“Blend the Useful with the Agreeable.”

- Observations on Modern Gardening, Thomas Whately, 1770

Your main contact here at Poppy Corners is me, Elizabeth. I've been a nature-lover, hiker, and gardener all my life; I find inspiration, health, deep joy, and peace in nature. I teach classes in Urban Agroecology at Merritt College in Oakland, California. I and my students study the intersection of agriculture, urban farming, and food system justice for a more equitable world.

Our suburban plot in the East Bay consists of many plant communities which are grouped by sun and water needs. We garden for beauty and pleasure, but also for the local wildlife. We love to grow our own produce right here on our own land, which we eat fresh and preserve for other seasons. We keep bees and chickens for food, and also for soil and habitat improvement. We practice regenerative agriculture and horticulture.

Poppy Corners is located in Zone 9b, which presents unique challenges in the changing climate; our summers are getting hotter and drier, and our winters wetter and colder. Resilience in the face of a changing planet is something we determinedly cultivate. Our property straddles the edge of the local open spaces (Sugarloaf, Shell Ridge, Mt. Diablo foothills) and the vibrant city downtown which lures shoppers from all over the Bay Area. As such, I consider us an ‘ecotone’ - that is, a region of transition between two biological communities. Ecotones are ecologically rich, absorbing a bit of both the communities they bridge. We are not afraid of new technology; likewise, we are not afraid of the old traditions. Therefore we use both to provide us with what we need for a changing world.