Ecology Center Creates Earth Oven for Sunset's Baker's Alley

By Ed Moy

Members of the Ecology Center of San Francisco (ECOSF) gathered together with volunteers in October to build an earth oven at an inaugural workshop event for Baker's Alley, a new eco-community space located at 1390 31st Ave.

The Ecology Center received support from the SF Department of Public Works by reclaiming old road asphalt, also known as "Urbanite," to use as a waste resource.

"We wanted to source our material locally so we wouldn't impact the environment," said ECOSF co-founder Tori Jacobs, who came up with the idea of creating an earth oven for the Sunset community.

The dome-shaped, heat-retaining earth oven was built using the recycled Urbanite for its base along with sand, clay and straw. It will be accessible to the community to use for baking breads, pizzas, cookies and more during community event days to be held monthly at the new space.

"We're all about building sustainability and sharing with the community," Jacobs said.

According to Jacobs, the earth oven allows community members to become more self-sufficient, rather than spending more on their individual PG&E bills, while reducing the need to purchase packaged products.

Jacobs added that bakers would give workshops where kids can learn how to make bread or other baked goods. There would also be edible seedlings, shrubs and trees for sale that were grown locally by ECOSF volunteers. These would be offered to the community through the Baker's Alley community space.

Founded in 2006, ECOSF is a SF-based nonprofit dedicated to providing resources, education and support to further its mission of "empowering citizens to create cooperative communities that are ecologically, socially and culturally in balance."

Since its creation, ECOSF has helped local schools, residents and community groups design, prepare and plant edible, organic gardens with an emphasis on California native species.

Previous ECOSF projects include community gardens at the Jefferson and Francis Scott Key elementary schools.

"We involve the principals, teachers, students and parents," said Jacobs. "We see it as a hub, like a farmer's market, where we can turn this into an edible garden, a food forest where kids can learn about sustainability and ecology."

ECOSF also holds ongoing monthly "Garden Work Day" events at the schools, as well as an outdoor classroom currently being built at Monroe Elementary School in the Excelsior District.

"We want to re-envision our schools as village squares," Jacobs said. "We see it as hub for community and civil engagement. We're not just consumers. Our goal is to get back to a mindset of community first. This is ourÊway of giving back."

Leading the earth oven building workshop were volunteers Jan Sturmann and friends Lori and Robert Kurzfeld.ÊMore than a dozen other volunteers also assisted, including several from "ECO Students," an environmental and social responsibility group at San Francisco State University.

"I think its really great to get your hands into something that feels real and connected to the Earth," said volunteer Rory Austin. "It's more than just turning a knob or getting a loaf of bread at the store. I feel grateful for Tori and Davin creating this."

For ECOSF co-founders Davin Wentworth-Thrasher, Sam Hartman and Jacobs, the earth oven is just one of many ECOSF community space projects.

The group's outreach work spirals out from the Baker's Alley community space, which is a work in progress that began about a year ago. It currently includes a garden and pond area with chickens to supply eggs and fertilizer.

Although ECOSF's focus is on educating children through the public school system, it also works with private residences and businesses.

"My parents were ecologically conscious," said Wentworth-Trasher, who grew up in a household that taught him early on to recycle, save water and use renewable energy sources.

Wentworth-Thrasher said the impetus to start ECOSF was developing within him since his teen years.ÊAt that time, he was already becoming more "consumer oriented." He bought new cars and rented luxury apartments and was part of what he calls the "consumer economy-driven machine."

But Wentworth-Trasher's life turned around after Hartman and Jacobs got him to view the documentary film "The Corporation."

After reflecting on his own lifestyle, Wentworth-Thrasher decided to make major changes.ÊHe got rid of his Escalade and bought a Prius.ÊHe went to work for a solar panel company and went back to school as an engineering major.

"The Western paradigm of trying to live as most of us do is impossible to maintain," said Wentworth-Thrasher. "We can't live like this forever. We want to radically change that paradigm. We want to shake off that consumer label."

ECOSF's current goals include building a community center to serve the community, much like Berkeley's Ecology Center.

For those interested in joining ECOSF, they offer a membership program. The fees help support the group's ongoing projects and outreach efforts.

The first baking day that the community is invited to is Sunday, Nov. 16, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. To RSVP, call (415) 846-8164 or e-mail info@eco-sf.org.

For more information about ECOSF, visit the Web site at www.eco-sf.org.