Acta Non Verba is a shining oasis in the midst of what some have described as a food desert in East Oakland. Headquartered near the Oakland coliseum, Acta Non Verba (dba ANVfarm.org) is the nonprofit behind 3 sustainable Oakland-based community farms whose mission is to introduce low-income residents to how to farm fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables from seed to harvest.

In early August, PMI-SFBAC members had hands-on, front row seats to ANV (as it is called) when we recently visited for one of the organization’s Volunteer Farm Days.

Organized, led and promoted by PMI-SFBAC ‘Green Team’ members Ina Acuña, Doug Hahn, Margaret Au, and Samantha Moy, PMI-SFBAC volunteers claimed their spots by returning a Release of Liability Waiver a few days prior to the event, then arrived Saturday August 6 at Acta Non Verba’s Tassafaronga Farm located in Tassafaronga Park at 1001 83rd Ave. Oakland, CA.  As was evident at the PMI-SFBAC Green Team’s prior Kids Against Hunger volunteer event in May, PMI-SFBAC volunteers again represented a multi-cultural mix across ages and professions, and I looked forward to getting to know my fellow chapter volunteers under the sunny skies of this quarter acre farm. 

After we’d seamlessly checked in via phone scan and assembled, ANV Farm Manager Marisa Johnson outlined the 3 major duties she needed our help tackling -- either: 1. Replacing existing vegetable beds, or 2. Weeding or 3. Composting. Next we separated on the quarter acre farm into one of the three teams. 

I elected to join the Replacing Vegetable Beds Boards team. First order of work: Remove and stack lumber from a nearby pickup truck onto picnic tables inside the farm’s perimeter, for revising via an intrepid PMI member’s use of a table saw to deliver customized board fits.  From there it was a satisfying team effort to dig up and remove the old deteriorating wood from each of Tassafaronga Farm’s 19 oblong garden beds’ perimeters, then pound freshly cut customized-sized boards back into them. (I could immediately see the need for having signed the Liability Waiver when a fellow volunteer’s wayward 2 x 8 board inadvertently grazed my leg. No question we were in for PMI Giving Back through a day of physical labor. :) Check out all of the gorgeous photos of our team in action HERE!