Deep Medicine Circle’s farm the largest rooftop planting on the West Coast
Visionaries Rupa Marya and Ben Fahrer farm major solutions, from the ground up
By Mark C. Anderson
Edible Monteray Bay
Dec 2023
Excerpt:
Dr. Rupa Marya is shouting from the rooftop.
And it’s not just any rooftop. Deep Medicine Circle’s farm in Oakland is the largest rooftop planting on the West Coast and the most productive urban food plot in the San Francisco Bay Area.
On its design merits and organic output alone, it’s a wonder to take in, skyline views aside. As it provides nutrient- rich produce to food insecure souls at a dozen-plus places like UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Booker T. Washington Community Service Center and Moms 4 Housing, the farm also provides wildlife habitat, stormwater mitigation and replicable practices for city-centered agroecology everywhere.
And these aren’t just any shouts, but blueprints sown from a broad coalition, exhaustive research and Indigenous wisdom: Heal soils to heal people. Restore connection to land and one another. Make healthy produce a human right.
