Vol. XLIV, No. 10
November 2020
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THE NOE VALLEY VOICE Call the Midwife!
City Moves to Landmark LyonMartin House
The Root Is Home Birth Central In San Francisco By Megan Wetherall
Duncan Street Home Recently Sold for $2.25 Million
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ach year, more than 10 babies are born at home in Noe Valley under the care of licensed midwives Kelly Murphy and Kara Engelbrecht, who each run their own practice out of a shared space at 1300 Sanchez St., aptly named The Root. Ever since the lives of these two women intersected at a midwifery conference in Michigan in 2008, they have been sharing and supporting one another on this journey, which they describe as devotional, a calling, and a life of service. The roots of the word midwife date back to around 1300, from Middle English mid (with) and wif (woman), literally meaning a woman who assists women at childbirth. “I am really drawn to the ancientness of it,” says Murphy, adding wryly that midwifery and prostitution are the oldest professions for women. “Meaning that women are with women when they give birth, and that’s a ceremony, it’s not a clinical experience. There is reclamation in what that actually means, and walking in our door means confronting that part.” She’s right, because an entire wall in the front room at The Root displays a gallery of black-and-white, thumb-tacked photographs that capture all the intimacy, pain, rawness, and celebration of birth. “We are the only office that exists for the homebirth community in San Francisco at this time,” Murphy explains, noting
By Matthew S. Bajko
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Presenting Travis Ray Elbogen: Glowing mom Sarah Elbogen holds her days-old son, who joined the world with the assistance of a midwife from The Root. Photo courtesy Mike Elbogen
an Francisco officials are moving forward to landmark the home where the late lesbian pioneering couple Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin lived throughout most of their 54 years together. The Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in support of starting the process at its Oct. 20 meeting. The city’s historic preservation commission has 90 days to take up the matter and send it back to the supervisors for a final vote on adding the property at 651 Duncan St. to the list of local landmarks. The 5,700-square-foot double lot includes the couple’s two-story cottage, built in 1908, and an undeveloped area the women had tended as a garden. “If there is a deserving landmark, this is certainly it,” said District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who had visited the women at their home and is co-sponsoring the landmark request. District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman spearheaded the effort to grant historic status to the property after David R. Duncan bought it for $2.25 million in September. The home’s listing agent had advertised it pre-sale as "a once-in-a-lifetime development opportunity.” Neither Duncan nor a representative addressed CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
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Tending the Sweet Spots in Buzzing Noe Valley
Bee ‘Guardian’ Works to Relocate Unwanted Hives and Their Tenants By Matthew S. Bajko
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Using his understanding and care, Philip Gerrie prepares to extract and move a swarm of bees from a backyard bird feeder to a more suitable home less exposed to the elements. Photo courtesy Mark Burnley
ith two decades of experience under his protective helmet, Philip Gerrie has become a go-to herder of Apis mellifera, or western honey bees, for people across the Bay Area dealing with swarming hives on their property. He will show up with his beehive boxes and specially designed vacuum to collect the buzzing homesteaders. Within hours he can extract a colony of 5,000-plus bees. He estimates he has now overseen 250 extractions from people’s back yards or homes. Call him a pied piper for the pollinators. “I have always liked bees,” said Gerrie, 68, now retired from his career as a postal worker. In the back yard of his own 26th Street home near the Upper Douglass Dog Play Area, where he has lived since 1981, Gerrie tends to six hives he maintains in CONTINUED ON PAGE 11