As the number of guests in our retreat program has increased in recent years, so has the volume of food scraps that our kitchen produces. For decades, our chickens, goats, garden hot heap compost piles, and vermiculture (worm) bins were sufficient for processing our kitchen compost, but as we’ve ramped up our integrated food system, […]
This year the OAEC nursery and gardens were able to waive 75% of our organic certification fees through the Federal Organic Cost Share program. Why is Cost Share Important? Historically, farm bill funding has not been as generous to organic producers as it has for conventional. Cost share is one of the few programs offered specifically to support […]
What will the climate be like 20 years from now? How can we breed food crops that will thrive and adapt to change? With an increasingly unstable climate and a continued collapse of agricultural biodiversity, OAEC is mixing and planting together over 2,000 varieties of bread wheat from all over the world, in […]
Join us for our favorite Seed Swap! Meet neighbors and fellow gardeners at the Grange in Sebastopol on Thursday evening, Feb 16th at 7pm to share seeds, scions and stories. Bring seeds to share or just show up!
A victory for seed sovereignty: AB 1810 passes with help from OAEC OAEC’s Dave Henson and Cooper Freeman along with a group of partner organizations – Sustainable Economies Law Center, California Alliance with Family Farmers, Pesticide Action Network, California Climate Action Network, Slow Food CA, and the California Guild – have succeeded in exempting from […]
What if a food bank distributed not just canned and donated goods, but fresh, organic produce grown right onsite? The Food For Thought (FFT) Food Bank in Forestville, one of OAEC’s Strategic Partners, is doing just that. Their robust one-acre garden—which OAEC Mother Garden Program Director Doug Gosling helped to develop in 1999 and still […]
We are thrilled to announce that the long-awaited Occidental Arts & Ecology Center Cookbook has arrived! Published by Chelsea Green and with a foreword by Alice Waters, the Cookbook shares the abundance of the OAEC Mother Garden through delicious recipes, stories and photos. Congratulations to the book’s facilitator and co-author, Kitchen Manager Olivia Rathbone, who kneaded love, seasonal know-how, […]