Rooftop Medicine Farm

How 1-Acre Anti-Capitalist Rooftop Medicine Farm Fights Gentrification from Whole Foods’ Roof in Oakland’s Temescal Neighborhood | Eater SF

"From its rooftop perch above the Logan, I watch rows upon rows of lettuces, greens, herbs, and flowers flourish in what the piece describes both as a 1-acre farm and a 25,000-square-foot space — sections neatly structured, some bare and ready for seed, others lined with tall sunflowers and plants like mustard greens and a lemon verbena thriving five stories above the street. Founded and planted in spring 2021 by ecological site director Benjamin Fahrer and Kevin Jefferson, the farm is run by Deep Medicine Circle under Rupa Marya’s vision to treat food as medicine: it builds relationships with Native stewards, centers Traditional Ecological Knowledge, practices herbal medicine and seed saving, and partners on projects like the Muchia Te Indigenous Land Trust and San Gregorio watershed restoration. All produce is offered free to BIPOC Oaklanders and redistributed through community organizations (including POOR Magazine, Moms 4 Housing, American Indian Cultural District, Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, and UCSF Children’s Clinic Food Farmacy), and the farm actively surveys recipients to learn what people want and need seasonally while aiming to pull colonial systems out by the roots and reforge community relationships to land and food." - Ray Levy Uyeda