Little City Gardens

Just back from LA.  Caitlyn and I took a necessary and exciting trip down the coast to visit a friend’s farm and to sign a land-use contract with the property owner of our new market-garden site. 

First we stopped in Goleta, just north of Santa Barbara, to visit Caitlyn’s friend Shawn.  He is a devoted new farmer who started Out of Step Farms on one acre last fall.  It was impressive to see how much he’d been able to accomplish solo in his first half year of his own farming business.  Abundant rows of artichokes, onions, leeks, favas, strawberries, mesclun mix and more.  He has the good fortune of growing in an ideal climate in one of the most fertile agricultural regions in the state. However, he also has the challenge of renting in an area where farm land, accordingly, goes for a high price and the consumer demand for small scale organic producers is not as developed as it is in the Bay Area. (In this regard we recognize how lucky we are to be working in San Francisco).

Because he is on his own in the field, without much support on the labor end, Shawn is particularly good at investigating and experimenting with tools and small-scale machines to increase the efficiency of his own work.  We were able to try out some of his tools that we had been considering purchasing (1. Johnny’s 6-row seeder  2. Johnny’s green’s harvester.) It was beneficial to us to hear Shawn’s reviews of the tools and to see them in action before we invest in these pricey items.  A mechanical seeder is going to be one of the back-bone tools of our business so we want to buy exactly the right one…the verdict is still out.   Thank you Shawn and Melissa for hosting us and to Shawn for sharing so much information with us.   

Monday morning, before dawn we were on the highway towards L.A.  We drove the extra 150 miles to the property owner’s office because we are so very ready to begin our new market-garden.  We were itching with excitement and anxiety to know that we had a secure piece of land upon which to work.  We didn’t think we could hold it together with all this expectant energy until May when he was planning a trip to SF. 

We had first identified the vacant piece of land about 5 months ago while methodically scanning the city on google earth.  It was an intriguing and large enough patch of open space to merit a visit.   Then, love at first sight. You should see it, it’s so beautiful — a long sunny stretch of waist high weeds, wild oats, fennel, wild radish, plantain, following the meandering trail of an old creek bed, couched by almost 35 backyards.  When you do you’ll understand why we immediately became so smitten. 

So we called the number on the fence and started a dialogue with the property owner.  We wrote proposals, obtained letters of reference, presented at a community meeting, talked with neighbors and insurance agents.  We researched at zoning offices, and the 6th floor of the public library.  For the past two months we have been batting back and forth a legal contract, revising it so that every detail of our agreement is clear and mutually beneficial.  Needless to say, meeting the property owner for the first time in person and signing the contract felt momentous.  

Ultimately I think our process has progressed thus far because both we and the property owner have been open-minded, communicative, respectful, thorough, patient and willing to take risks.  

Back up on the I-5, the hillsides were peppered with wildflowers.  The rain spritzed us and the sun sparkled in measured intervals amplifying as if to celebrate and mark the moment.