Ever hear the term urban homesteading?  You know, the energy and effort so many people in Oakland, Detroit, and so many cities around the country put in  to grow their own health food--right in their communities--and to develop related cost-effective, energy-saving programs like fruit foraging and greywater recycling.

Urban foraging can be a lot easier with a toddler along for the ride. You might think a 2 year old would be more trouble than help in gathering fruit, but that's only if you don't calculate the cuteness factor.

A report dated Feb. 11 issued by the Public Safety Committee and signed by City Attorney John Russo and Police Chief Anthony Batts has outlined the city’s expenditures to date in the ongoing gang injunctions civil prosecutions.

Do you have those days when everything around you seems charged with some extra meaning--or additional beauty-- that makes your heart stop for a second?  Are there moments when the familiar streets and usual houses suddenly reveal hidden beauty?

This  past Saturday the Longfellow Community Association, along with Dist.

A Homemade Exchange is a simple concept.

I'm on a quest. 

I want to forage and eat at least one thing every week for a year. I live in the flatlands of Oakland – so yes, there's a lot of concrete here. But there's also an amazing amount of fruit, wild greens, artichokes, nuts and cacti. It's just a perspective change to have it pop out at you. 

You're probably thinking, “I didn't know we had olive groves in Oakland.” 

And we don't ... per se. But the trees are everywhere. Once you can recognize their distinctive gray-green silhouette, it's just a slight shift in awareness to start to see them everywhere you go. 

(Editor's note: Our continuing series that looks at Oakland Local's picks for people/organizations to watch in 2011. See all profiles in this series.)

Christoper Shein is the Bay Area's resident permaculture design guru and for the last 10 years, he has taught the Permaculture Design class at Merritt Community College’s Landscape Horticulture Department, inspiring hundreds of students to build new gardens and integrate permaculture's principles of sustainability into surrounding landscapes.

Shein just signed a contract with Timber Press to write a permaculture gardening book in 2011, with the working title of "The Edible Gardener's Guide to Permaculture."

A hearing regarding possible conflict of interest allegations in the ongoing Oakland gang injunctions saga has resulted in the judge issuing a non-ruling, until more evidence is presented.

The Bay Area is the independent capital of the free world. Oakland, in particular, is known for its political history and the Black Panther Movement. The city is continuously cultivating creative culture.

This year, there were creative accessories, clothing lines and music artists standing out amongst the crowd. 2010 was a great year for people with creative ideas and agendas, so I decided to make a list of my personal favorite fashionable artists, brands and events of this past year.

Let's go!

So how was it? Mobbed!

Last evening's Pop Up General Store, held on MLK and 47th street in the old auto building, had standing-room only crowds all night.  A wide range of local folks came by to taste, sample and purchase food and treats. The mostly Oakland-based vendors, including Amy Cakes, Studebaker Pickles and Blue Chair Fruit, had folks packing into the halls and money changing hands.