The Beet Blog

Check out AshEL Eldridge aka Seasunz — of SOS Juice and advisory board member of Phat Beets Produce — in the new video “Food Fight,” produced by Earth Amplified, featuring Stic.man of Dead Prez. Phat Beets volunteer Manuel Ramirez also makes a cameo as Twizzlers Junkie!

Phat Beets counter-video to NOBE

Original NOBE Video Below

Want to read more about this? See our thoughts on NOBE covered in Oakland Local here

Thanks to all that signed our petition.  We took it down as Ms. Edwards complied with our wishes!

The Crossroads Cafe Cooperative is helping to make food justice a reality for North Oakland. Along with serving delicious, community-based, and just food, the worker-owned cooperative ensures that its members—all of whom live in the neighborhood—will share in the cafe’s governance and economic prosperity. The Green-Collar Communities Clinic (GC3)is assisting the Crossroads Cafe Cooperative in realizing this vision.

Getting Started
The Crossroads Cafe Cooperative has grown out of a community of food justice enthusiasts brought together by Phat Beets Produce, an organization that provides accessible, healthy, and local food to North Oakland. Every Saturday, several of the founding members of the Crossroads Cafe Cooperative attended the Phat Beets farmers’ market. Along with their shared interest in food justice for North Oakland, these founding members soon realized other similarities: they were all residents of 57th Street, and they were all either underemployed or unemployed because of the economic crisis. And they all wanted to take more control over their workplace and their destinies by creating a worker-owned cooperative.

As these connections between the founding members grew, a space became available at 942 Stanford Avenue. A structure that once served as train dispatch in the 1920s, and later a small restaurant in the 1970s, was available for rent. Recognizing that the structure could serve as acooperative community space, the founding members seized the opportunity, and started building support for the Crossroads Cafe Cooperative. More people joined the effort, and a core group of founding members emerged.

Making Progress
The Crossroads team evolved organically, with each founding member taking on work that best suited his or her interests and skills. From implementing the build-out process, to managing kitchen operations, to bottom-lining administrative needs, members of the Crossroads Cafe Cooperative facilitated the transformation of 942 Stanford Avenue over the past year. 

Throughout this effort, the team collaborated with GC3 for legal assistance. Some of the founding members attended last year’s Think Outside the Boss Workshop, and received legal guidance through a one-time follow-up consultation. The founding members soon entered GC3’s cooperative incubator program, through which GC3 continues to provide longer-term legal support to the Cooperative as it develops into afully-functioning, worker-owned, community cafe.

Envisioning the Future
Soon, the Crossroads Cafe will be a fully functioning cafe, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the North Oakland community. But the space will be more than that. The founding members see 942 Stanford Avenue as a community space, where people can come to share inwholesome food, teach and learn about issues affecting the community, and access commercial kitchen space, which will be available for rent to community-based food businesses. The Phat Beets Farmers’ Market will continue to take place every Saturday at 942 Stanford Avenue.

Pitching In
Although the Crossroads Cafe Cooperative made incredible progress over the past year, the team has two major steps to take before the cafe fully launches. First, the team is working to complete the build-out process, which poses unique challenges because of the building’s age. Second, the cafe must receive permits before opening to the public.

And, if you feel like heading to an awesome party with a great cause this weekend, join the Crossroads team for its Old Skool ThrowBack Partyon Saturday, November 10, from 8pm to 2am, at ABCo Artspace (3135 Filbert St., Oakland).

Summing Up 
The Crossroads Cafe Cooperative exemplifies GC3’s vision: to advance community resiliency by inspiring, informing, and incubating cooperative ventures. From attending a free legal workshop, to getting a legal  consultation, to becoming an incubator client, the Crossroads team took part in every facet of GC3’s legal services program. We’re humbled by the opportunity to support the transformative work of the Crossroads  Cafe Cooperative.

March 4th Community Forum Report Back

by Marcelo Garzo

On March 4, 2012, over 130 Oakland residents came together at the Bethany Baptist Church to imagine and organize a better North Oakland community. This event was held and facilitated by Phat Beets Produce with the support of dozens of community partners and volunteers, in order to build relationships and bring our collective minds together to create solutions to the most pressing problems in our communities. We wanted to hold a space to listen, exchange directly, face-to-face with our communities, asking for people to bring only 6 things: 3 big concerns and 3 big ideas or visions for the beloved community. These were recorded as folks entered the space, written on butcher paper that lined the walls as the community arrived.

While we shared nourishing food prepared by dedicated Phat Beets volunteers and local businesses including Dorsey’s Locker, we had the honor of opening the space with long-time North Oakland resident and feminist of color elder, healer, and storyteller Luisa Teisch. She brought the teachings and songs of the Yoruba ancestors in order to call us to the sacred task of building community and sharing food and ideas. We were then introduced to the site of Bethany Baptist Church by Pastor John Leggett, who reminded us we were in a home of the black revolutionary tradition, a place where both Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton attended services with their families as children. Coming from the South, Pastor Leggett knows and embodies the long history of the Baptist church as a place of healing, community and political action. We were overwhelmed by the support from the Bethany Baptist Church and are grateful they offered their sacred space for us to have these conversations and build relationships that will be bring about real change on the streets in North Oakland.

    Soon after honoring the space, we began our day of dialogue and exchange with 6 thematic breakout groups. The themes for the groups were decided after tallying the results of the 3 big ideas and 3 big concerns the community brought with them. The groups discussed: Community Safety (Gang Injunctions, Policing, Violence), Affordable Housing (Foreclosures, Accessible Homes), Transportation, Food and Health, Education (School Closures, Alternative Ed) and Community Beautification. We then began our community visioning exercise, imagining what our ideal neighborhood would look, feel, and taste like before drawing these images in a collective art practice. We closed the space with the palabra/word of Chicano elder, activist and poet Rafael Jesus Gonzalez. He reminded us that in coming together as a community we had mobilized the most sacred force of all: the power to love.

    We express our deepest gratitude to everyone who came out to make this event possible and are looking forward to continuing the dialogue at future community forums. March 4th was only our first effort to facilitate North Oakland residents in building new relationships and deepening existing ones in order to cultivate justice, health, safety and power in the community. Stay tuned for follow-up meetings and ways to stay involved!

MARCH 4th North Oakland Flatlands Community Brunch and Forum

What do you want to see in the North Oakland Flatlands? Join Phat Beets Produce for a Free Community Brunch and Forum to meet your neighbors and to share your vision for a healthier, safer,  more resilient North Oakland community.  Bring 3 concerns, 3 big ideas and 3 of your neighbors (or more) to Bethany Baptist Church on 54th and Adeline to break bread, share ideas, dialogue, and organize a healthier North Oakland.

Topics to include: community health, urban greening, affordable housing, food justice and beyond.  Information from these breakout sessions will be used to shape the direction of community based work in the neighborhood by Phat Beets Produce and community partners.   A community resource fair will also be held in the lobby of the church.  Full meal will be provided including vegan and gluten free options.

Who: North Oakland Farmers’ Market Group and Phat Beets Produce

What:  North Oakland Flatlands Community Forum and Brunch

Where: Bethany Baptist Church 5400 Adeline, Oakland 94608

When: 2-5pm Sunday, March 4th

Why: Join us for a free community meal and break out discussion to vision what we want our North Oakland community to look like and how we will get there! All North Oakland residents welcome! Topics to include community health, urban greening, affordable housing, food justice, and more.  Bring a 3 concerns and 3 big ideas to discuss and 3 of you neighbors neighbors.  Music and open speaker TBA

Cost: FREE!! Meal and speaker included.  RSVP by phone at 510-250-7957 or http://tinyurl.com/798b6s7

Contact: max@phatbeetsproduce.org or 510-689-3068, www.phatbeetsproduce.org

**If you can help cook, provide dessert, or help with outreach by becoming a community outreach block captain then please hit us up at info@phatbeetsproduce.org or 510-689-3068.

Phat Beets Produce 2012 Wishlist

Phat Beets Produce runs on a very small budget, this is our wishlist for 2012.  Please hit up max@phatbeetsproduce.org if you have something to donate (tax deductible):

• Laser Printer
• Macbook laptop or 2006+ Mac Desktop
• Small pickup truck with less than 100,000 miles
• Wheelbarrows
• Working Fridges
• Shovels
• Gloves
• Technical Service (business plan)
• Office space in North Oakland
• Leading a workshop for our Food N’ Justice Workshop Series

THANK YOU!

By Jay Holecek, Therapeutic Chef/educator

It starts with that scratchy throat, then dread: “Uh-oh, I’m getting sick.” I used to consider it a good thing, it meant a few days away from the rigors of school. But now I don’t have that luxury, I need to work. And my immune system’s efforts to defeat the infectious agent will likely result in additional symptoms. So, in order to continue working, I need to both reduce the symptoms and speed up my recovery. I’ve learned over the years that medications for suppressing these symptoms actually suppress my immune system and only prolong the suffering. They also allow for a false sense of wellness. So I think back to those times of illness and recovery that my mother and others have helped me through and they all tended to include soups and teas.

Just soup? Continue reading →