About Us
The First Year in the Nursery
We didn't have a greenhouse, yet, so we converted a back deck into one.
Our Plant "Beds"
We upcycled bunk beds into small greenhouses that do double duty as plant stands for VeggiePalooza events
VeggiePalooza Volunteers
Neighbors pitch in to pot up plants the day before a weekend VeggiePalooza
About Us
How We Started
VeggiePalooza was founded by Castro Valley resident and lifelong social change agent, Amy Belanger, in February, 2020, when pandemic-driven food production and access challenges loomed.
In March, she began mobilizing, educating, and supplying Castro Valley and Hayward residents to grow food at home and community gardens, using organic gardening and permaculture methods.
Neighbors were inspired to join in, donating supplies, assisting with plant distributions, and creating a pop-up vegetable plant greenhouse and nursery at her home. The pop-up nursery grew and distributed seedlings, and offered seeds, soil amendments, earthworms, and know-how on a sliding scale basis (free to those on public assistance).
What We've Done
Since February, 2020, VeggiePalooza has:
- Started and supplied hundreds of new backyard gardens and expanded dozens more.
- Hosted 20+ VeggiePalooza events, and delivered plants to other community hubs, to distribute more than 10,000 vegetable seedlings to home and community gardeners
- Donated hundreds of seed packs directly to neighbors and to help launch the Castro Valley Seed Bank
- Taught vermiculture and hugelkultur workshops and distributed compost and garden bed worms to gardeners
- Served as a hub for collecting and redistributing used gardening supplies
- Connected neighbors, arranged space, and donated supplies for seed, plant, and veggie exchanges
- Delivered gardening advice in on community forums and hosted an 8-month, weekly permaculture discussion group
- Provided free and discounted vegetable garden consultations at residents' homes
- Educated the community on how to make and use biochar, and distributed 50 5-gallon tubs of biochar for use in area gardens
- Implemented a sliding scale so that purchases by residents with steady, livable incomes support discounted or free supplies and plants to those in need
- Supported the development of other nonprofit food security programs in the Eden Area and beyond
What's Next
VeggiePalooza is closing it's Castro Valley operations after our partner, ForestR.org, adopted our food security mission and projects. This site will now become a resource hub for others who want to start similar programs in their communities.
We will continue inspiring and supporting others to organize food, environmental, and community building projects to permanently strengthen food security, environmental awareness, and local community self-reliance and interconnection.
Specific next steps include the development of workshops and how-to manuals for organizing pop-up plant nurseries, farm stands, and seed banks.
This is one way we can create the silver linings so many need to see in a time of crisis.