Excerpt:

Seven women stood in the Alameda Point Collaborative urban farm, and with an audience of friends, family and some buzzing bees, graduated from a six month, on-the-job training program.

For many of the graduates of varying ages and backgrounds, the moment on July 31 marked a turning point or another step toward decent employment, further education and independence.

More than half of the graduates had worked on the farm during the six months, and so it was only appropriate that they received the graduation certificates amidst the fruits of their labor: rows of tomatoes, tangled cucumber vines, weeded beds of squash, and a canopy laden with perfectly round, unripe passion fruit.