Improving access to high quality produce is an important aspect of both organizations' work. Volunteers and staff at Collective Roots graciously received our donation and let us know our plant starts would be distributed for free this week to community members and aspiring gardeners who shop the East Palo Alto Community Farmers’ Market.

At Collective Roots, a program of Fresh Approach, volunteers can help at the garden, take a gardening workshop, and learn how urban gardening helps improve healthy food access. Nutrition and cooking classes round out their inspiring work fighting food insecurity and bringing fresh produce to low income communities throughout the bay area. How great is that?!

Open to both special and general education youth and young adults, YDFA builds camaraderie and support among actors, volunteers, and parents in the special education community. In the age of Zoom school and virtual everything, YDFA has done remarkable work to keep its actors and volunteers engaged in theater arts during the pandemic.

Can’t put on a dramatic stage performance and invite friends and family? Can’t even rehearse together in the same indoor space? Then how about finding another way to engage their actors in one of their favorite after school activities and to give their young adult a platform to continue to shine through the performing arts? YDFA is making a film that knits together individual scenes rehearsed as a group over Zoom, then video-taped at home and in safe outdoor venues, to deliver an entire ensemble performance sure to entertain. Wow!

Common Roots Farm was delighted to host recently the filming of one scene, which takes place in Oklahoma, for YDFA’s 2020-21 “Jump Through Time” film, to be released soon. It was a fun day led by YDFA co-founders, Sue Voiss (Director) and Stacy Rademacher (Producer). Volunteers helped orchestrate many aspects of the scene, and our farm and animals provided the backdrop for lots of singing and dancing.

We’d like to introduce you to the newest members of our Common Roots Farm family. A small flock of Olde English “Babydoll” Southdown sheep have joined us! Three lambs, all born in early March, along with their two moms and another ewe, are now feasting on grasses and getting to know their new home.

We are fostering the moms and their amazing livestock guardian dog, Blueford “Blue” Jenkins, and are learning a lot as we add this small breed to our farm. Bred in recent decades to resemble the Southdown sheep from Sussex County in England over 200 years ago, they one of the oldest breeds of ‘down’ sheep and are ideally suited to small acreage. They are a hearty breed with a gentle temperament, are easy to handle, and produce prized fleece. Their small size and efficient metabolism make them the perfect mowers and weed eaters on our farm, all without challenging our fences!

Two weeks ago, when our sheep arrived, Lori, our can-do farmer, continued to reveal that among her many talents, she is a sheep whisperer. “Get them used to you. Spend some time each day with them,” she told me. So, as I write this, I am doing so from inside our new sheep pen!

We are so grateful to John and Jenny Bost, who generously purchased the lambs for us, and to Emma Lynn and Orion Pascover and Laurie and Mike Biros, who helped us right away with purchasing feed and paying some deferred veterinary costs. We are glad to welcome these little “fertility machines” to our farm. They have already added a lot of fun and excitement to our days. The lambs are also pretty darn fun to feed!

The sheep are enjoying their new digs, and their amazing livestock guardian dog, Blue, has established himself here. Let every coyote beware! Following spring shearing, their wool will offer material for wintertime crafts and their gentleness will be a lovely way to introduce visitors to farm animals.

As we work to create healthy soil, the sheep provide the farm with a natural, slow release fertilizer that can top dress flower beds and feed the microbial life of our soil. We will all learn more about rotational grazing and the benefits offered by ruminants on a small scale farm.

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