In a sprawling Fremont, a quick turn off Mission Boulevard and onto Mowry leads to a hidden garden behind Mission Valley Veterinary Clinic. Beyond the gate, the land suddenly opens up into a garden with raised planters, greenhouses, vegetable beds and beehives. Colorful murals painted by local students compete with the flowers to add vibrancy and cheer. The scents of mulch and compost permeate the air, and occasionally a train horn blares. Hills loom over everything, creating the impression that stepping into the garden means stepping out of urban life and into another world.
This was the atmosphere at Local Ecology and Agriculture Fremont (LEAF)’s grand opening for their Urban Farm, developed on land leased from the Alameda County Water District. LEAF is a nonprofit collection of volunteers with two urban gardens in Fremont. In addition to growing produce and donating it to local foodbanks, they educate students and adults on regenerative growing practices.
Volunteers have done much work over the past 18 months to treat the soil, install irrigation and build planters. The opening, dubbed “Grow Together,” celebrated the partners who brought the vision into reality.
Zoe Caron, an artist with a background in biological science, shared, “The thing that I love most about working at LEAF is the fact that there really is an intersection of art and science, and art as a tool to bring the community together, get them into the garden and learn about what we’ve got going on with the soil.”
At the event, different stations demonstrated aspects of the garden. Caron showed in-progress murals that portray plant and animal life above and below the soil. Dr. Joshua Garcia came with a tri-fold on his experiments on how regenerative farming affects soil. And Syndee Kuhlman showed off the garden’s bee colony and honey production.
Bettina Grab, director of development, marketing and partnerships for LEAF, thanked the event sponsors: Fremont Bank (whose foundation also supported the landscape and irrigation), in-kind sponsors Republic Services and Stopwaste, and the snacks and drink sponsors.
The new land is divided into an education garden and a production garden. “We’re going to double the amount of food that we’re going to produce,” said LEAF president Elaine Owyang. Planters in the education garden take on whimsical shapes to represent the sun, clouds and wind. Still in progress is an education center between two storage trailers, with a planned opening in 2026.
Owyang thanked the City of Fremont for helping with rezoning the land for agriculture. “Did you ever hear about cities changing zoning? Well, they did it for us in six months!” She also shared that on Thursday, Sept. 4, LEAF was approved for a $20,000 grant from USDA to be paid out over four years. She joked, “I’ve never filled out so many forms in my life. I gave them every single number that I have.”
A small tractor pulls a wagon train of planters. Stephanie Uchida Student volunteers Elka Hadley and Charu Garapaty crewed the welcome desk. Stephanie Uchida Whimsical touches around the farm add to good vibes. Stephanie Uchida Beds in the education garden look like the sun, raindrops and wind. Stephanie Uchida
Sheena Vaidyanathan, founder of Tera Farm, was the keynote speaker. She talked about the importance of supporting small farmers and making sure they get the profits from their crops. “It’s not easy to be a small farmer,” she said. “Which is why everywhere around us you’ll see these big ag with a hundred acres of cauliflower, two hundred acres of broccoli. That’s what they have. We want to change this. We want diversity.”
In July 2025, LEAF became contracted educators with California School of the Blind (just a mile away from the urban farm). Kate McGrath and Jim Blackshear from the school’s vocational department came to speak. The school already has two beds in LEAF’s community garden in Niles.
McGrath said, “We have students who have never been in a garden before. [One] lives in an apartment and this was his first time being around plants. He has the hugest smile every time he comes here. We also have a student who’s considering doing landscape design as a career, and when it became time to show interest in what jobs he wanted this year he was like, ‘I want to go back to LEAF. That’s where I want to be.’”
Not measurable by science, but important to LEAF’s thriving, are the good vibes. Owyang said, “We wish for something, ‘like we need compost,’ and all of a sudden compost magically appears. We need chips and they appear. I think if you come here you’ll feel how magical this place is.”
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