Urban Homesteading at the SM Library Farmer’s Market Panel
Urban Homesteading: Owning what we eat. It’s definitely a subject that’s gotten
a good amount of focus these days.
Owning can come in the form of being conscious of what we put in our
mouths, to eating local and organic, to the Mack Daddy of all actions: taking
full responsibility for what we eat but growing it ourselves. It’s no easy feat
reclaiming the food chain, and many of us might get overwhelmed, but as cliché as it might sound (and remember clichés are clichés because they are true) a journey of a thousands
miles really just starts with one step.
And those taking, what at times are be scary but also fun,
baby steps were celebrated last Thursday night at the Santa Monica Library’s
quarterly Farmer’s Market Panel Series.
This event, entitled Urban Homesteading, focused on individuals paving
the way with home gardens, restaurant gardens, and larger organically grown farms. The event was moderated by chef and
owner of Angeli Caffe, and KCRW Good Food host, Evan Kleiman. The panel included a variety of food
personalities: Phil McGrath of McGrath Family Farm in Camarillo, Emily Green, a
gardening and horticulture contributor to the Los Angeles Times, and Ray Garcia
of Executive Chef and amateur gardener of Fig Restaurant.
“I get approached a lot to help build up home gardens. And the first thing I say is let’s get
the soil alive again. Let’s
grow the soil,” explained Phil McGrath of McGrath Family Farm. “Grow a cover crop. Plow it down. Grow another crop. Let’ get the soil good.” “When I started
gardening, one important thing I learned was that the vegetables really just
hover over the soil,” explained Evan Kleiman. “It’s so much like cooking. I would dump compost onto my lawn and introduced worms. It’s mixing and playing with ingredients
to create a recipe for the soil.”
And all of that takes time, something that many of us can’t understand
in this instant-on-demand world we now live in.
“It’s dirty,” noted Green. “When Tim Dunn shows up with a truck of manure and all you
see are flies; at that moment it smells and your neighbors hate you. It’s good to tell your neighbors the
manure is coming so they can close their windows.” “We have 3 acres of compost, green waste from Los Angeles
and Ventura County, and the neighbors are complaining,” elaborated McGrath. “People don’t like seeing it and
the smell of it. I like the smell
of compost. More and more people are
trying to do it right but when done wrong it can catch on fire. But we’re talking organic
farming; commercial farming isn’t like that at all.“ “That’s a given, noted Kleiman. “We’re in the Santa Monica bubble.”
To bust out yet another cliché, we learn more from our failures than from our
successes. “Organic farming is
moody like cooking. Mother
nature is moody,” noted McGrath.
“You’re at the mercy of the elements. So much of the way we cook presumes anything’s available all
that time, that there’s no seasonality.” Growing your own food can be quite a
humbling experience. “If you’re
starting a garden you really have to love failure because you’ll experience a
whole lot of it. I hear
people say ‘mine died.’ And I say ‘Good!’” continued Emily Green. “I’m a chef and I consider myself a novice garden,” stated Ray
Garcia of Fig Restaurant. “I wish
there were more chefs attempting to grow food. Before I started growing I would take for granted Phil’s
stacks of carrots and beautiful tomatoes.
Trying to plant on Ocean and Wilshire… all I can say it was very
humbling.”
“We have partnered with schools in Santa Monica,” continued
Garcia. “It’s a matter of
motivating the students. Just as a
chef is inspired to get great ingredients; we’re inspiring them to grow.” Kleiman inquired if Garcia had a dish
in mind when he starts planning the school’s garden. “I’m more growing to learn how to grow a vegetable and
see what works with that soil,” explained Garcia. “Other than that I leave it up to the kids. Right now what they are growing at the
school are radishes. We’re
very lucky to have not limits.”
“Just like cooking, there’s so many different recipes to
grow. There are 20 different ways
to make a stock. Working
with 20 different kids at a high school we’re fortunate to grow food for
ourselves. And I find the lesson
for myself is it’s okay to fail,” noted Garcia. “The kids ask: what’s that or this? And a lot of the time I don’t
know.” “I have the Blood Orange
tree I planted 10 years ago and it just bared fruit for the first time,” noted
Kleiman. “It’s been so long,
I feel like I have relationship with this tree. And the fruit finally came in; and it’s awful! But in another year it will make good
marmalade.”
At Garcia’s restaurant Fig there is a whole section of the
garden dedicated to herbs. “Right
outside the hotel I ripped up patches, taking it out piece by piece, and
planting edible plants.” “I do
believe the future landscaping, that more and more development is going to be
about edible landscaping,” noted McGrath. “No more sod, no more water needing
plants.” Kleiman noted
considering our Los Angeles water issues, those who have chosen to forsake
their lawn for a garden should get a water credit. “If you tie in the iconography of the food it all
starts to come together and make sense, but not always here. On Orange Grove Blvd. they’re growing
Magnolias,” noted Green. “The
street trees are orange trees in Seville.
What would be the harm if people eat the fruit?”
And with that point that the panel offered multiple
suggestions for the multiple Santa Monica gardeners in the audience, “I want to
give a couple of secrets,” stated McGrath. “Feed the soil not the plant. Whatever the diameter of the seed, plant twice as
deep. And don’t over water! People come to me and say, ‘my
tomatoes grow and are so green, but there’s no fruit.’ And I ask them ‘do you water
every day?’ And they say proudly, ‘yes!’” To which McGrath sighed a heavy sigh. “There’s another
thing,” noted Green, “if you’re not growing from seed, which I definitely
recommend, than shake all the Perlite. Shake out all that nursery soil. If you’re planting in the ground
deep waterings are important. Deep
water and mulch, and prefer chicken manure to steer if you’re buying commercial
manure.”
In regards to the numerous sunlight deficient backyards and
space conscious apartment dwellers in Santa Monica, Emily Green offered the
advice for those with balconies.
“I would just build some planters and pots. If your balcony isn’t sturdy I would do wooden
planters versus terra cotta pots.”
“Also morning light is the most important,” recommended McGrath. “Shade is hard in a lot of people’s
backyards. I would try some edible
shade plants like some lettuces.”
“Particularly in the summer when we can’t grow it because it’s too hot,”
chimed Green. “But whatever you
grow be wary of using plastic containers.
They hold in water and when they get hit by the sun they boil and the
soil gets contaminated.” “I’ve
stopped using plastic pots. I’ve
tried the paper ones, but I’ve learned the terra cotta work better,” noted
Kleiman. “Terra Cottas are a miracles
Yes at the root, people primarily start growing because philosophically
it’s the right thing to do, but growing food should be pleasurable, for the element
of freshness you can’t find at the supermarket. “Salad in window boxes are amazing,” noted Green. “Once you taste fresh salad, shaking
the stuff from the bag stops working for you.” “It actually becomes a lazy way
to get food,” slyly noted Kleiman.
“When I’m home after shopping for the restaurant all day, I don’t want
or need to get back into my car. I
can go downstairs and take some arugula, a chili pepper, mint, and a Meyer
lemon and create a dish.”
Kat Thomas is a Santa Monica writer who grows chives,
peppermint, rosemary, and just planted some jalapenos yesterday. You can find out more about her at
edibleskinny.com
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