What’s incubating at El Paseo?

El Paseo Community Garden’s many programs and initiatives have been added organically as volunteers and residents show their commitment to our community garden and propose their initiatives. Learn about the latest initiative incubating at our garden and get involved. – Paula Acevedo, Co-Director

El Paseo Quail Coop

Hi! My name is Paul Rizik (he/him), I’m the main quail keeper here at El Paseo. My journey with quail started in 2021. I was talking to my boss, who happened to live on a farm, about how I was interested in homesteading chickens but that I couldn’t do it because I lived in an apartment in the city. I had only a vague awareness of what quail were at the time, but my boss brought them up and pointed out that they’d be perfect for my situation. After that, I started doing research and decided that my boss was right. Compared to chickens, quail are smaller, quieter, and require significantly less room to thrive. Our quail are of the Coturnix genus meaning they spend most of their time foraging for seeds & food on the ground, plus they’re winter hardy and lay eggs once a day, just like a chicken would.

A year later, I began volunteering at El Paseo. El Paseo’s motto is “empower through nature” and one of many great things about the garden’s collaborative spirit is that volunteers and leadership are very supportive of individual projects that expand the garden’s scope. Many of our most popular programs, like beekeeping and sound healing, started as individual initiatives that grew into more formal offerings. Once I got my footing at the garden and demonstrated that I was reliable (volunteering for about a year), I mentioned my interest in raising quail after one of our volunteer days and garden leadership was immediately supportive of the idea. We came up with a plan and a budget, found a friend nearby who was kind enough to donate birds from her flock (thanks Amanda!), and over the course of a month or two, we built their cage during our Sunday volunteer days. In September 2023, we welcomed our initial flock of birds, and the El Paseo Quail Qu-oop has been going strong ever since!

We currently have 5 birds, but we plan to scale up considerably during summer 2024 with the goal of ending the year with at least 25 birds sourced from friends, neighbors, and volunteers who are interested in incubating our existing quail eggs. Currently, we plan to offer quail eggs as part of the garden’s weekly U-pick in exchange for donations, but our long term vision is to transition to a cooperative (qu-operative) model where, in exchange for eggs, volunteers pay a small fee every month to cover food and maintenance while sharing responsibilities for caring for the birds.

Harley Quailn, Qopper, Quartz, Qali, Quailen Jennings,
Sagiquailius (RIP)

If you’re interested in meeting the quail or getting involved, come to our stewardship volunteer days every Sunday from 10-1. And if you’re interested in planning for the qu-operative, or just want updates, reach out to us via email at QuailPaseo@gmail.com or follow us on Instagram @elpaseogarden.