Biofuel Oasis

What a great place! I live about a block or two away from here so I pass it on a daily basis. I personally don’t use biofuel for my car but I was in search of local honey for my allergies. They were the first place I thought of when I went on my search and I was right! I love the stores selection and products. I bought 16oz for $ 13 and was very happy with my purchase, tastes delicious! The woman was so friendly and welcoming which I also appreciated. I can’t wait to go back and buy some plants and other goods. It’s worth it to stop by!

Great place for urban farm supplies and advise. I think of the crew there as my friends and inspiration.

Back when I owned a diesel vw rabbit, this was a regular place for me.
I’ve now moved on to EV (for quite a while, for those nay-​sayers – haven’t been to a gas station, needed an oil change, etc., plus I can leave my car ‘running’ and eat my lunch behind it, but that’s another story.)
The reason I love Biofuel Oasis is 2 things:
One: I have chickens in the backyard and they are hungry girls… I mean women… so I have come to count on this place for all my chicken feed requirements outside of weeds in the yard.
Two: I also love that I can bring my used cooking oil over to the container and *boom*, recycling taken care of.
Never been here but that it was a pleasant experience.

They really are the best, great for the planet and the people. Shout out to Corina (sp?) who helped us all day trying to get our car re-​started when we had a faulty fuel filter from one those other auto-​parts stores and finally got us going with the right one.

I like the Urban Farm Store. It’s a small space — an antique gas station store, but with a surprising selection of chicken, bee, gardening and canning items. Also, pretty good selection of books re the aforementioned subjects. They also have a locally made lotion that I haven’t purchased but I put some on my hands in the store and it smelled ahh-​mazing. Nice little place to check out if you are in need of urban farming supplies.

I’m just gonna throw one more update out there!
On top of all of the awesome things I’ve already said about them, they also have workshops now. You can learn how to make your own cheese, ferment your own pickles or kombucha or mead, raise your own bees or chickens, and much more.
Also: they do not set the price of biodiesel. The price is set by their supplier, and is pretty stable. It is always going to cost more than diesel, at least until we have some kind of alternative fuel revolution, because it takes diesel-​powered trucks to ship all that used cooking oil around. In fact, the cost of all goods is tied to the price of diesel. There’s your Econ 101 for the day!
There was recently a study done that showed that if you include the practical costs of all that pollution, gasoline «actually» costs us upwards of $ 6.50 a gallon. It’s just that we pay some of that cost at the pump, and the rest of it later. So at around $ 4.75 a gallon, payable up front only, biodiesel is a fantastic deal.

Cool that alt fuels are available, and it’s nice that they spruce up the filling station so it doesn’t look ratchet. A truly progressive «gas station.»

Wow. I heard great things and was excited to go. Maybe they were having a bad day, but they ruined my day, thus the bad review. As a business owner myself, I was so surprised at their callous attitude. The lady that seemed to be the owner could care less and was openly showing a resentful attitude. The décor is very nice, as are most of the goods sold. Beyond the service, they have a good thing going. However, when I’m treated like a piece of shiat, my reviews will reflect the service. I will try again, so hopefully I can upgrade the review next time around.

Always love walking into this store. Gets me inspired. Come here for all my urban farming needs!

I’ve been here a few times and read the previous reviews. I must say that yes the staff is friendly and helpful, great people… what you’d expect from the biodiesel community. And the facility is charming, with an assortment of urban farming supplies and unconventional mart for your crunchy side.
However, the price of biodiesel is unacceptable. When I went there It was well over 1.25 more expensive than any biodiesel I had bought in the previous month, and I just did a cross country trip from Georgia. From Georgia, to Missouri, to Colorado, to Utah, to Nevada, Biofuel Oasis was the most expensive.
It is too bad because both times I’ve been here there were no cars/​trucks and I was the only client. Too bad, this place could do so much better by making their fuel more competitively priced.

I visited Biofuel Oasis recently and was utterly charmed by the place. I was in search of a beekeeping suit, having just gotten a top bar hive, and was getting my bees the following weekend. The store is located in a historic, restored 1933 gas station on Ashby Avenue. Yep, that’s where grandma would have fueled up in her little 1933 Coupe. I love what they’ve done with the building and how they have managed to put so many urban farming supplies (including a great selection of books) in such a small space. I got a great bee suit and was able to try it on, rather than trying to guess my size from a catalog. I had been in search of «tree collards,» perennial collards that get big, couldn’t find any except on eBay, and half of those had died. They had lovely tree collards that are now thriving in my garden. Books, chicken feeders and other stuff, lotions and oils, honey, kitchen stuff — you just want to buy it all. The people there are really nice, which matters a lot to me. While I was there a guy who was one of their suppliers came in with a lovely-​smelling tray of soaps he had made, so I had to get one of those. And they give classes as well! I don’t live in Berkeley but I schedule trips so I can touch down at my favorite places, and Biofuel Oasis is definitely going on the list.

I did not purchase any bio fuel but decided to stop by and discuss biofuels with one of the owners. I liked the store and would like to see more fueling locations like this one.

A great green company.
While I do not own a bio fuel car, I have used Bio Fuel oasis as a resource for urban farming supplies. The staff is super knowledgeable, friendly, and always willing to help our their customers. As someone who was new to growing crops in a coastal zone they talked me through the differences between what I knew and this new-​to-​me climate and helped me make my garden this year a success.

I have filled up my Dodge Ram’s 35 gallon fuel tank on more than a few times. That’s a bunch of bucks at $ 4.59 a gallon. I have also bought more than a few bags of chicken feed. Unlike a lot of folks here, I’ve always found the folks there pleasant and helpful and not at all rude or arrogant. Sometimes I buy chicken scratch or pellets for my girls. Good stuff, and though expensive the chickens love it!
But I have to say, I drive down the freeway a few more miles past Berkeley to Oakland, and I can buy ASTM certified B100 made from recycled restaurant grease at Sirona Fuels, aka Blue Sky Biofuels. They will fill your tank from a truck, or from a large container. I usually show up with additional cubes or barrels so that I keep my trips here to a minimum. At the current price of $ 3.90 a gallon I am saving a nice chunk of cash, upwards of $ 22 a tank. Oh, and Sirona Fuels makes the Biodiesel there in their Biodiesel plant. Locally collected used cooking oil in Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco, locally produced and sold Biodiesel. Good Stuff.

It is wonderful that Biofuel Oasis organizes classes for would-​be urban homesteaders now.
It would be more wonderful still if the contacts at these classes were FRIENDLY and HELPFUL.
I had no clue the woman onsite at the venue for the class was with Biofuel Oasis. I didn’t know who the heck she was. I found out by accident when she came up and pumped me for all kinds of info on where I learned about the class and looked weirdly at me when I basically said, not from the Biofuel Oasis site, but from a local urban farmer. Cripes.
By the time we all came out to meet the goats and learn to milk them, etc, I noticed there was a display of books available for sale. Well, I think they were for sale. There was NO sign, there was NO invitation to purchase books, and I think I saw the Biofuel employee running someone’s credit card to buy a book.
The class teacher was wonderful. I was so pleased to learn about urban goats from her. Her end of the class was perfect. Kitty Sharkey of Havenscourt Homestead ROCKS. She knows so much and is so helpful. I will just contact her privately next time I have goat questions.
I would really not want to teach classes very loosely organized by these biofuel hags though. They have utterly no people skills, and even fewer customer service skills. This was also the very sweet lady (dripping with sarcasm) who shoo’d me out of the damn store the last time I bought chicken feed, over two years ago.

My quest for an urban garden was a dream up until a week ago, when I got permission to go gardening crazy on my boyfriend’s backyard. The soil is rocky and heavy, so instead of spending hours and hours tilling the crap out of the yard, my friend suggested we do a raised bed (no-​dig) garden. We read the directions, bought a pre-​fab bed, soil, manure, got some cardboard, and… oh crap… where the hell is someone supposed to find HAY in the middle of Oakland?
Well look no further, my friends. Biofuel Oasis, aside from being a dealer of earth-​friendly gas, is also an urban farming supply center. Who knew? Seeds, things for beekeeping and chicken coops, books galore. I got my $ 12 bale of hay and some seeds, and went on my merry way. Be prepared to wait a little while to check out should they be busy (it’s a tiny store), but other than that, the whole deal was painless.

This place is one of the few locations to purchase bio diesel in the East Bay. The Bio Oasis is locally owned and operated worker co op.
The Bio Oasis offers classes in urban farming, beekeeping and animal keeping — goats & chickens. And oh yeah. they also sell bio diesel! They even offer a pay card so you can purchase diesel on the days when the actual office is closed — which is on Sundays — I think.
They also help out by posting helpful info for diesel owners so they know that the bio diesel gels at 32 °F before purchasing :)
I specifically attended the bee keeping 101 class on March 20^th. I found it extremely helpful to meet local individuals who are interested in bee keeping. It was also really nice to be able to ask the questions I had after I started reading Sweetness & Light by Hattie Ellis and the Backyard Beekeeper by Kim Flottum on my own inclination — which lead me to sign up to for the class — which is a steal at only $ 35!
The class is from 9:30 am — 1pm and is guided by a power point presentation that covers the basics about bee history, set up cost, types of bee, bee resources etc. I showed up early and Margaret let me wait inside until the class started — instead of freezing my tush outside.
The class was taught by two lovely ladies who themselves are relatively new beekeepers — Margaret for 3 years and Jennifer — 5 years.
Margaret has a stutter but I was so impressed by her choosing to teach the class — regardless of the stutter!
Jennifer made the point that because they are newer beekeepers they remember the challenges of beginning beekeeping. Ex. thinking the bees sleep at night — THEY DON’T — so don’t mess with your bees at night!
They give out the power point as a hand out so make sure to bring a pen and take notes! Its also great as an information resource.
I highly recommend the class and the teachers.
So check out the bio oasis!

Knowledgeable and friendly.
Real people.
Tip — It’s worth it to get the card that lets you fuel up off-​hours.

Thank you ladies. My girlfriend and I drive two diesel vw bugs. We bought them just to use biodiesel. I appreciated the classes and help with the switch. I like their eclectic little station with bee keeping stuff and urban farming gear.
I ran into a problem with other vendors using virgin oils instead of recycled wast oils, so I was grateful to the biodivas for their dedication to the best ideas behind biofuel. What put them over the top is when they took over a small lone pump operated in San Anselmo, which is much closer to me. That was really great. I havn’t seen much of the ladies in their organic eco station since then as I use the local pump, so I thought I’d give them a Unilocal.
Thank you, you rock.

Love this place even more after they’ve moved. Pay the one-​time fee to get their member card and fill up your car at even more convenient hours.
4.5 stars. (Still isn’t as cheap as I would hope, but you know me, I’m a cheap-@$$)