city with intimacy. Meet the concrete of the city with nature.*

*- A manifesto offered by PLATFORM , a collaborative group in Britain.

The Broom Walk was created by Archie Wessels and Michael Swaine. It was the first in an ongoing series of artists' projects and walks hosted by the Temescal Amity Works Reading Room.

Miles Avenue Tree
March 19, 2005

Beneath an orange tree on Miles Ave.

Neighborhood Marmalade
March 12, 2005

We made over 3 dozen jars of Neighborhood Maramalade from more than twelve different family's trees. We will be making another round at the end of March. If you are in the neighborhood and would like to get a jar, please let us know.

Picking on Avon St. before the storm
February 28, 2005

On Sunday, we did a big harvest with two families on Avon St. Their yards were overflowing with grapefruits, lemons and oranges. They also gave us some Mexican Limes. We managed to finish before the storm broke open.

View of Drew and Deb's backyard, which they are planting with new fruit trees and gardens.

Oliver, Leo, Gordy, Jonah, Adriana and Susanne posing quickly as the rain started coming down.

cart is broken...
February 20, 2005

The front casters on The Big Backyard are bent out of shape from a very heavy load. As we wait for replacment parts, we are having to pick fruit in the neighborhood from our car or on fooot. It will be back in action soon.

Nomadic Studio Picks almost all of Lorraine's Oranges
February 16, 2005

Charles Goldman's Nomadic Studio class from California College of the Arts came to visit Amity Works yesterday. We took them out to pick Lorraine's oranges (and some lemons) from her very large tree. The students took the fruit away to the college with the assignment to distribute it or make something with it, the only parameter given was that they couldn't throw them away. Lorraine's trees were planted by her father when she was young and the oranges are some of the sweetest that we have tasted in the neighborhood.

Bowls and Cards
February 11, 2005

The Temescal Amity Works has begun to distribute free postcards throughout the neighborhood. These cards are made on an ongoing basis, and document the neighborhood’s social economy, its residents and ecology. Alongside the the card displays we are putting out small fruit bowls that offer free samples from our harvesting of the Big Backyard. We picked the Meyer lemons are from Robin E.'s backyard this morning. For more information on where to pick up cards, visit the "Free" page through the link below.

Salted Lemons
February 4, 2005

Patrick Barber, who lives on 49th st., salted some of the lemons that other Temescal neighbors had dropped off over the last two weeks. If you are interested in trying out this process with your own backyard lemons, he has posted the recipe on his fascinating website. You can click on the lemon jars above, or right here to link right to his site. If you don't have any backyard lemons, drop us an email with your name and address and we will deliver some to you, we have a lot in right now.

Reading Room Opens
February 1, 2005

With a belief that more leisure time produces healthy social innovations, the Temescal Amity Works is pleased to launch the Reading Room, an ongoing service experiment located in our storefront. We are building a library of books, films and videos loosely centered on gardening, commmunity history, art in the world, social will, collective action and bio-regionalism. Stop by during our open hours: browse the books, watch a video, relax in our extra-long hammock.

As a part of the Reading Room, Temescal Amity Works, will be sponsoring a continuing program of neighborhood history and ecology walks, as well as lectures, discussions, book readings and recipe swaps. Please sign up for our email list to be informed of upcoming events or check back in at our website for upcoming programs.

Greene's Visit
January 28, 2005

Visitors stop by the Reading Room.

Sunday morning picking 2 bushels of oranges
January 23, 2005

Sunday morning: 2 bushels of oranges gathered from John and Lori's very tall tree.

Lemon's dropped off this week
January 19, 2005

We have had several people come by this week and drop off lemons at our space for the neighborhood marmalade. A big thanks to Lisa R., Karen D. and Dani.

Announcing the January Neighborhood Marmalade Initiative
January 6, 2005

Citrus season has arrived and many Temescal yards are full of oranges, lemons and grapefruit. If your trees are bearing more fruit than you can handle, you might want to consider taking part in the Temescal Amity Works winter neighborhood marmalade project. We will be making a neighborhood marmalade in January and we will come pick or pick up surplus citrus, all of which will be given back to donors and neighbors as a part of an ongoing community project.

12/4/04- Apples and Lemons on 48th St.
December 6, 2004

December 4: Picking lemons and a few remaining Granny Smith Apples on 48th street.

The finished cart in front of the Amity Works space
December 2, 2004

The Big Backyard is ready to travel the neighborhood. Many thanks to Andrew Bigler for the craftmanship and design.

November 28, 2004

The remnant of Kathy W.'s apples were composted. We made 2 bushels into apple butter and were able to distribute the much of the remainder to neighbors.

Pictures of the Opening drawing show
November 15, 2004

Here are a few selected pictures from the opening drawing show:

Opening Party 2
November 3, 2004

The Temescal Amity Works Space opened with a party on October 24, 2004. It was both an opening of the space and an unveiling of "The Big Backyard", our new neighborhood harvest cart. We also put up a drawing show of works by friends and neighbors and made a lot of apple butter from the apples we harvested from Kathy W.'s tree.

Follow the "more" link to see images of the drawing show and read a list of the participants.

Opening Email Card
October 17, 2004

Opening Party evite card...

Cart Schematics
September 7, 2004

We're working on the new cart!