[pf] Where Gardening Is Seen as a Revolutionary Act

by Tom Wheeler

19 December 2000 13:38 UTC

http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20001217/t000120381.html

Where Gardening Is Seen as a Revolutionary Act
Agriculture: City folk are returning to the land, even when there isn't
much--in backyards and lots, even on rooftops.

By VERONIQUE DE TURENNE, Special to The Times

    SAN FRANCISCO--The cubes and quadrangles of this tiny backyard don't
look like a hotbed of revolution. Not to George Gutekunst.
     A non-practicing lawyer and retired longshoreman, Gutekunst says all he
did was transform the arid sliver of earth behind his Richmond district
apartment into a thriving, pint-size farm.
     But this is a city where little things like riding a bike, boycotting
grapes or drinking shade-grown coffee can equal civil disobedience. So, to a
growing community of urban farmers in the Bay Area forced to make do with
scraps of land, it's also a place where gardening can be a revolutionary
act.
     "Organic gardening is probably the most radical thing you can do," said
David Blume, a third-generation San Franciscan and founder of the
Permaculture Institute. His farm, three steeply terraced acres south of the
city, grew 100,000 pounds of produce last year. Most of it was sold to Bay
Area families.
     Blume delivers his farming-as-revolution message worldwide. In Mexico,
he taught a cooperative how to farm oyster mushrooms using agricultural
waste such as coffee pulp. In Montana, he taught sustainable agriculture on
the Blackfoot Indian reservation.
     "By being an organic farmer, you fly in the face of every part of the
power structure," Blume said. "Refusing to use chemicals, refusing to use
genetically modified seeds--it's a real act of defiance."
     Viewed in that light, Gutekunst's garden, free of chemicals and full of
life, is little short of subversive.
     "This neighborhood used to be all sand dunes, and the soil was awful,"
he said. He used railroad ties to make 10 raised beds, trucked in some
starter soil and created a compost pile. Today dozens of robust greens and
vegetables fill the rows, the result of the hours each day that Gutekunst,
45, spends in his garden.
     "I had to build the soil from the ground up, until it had tilth and
buoyancy," he said.
     He once sold his harvest to upscale restaurants. Now, weary of the
bookkeeping, he farms for himself, his friends and a few fortunate
neighbors. They share the scores of varieties of robust greens and
vegetables that grow in the beds, the result of the hours each day that
Gutekunst spends in his garden.
     The spicy pepper of wild arugula explodes in your mouth. Red and yellow
Swiss chard glow like neon in the misty light. Puckery sorrel, fragrant
lemon verbena, ruffled wild celery, apple mint, black Spanish radish, kale
and squash grow in a seamless swath of vigorous color.
     "This is going to be garlic, potatoes, spinach and beets," Gutekunst
said, pointing to a bed topped by a delicate frizz of pale green. "People
are always surprised by what they see back here, but for the most part they
understand. There's something about a backyard farm that feels right, deep
inside you somewhere."
     It's a feeling more and more people have come to share. Bay Area
gardeners can get help from a raft of organizations, from the Institute for
Sustainable Forestry to the International Society for Ecology and Culture.
     "There's been a definite increase in urban agriculture," said Abiola
Adeyemi of the Maryland-based Alternative Farm Systems Information Center.
"People became interested in all aspects of backyard farming. Now you find
people growing food on rooftop gardens or vacant lots or even on empty
land."
     And they're shunning genetically altered seeds and pesticides.
     Ray Green heads the California Organic Program in the state Department
of Food and Agriculture. To gauge growing interest in alternative farming
methods, just look at the numbers, he said. Last year, 435 farmers applied
for state-sanctioned organic status. Croplands ranged from thousand-acre
enterprises to tiny city lots. Certification isn't easy--it takes 36 months
of chemical-free farming just to get started.
     Robert MacKimmie, a high-tech consultant, is part of San Francisco's
gardening revolution. Fascinated by honeybees, he founded City Bees in 1998.
With 20 to 30 hives that he lends to backyard farmers throughout the city,
he gives urban gardeners the very pollinators needed for successful harvest.
     The bees produced about 2,000 pounds of honey last year, much of which
was packaged and sold.
     Some people host hives to help pollinate their produce. Others,
including a Stanford professor, are in it for the science. "The bees are
experts at thermodynamic heat distribution and keep the hive at a constant
96 degrees year-round," MacKimmie said. "Studying the bees in her backyard
helps her in her work."
     Judy Adler's garden understands.
     The half-acre yard of her Walnut Creek home, which backs up to an
oak-studded hill, inspired her. Rather than fight nature with landscaping
that ignored her region's Mediterranean climate and her neighborhood's
abundance of wildlife, Adler created a wildlife corridor.
     She planted trees to attract birds and shrubs to feed deer. "I look at
this as part of a whole ecosystem," Adler said, her gesture taking in the
yard and the hills beyond.
     Adler's passion led her to help found Lifegarden, a nonprofit group
whose aim is to teach other gardeners about this alternative approach to
landscaping. "This is a joyful way to live, to share your land with living
things," she said.

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