Gardening gets back to its roots Gardening gets back to its roots (September 23, 2005)

Mountain View growers find organic produce to be well worth the effort

By Mari Sapina-Kerkhove

Think manure instead of Miracle-Gro and beneficial beetles over bug spray.

Organic gardening -- raising crops without the help of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides -- is not a new concept. Past generations of farmers practiced it for centuries.

But in a society inundated with supermarket foods that have been genetically altered, chemically treated and shipped from unknown places, many Mountain View gardeners are reclaiming control over what they eat by returning to the basics and growing their own organic produce.

"I know what's on my vegetables and I know that they don't have any pesticides," says Mountain View resident Julie Weiss, who began gardening organically about a decade ago.

Back then, Weiss lived in the Santa Cruz mountains, where a 1,200-square-foot plot of land allowed her to grow everything from chard and broccoli to tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce and flowers.

Since her move to Mountain View, Weiss has only had patio containers to garden with, but she still relishes growing her own tomatoes and herbs without the use of chemical enhancers. Apart from the much superior taste of homegrown produce, she says, there is also an emotional payoff to gardening the natural way.

"You feel like you're part of the process," she says. "It's just a really simple pleasure to grow your food and eat it and be connected to the land that you're living on."

Matt Struckmeyer, a Mountain View resident who teaches at Gunn High School in Palo Alto and who is in charge of the school's organic garden, has found that younger generations in particular have lost touch with the origins of their foods.

"Kids today have the idea that food comes from faraway places," Struckmeyer says. "They have this really foreign concept of what it's about."

The school garden has been an effective tool to teach students that apart from good soil and proper care, there are few miracles involved in growing your own vegetables, he says.
Green thumbs, green politics @text While many people start growing or shopping for organic foods for reasons of personal health -- often because they are worried about the potential hazards of chemically treated produce -- there is also widespread concern about environmental issues.

"My ideas about organic gardening stem in general from my sense that it's really important how you take care of the land," says Amy Beare, a Mountain View teacher who has been growing organic vegetables, herbs and fruits in her yard for the past 11 years.

She says her children, in particular, benefited from eating homegrown crops and being actively involved in the gardening process.

And the variety of plants in her garden, Beare says, tends to attract a number of welcome critters, such as ladybugs and lizards, which keep harmful insects under control.

Susan Osofsky, executive director at the Palo Alto-based Collective Roots Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes organic school gardens, says the distinction between "good" and "bad bugs" is essential to natural pest control.

While the use of chemical pesticides kills all insects, thus destroying the balance in the food chain, Osofsky says organic gardening focuses on specifically cultivating plants that attract beneficial insects. Those, in turn, will eat undesirable aphids, flies and mites.

Composite flowers, among them daisies, sunflowers and zinnias, are especially well liked by beneficial insects; as well as certain herbs and vegetables, such as dill, carrots and fennel, she says.

But it's still tempting to reach for surefire chemical remedies when crops don't prosper as expected, says Beare, who's adopted a no-nonsense solution for such dilemmas over the years: "If there's something that dies altogether in my yard I figure it's probably not a good place for it."

Because chemical fertilizers and pesticides provide quick-fix help to gardening problems, they seem appealing, Osofsky says. But their miracle effects are superficial and they diminish quickly, she says, which means that chemical treatments require constant reuse.

While fishmeal is a good way of naturally giving plants a quick pick-me-up, Osofsky says organic gardening is generally not about instant rewards.

"One needs to take a more systemic look," she says. "With organic gardening the idea is to grow your soil and the microorganisms in there."

The goal, she says, is to feed the soil with nutrients by fertilizing it with compost and planting cover crops, such as fava beans and wheat (which release nitrogen into the ground) in the winter.

It can take up to two years for the soil to reach the desired level of health, Osofsky says, but the wait pays off.
Patience pays off

Denise Sacks, a Mountain View resident who got into organic gardening 16 years ago, remembers feeling amazed -- and slightly impatient -- when she first heard about the concept of "growing the soil."

"I just wanted it to happen immediately," she says.

But once she experienced the superior quality and richness of organically nourished soil, Sacks says, she became an avid fan of composting, which for her is also an important way of recycling.

For Sacks, as with most organic gardeners, growing and eating natural foods is not just a matter of individual health. It's part of a belief system that involves issues of social responsibility and environmental consciousness alike.

Beyond growing organic produce, Sacks also makes a point of shopping organically. And for almost 10 years she's been member of an organic delivery service, which supports local farmers with sustainable agriculture practices.

Even though organic foods have become more available to consumers over the past years, Osofsky says government subsidies are still in favor of large, non-organic farming businesses. This makes it harder for organic farmers to survive, and their products are often more expensive to consumers.

But to believers like Beare, who fear that the consumption of chemically treated foods can cause long-term health problems, it's worth it. Especially, as Beare believes, if eating organic keeps health care costs down.

"I just don't look at the price tag," she says.

INFO;
For more information on organic gardening and supplies, visit the Common Ground Garden Supply and Education Center, 559 College Ave., Palo Alto, (650) 493-6072, www.commongroundinpaloalto.org
To learn more about organic gardening projects in the area, visit the Palo Alto Foundation for Global Community, Valley of Heart's Delight Web site at www.globalcommunity.org/vhd

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