Don’t you just think this is a ridiculously inspiring time for self-propelled people in the Bay Area?

Bay Area bike culture is stronger – and more stylish – than ever! So this spring, I also want to write about a different, yet related, Bay Area renaissance in urban agriculture and local food production.

I recently rode to a permaculture workshop/work party at Hayes Valley Farm; we’ve all been wondering what the city is going to do with the remnants of the Fell Street Freeway (closed after the earthquake of 1989) and now we know. If you’ve ridden by it lately, then you would have seen – or smelled – the fresh mulch cloaking the newly carved terraces around the former freeway off-ramp.

I locked my bike up outside, which turned out to be unnecessary. Inside the farm’s fence, a line of parked bikes wound its way around mounds of sheet mulch. I’ve long had a pet theory that the folks who are willing to put in the effort required to ride a bike for transportation are the same people willing to put in the extra effort to recycle and reuse, to plant a victory garden, go solar or capture rainwater in barrels.

My pet theory finally hit pay dirt – literally – this spring. There is an awe-inspiring renaissance of urban agriculture underfoot right now and there is a bike lane running through it. A few years ago, San Francisco seemed destined to become a well-groomed playground rather than something more interesting. But thanks to the change in our economy – and Alice Waters – today the Bay Area seems more likely to become a fertile demonstration of local, sustainable food production.

Every weekend I volunteer at one garden or another (La Playa Park Demonstration Garden, Garden for the Environment, Hayes Valley Farm, etc.) and each time I learn about a dozen new farms/gardens with a common purpose. Part of what these gardens have in common is that they are being created and maintained by their communities, by volunteers who come out in force for work parties, barn-raising style.

But what does this have to do with bicyclists, you ask? Everything, at least everything to do with my pet theory about bicyclists; half the people who show up for these work parties are on their bikes. And I can’t say for sure what inspires me more: the bikes, the mulch or the common effort. The first can take you anywhere you want to go with a smile on your face, the second provides the nutrients for the energy you need to get there and the third reflects San Francisco’s glorious self-propelled renaissance.

Send your pet theories to bayarea@momentumplanet.com

For further inspiration:

hayesvalleyfarm.com · baylocalize.org

gardenfortheenvironment.org

sfsurfrider.org/programs/laplayapark.htm

urbansprouts.org · freefarmstand.org

edibleschoolyard.org/welcome