Starting in 2008 with the modest goal of creating a community garden in California Nursery Historical Park in Niles, and later acquiring a second garden behind Mission Valley Vet, LEAF has blossomed into their full title of Local Ecology and Agriculture in Fremont. In 2025, with a dramatically expanded urban farm, they have taken root in the community.
On a sunny day in July the Urban Farm was lively with student and volunteer activity, as well as builders working on new beds for as-yet-unplanted ground. LEAF president Elaine Owyang pointed to a fenced off area behind the beehives that had been reclaimed by the overgrowth.
She explained, “We actually started there 12 years ago. That was owned by the vet clinic, Dr. Stone. She actually didn’t want to develop it, so she bought the land and she wanted to find someone like us. Luckily we found each other! So it’s one of those really weird things.”
The area became known as the Stone Garden. However, two years ago the land was sold, and LEAF had to move all structures, planters, plants and supplies to the adjacent plot they’ve to the adjacent plot they’ve leased from Alameda County Water District for six years. Luckily, a partnership with Alameda County Water District more than made up the deficit.
Bettina Grab, director of development, partnerships and marketing for LEAF, looked out to the as-of-yet unplanted land toward Mission Boulevard and the hills. “We’ve partnered with them and they’ve kindly leased the land to us,” she said. “They’re really happy to have us as tenants.” In June 2025 LEAF dug into the ground and started laying the foundation and irrigation and started preparing the soil.
“We’re doubling our production area,” Grab added.
That production benefits more than the volunteers. “Everything we grow we donate to the local food banks, to Tri-City Volunteers and to Centro De Servicios in Union City,” said Grab. “Last year we donated over 5,500 pounds of fresh produce. It literally gets harvested in the morning, driven to the food bank and within half an hour it’s on the food bank’s tables so people can have it. So it’s the freshest they can get.”
Grab continued, “One thing we’re doing is expanding this lath house to have more food production in the winter so we can grow year-round. And that’s in direct response to the food insecurity in the region.” Local efforts to fight hunger are all the more vital amid federal cuts to SNAP.
“We use regenerative agriculture practices, which means we don’t use any pesticides or herbicides. We use organic practices,” said Owyang. “It’s all about creating a natural ecosystem, so we actually encourage carnivorous insects because carnivorous insects eat vegetarian insects. We don’t like those because those are the ones that eat our plants!”
LEAF brings the garden’s harvest to the community, but they also bring the community into the garden. The Niles site offers 40 beds for people to rent, while the urban farm hosts volunteer days on Monday, Thursday and second Saturdays; classes and workshops and Eagle Scout projects—they estimate 12 are going on at the moment.
The Water District land will span the production garden and a whimsical education garden with beds arranged to look like a sun with rays, blue bubbles and spiralling air currents. There will be an outdoor classroom covered by shade cloths. Owyang said, “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be really, really cool.”
On a Thursday morning, kids were working in the garden and painting murals. Mandy, LEAF’s student intern, showed off candles made of wax from the farm’s bee colony, and elderberry jam made from a native tree that happened to be growing on site.
There are plans for a ribbon cutting in the fall, but the most iconic new feature may go unnoticed by attendees. While the education garden has a nature-themed layout, the production garden will be on brand, with planters arranged to spell LEAF. “When you take a plane and go to Oakland, you’re going to be able to see LEAF spelled out,” said Owyang. “We’re really looking forward to all this stuff. It’s going to be fun.”
