Little City Gardens

Things are moving along! We had our first workday at the new site this weekend, and we were joined by a few good friends for a celebratory breakfast picnic to start things off. It was a warm, beautiful morning to be tucked away, clinking our tea mugs together, hidden amongst the weeds that come up to our shoulders. We toasted to our collective work so far, and to the possibilities that lie ahead.

The workday was a success, too. Despite some tools that were in less-than-great repair, we were able to mow down about 1/4 of the weeds in one day. There was fennel galore, wild radish, plantain, wild oats, mallow, crab grass and, fortunately, not much oxalis or calla lily – the two most pervasive weeds we deal with at our other garden. We’re off to a great start.

We’re also learning some things. As we proceed with this project, we’re becoming increasingly aware of the complex challenges of doing this kind of work in a densely populated city. Undeveloped space here is competitive and hard to come by, and all of us neighbors have a wide range of needs and priorities for the open space that does exist. The majority of our neighbors have been incredibly supportive of our ideas – coming to community meetings to show support, volunteering to help at the garden, offering their nearby garage space for tool storage, and expressing overall excitement and cheer to see the activation of this vacant weeded lot. However, we’ve also had a couple neighbors express some concerns that this project will bring excessive traffic and spectacle to their quiet neighborhood, that a market-garden business does not belong in a residential neighborhood, or even that the use of pesticides (yikes!) on our crops will be harmful to their health. (We aren’t going to use pesticides, of course, and we wrongly assumed that that was a given.)

It’s a complicated web, this city of neighbors, and we’re learning how important communication is going to be through this entire process. We don’t know if we will be able to please everybody but we intend to stay as open to feedback and concerns as we are to encouragement and support.

Thanks to Eli Zigas for photos.

The new site!

We added a new section to our website: the wish list! We know we are in the middle of a large community of resources and generosity, and that there are old tools collecting dust in basements and garages that would love to see the light of day, unused materials that are cluttering homes that could be keys to a building project or treasures in the operations of our new garden.

So we thought we’d put the word out to you about what we are looking for before we buy anything new.  In the case of larger tools and equipment we may only need occasional use and would be happy to borrow. This will be an ongoing, evolving list, so if you have any old tools or equipment you’d like to sell or donate, please check it from time to time. It will be located on the sidebar (to the right). Thank you!

A couple weeks ago I drove out to see Pilar at Sunnyside Organic Seedlings in Richmond. We had great conversation about our new market garden and the blossoming of our business. As a young business woman and grower, it was great to feel her support. She offered advice, ideas and material donations – shade cloth, clear plastic, pvc pipes, seeding racks,potting trays – items that were sitting unused at Sunnyside, that we could retro-fit and refurbish.  We hope we can find a way to support her back and build up this network of generosity.

Sunnyside is an inspiring place. They just moved, after their sixth year of business, into a 3000 ft. greenhouse that is bustling with regenerative activity. Like much of the landscape out in the nursery district of Richmond, the greenhouse was in a state of decay when they rented it. They are in the process of retrofitting so it will be well equipped for their fast-paced, rigorous work of producing thousands of starts per week.

In my opinion, Sunnyside is the Bay Area’s best consistent source of annual vegetable and culinary herb starts. Pilar is the inspiring, powerhouse of a lady who owns and operates Sunnyside. It’s amazing to see what she and her staff have been able to create and to see her at work. Pilar has command of both the infinite details and the big picture of the nursery business. (She is so experienced and in tune with the life of the nursury that she can tell, by a scent in the air, when a flat of onions are about to germinate).  She makes it a point to employ young people who might otherwise have a challenging time finding rewarding work, and to generously support Bay Area garden/farm activists with plants. My housemate and friend, Kenji just spent the last couple of months building a garden out on Sunnyside’s property too. It is a promising beginning of what will in a few years be Ranch Richmond, a farm producing food for Richmond residents.

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.

photo by Blair Randall

We recently held an event at the Studio for Urban Projects to talk about our ideas and our work. We had a spirited, engaging discussion about the prospects for urban agriculture and served up a Little City Gardens salad along side crostini prepared by our generous friend, Ellen Roggeman. We asked our guests to tell us what they tasted. Here are some of their responses:

“Each bite, whether a single leaf or a full fork, was different. Spicy, bitter, aromatic, and a perfect amount of seasoning. Additionally, it maintained an overall fresh, light quality. Complex, well done.”

“I taste the seasons in your salad. The dew on every leaf. I am enchanted by the romance of eating a diversity of solar collectors”

“Like a little garden in your bowl.”

“Nice bright flavor. Kind of fruity with subtle spice and roasted nut flavor.”

For the past five months we have been blessed to have the company, support and helping hands of Courtney Leeds, our first intern.  She found us at a presentation that we gave to the Planting the City workshop put on by the San Fransisco Parks Trust.  When she approached us about getting involved we had never had an intern, but we were excited to see how we could incorporate an internship program into Little City Gardens.   So far it’s been a total pleasure.  Courtney helps in all aspects of our work.  She seeds, plants and weeds with us in the garden, shares ideas and techniques that she is learning in her permaculture class,  follows leads on tools and materials and business related questions, listens to our ideas and shares advice.  She is generous, smart, thoughtful and passionate.  You would love her too!
We asked her to write about her motivations for committing to the pursuit of growing food in the city. Here’s what she wrote:

I’ve been sitting here, for days, trying to pin point what draws me to agriculture. Why do I love it? How do I whole-heartedly know that I want to grow sustainable, accessible food forever? One definitive moment of clarity escapes me. Yet, when I look back over the arc of my experiences it all seems to make sense; the fuzzy explanations begin to crystallize when I string together my past and present.

My upbringing contributes more to the person I currently am than I often care to admit. Sometimes I like to pretend I am my own product, and not one of my environment, but the farther I move from my past the more I seem to gravitate to the rituals and customs of my childhood. I miss the long, hot days working on the growing grounds of my dad’s nursery; driving through expansive rice fields and almond orchards every time we left town; the burnt smell of autumn; grabbing summer-ripened tomatoes from our neighbors make-shift “U-Pick” stand. I chose to reject all of these familiarities when I moved to San Francisco at 17. I distanced myself from the quaintness of that life. In exchange, I was exposed to cultures and experiences that illuminated endless possibilities. I was opened to thoughts and sights and sounds that I would never trade. But, now, seven years later, I find myself drawn to where I came from. Not physically, but to the idea of that place. Of a slower, community-based place where “local” isn’t a coined term but reality.

The smells and tastes of the meals I ate as a child still remind me of love and comfort. Food is not only essential to survival but to the health of our emotional lives. So many of my fondest memories are formed around a table full of home-cooked delights; stories shared and relationships built while breaking bread. Yet, this vital life-force is very often taken for granted. We have become disconnected from the farm, and thus have forgotten where our food comes from and how to grow it.

In our dense urban environment it is important to be reminded of our food source, which is now hidden from view, and the role we play in its cultivation. Reimagine the urban landscape with food growing out of every corner and crack, visible to all. How differently would we think about what we eat knowing where it comes from?

Gardening reminds me how beautiful food is and of its true value: the thought and care and labor that goes into every leaf of lettuce, every pea and every apple. Watching seedlings transform from buoyant, little sprouts to bright and hearty juveniles and finally to a delicious treat is beyond satisfying. Suddenly, you see the role you play in this intricate ecology—coexisting with plants to both your and their benefit. You are a part of the garden; the garden is part of you. I grow food with the hope that localized and shared understanding of our food systems will only make our communities stronger.

This is an important question for us right now, as we’re solidifying our goals and plans for this project. How can we, as anti-capitalists, be so excited about the potential of a for-profit business?* And what is it’s potential, other than to serve a wealthy slice of San Francisco? How can this business be a contribution to social justice and food security? These are such important questions! We continue to discuss and think critically each day about our process and the best approaches.  Here are some thoughts:

• The work of urban agriculture non-profits and educational programs is invaluable and much needed.  But we have a lot of work to do in our urban food systems, and its reshaping must be approached from as many angles as possible. As a creative, transparent, experimental business, we hope to add to the growing dialogue about urban agriculture by highlighting the economic reality of small-scale farming. Through our action and conversation we will pose the questions: How much labor does it take to grow food in the city? What is a financially viable economy of scale for urban farming? What causes food to be cheap or expensive? How is it assigned value? What are the true costs of food production? For what price must a small-scale farmer sell her produce to earn a living wage?  As a business we believe we will be able to engage with these questions more tangibly than we could as a non-profit.
• We want to do this work without dependence on foundation grants so that we can direct our actions in a way that is guided by our own process. We want to be held directly accountable to our community and its needs. Educational programming will still be a significant part of our business plan, as will workshares, tours and community events. We are also excited by the potential for creative collaborations and joint marketing with other small business from many different communities.
• We want to be a part of a grassroots economy – one that places value on collaboration, participation, and creativity and pays careful attention to the needs of its community. The more we contribute to healthy local economic networks, the less power we hand over to destructive corporations who place little value on the livelihood of our communities.
• We are teaching our young people about the importance of growing food in the city, yet options don’t exist for them to make a living doing so. We certainly support non-profit efforts to empower youth with food-growing skills and food-systems awareness, and we hope that by making visible the idea of urban farming as a small business (and its benefits and challenges), we can begin to open a path for them to eventually follow suit.

*Profit, in this case, means enough money made to sustain the business and to pay the two of us a very modest wage (somewhere around $10/hour).

We’ve been a little absent here lately, but we can’t forget to mention how incredibly grateful we are for the support that keeps coming in. Thank you!

And thanks for your patience while we’ve been away, planning and talking and writing. Stay tuned for a return to more regular updates, now. We’re excited to fill you in.

Spring is coming, and we are still hard at work. We’ve been running around the city, attending meetings, making plans, and taking care of business. Hopefully we will have much to share in the upcoming weeks. For now, we have a couple new articles and interviews out today. Give them a read!

An article, written by Brooke, on Civil Eats:

A year ago, my business partner, Caitlyn Galloway, and I started Little City Gardens. We grow salad greens, braising greens, and culinary herbs in the heart of San Francisco, which we sell to a restaurant, caterers, and individual subscribers. Little City Gardens is a lot of things: a market-garden, a small business struggling to succeed, and an experiment in the viability of urban micro-farming. We started the business with a desire to apply ourselves to the redesign of our local foodshed. We wanted to grow produce in the city and sell it. And, crucially, we wanted to be paid for our work. Read more…

and also, a conversation with Urban Farm Hub here!

Send us your thoughts!

PS. We’ve gotten a lot of compliments about our video. It was done by our super talented and generous friend, Wu Leung. He does amazing things with a super 8, and we owe him a lifetime supply of salad greens for his help and friendship. He worked really hard with us on this video. If you’re in San Francisco, give Wu a high five! He’s great.