Growing Your Own Is Taking Root

Miles Sparks, 2, runs through the South Laguna community garden under the watchful eye of his dad, Chad. Organizers plan an open house potluck party this Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m.Locals are finding the farmer within and taking it to the dirt. As one such reawakened tiller-of-theearth, Chad Sparks had a method to his gladness when he purchased

raised six-by-eight-foot planting box at the South Laguna Community Garden on Eagle Rock and Virginia Way this September.

The 36-year-old stay-at-home dad and husband to Lindsay, 32, a corporate attorney on maternity leave, wanted to offer the same wonder- and bug-filled experience he enjoyed as a child to his sons, almost-two-year-old Miles and four-month-old Harris.

“We were always having fun in the garden,” he said of his boyhood in Sonora, California. “My job was to maintain the bugs.”

Sparks and his young family walk the two short blocks to the garden everyday to feel the earth squish under their feet, tend to their strapping vines, stalks and seedlings, and to watch Miles play in the two three-by-three planting boxes built just for kids.

“Our [housing] lots are really small down here so we don’t have any dirt to grow things or to play in,” he said. “When we heard there was soil available that we could grow veggies in with full sun exposure, we were really excited.”

They’re also anticipating the grand opening potluck party at the garden, replete with a string quartet, this Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. The public is invited to attend by bringing a dish to share. Another potluck to celebrate front- and backyard gardens planted this fall by Transition Laguna, a grassroots sustainable living coalition, will follow at 3:30 p.m. at Bill Roley’s home, 1027 Summit Way.

“Hopefully, people will bring dishes made with what they’ve grown in their gardens,” said Sean McCracken, local realtor and head of Transition Laguna’s food work group, which has planted three home gardens around town and will next start on a neighborhood plan to link gardeners on Oak Street.

The Sparks’ will certainly have enough to choose from for their potluck dish; their planting box hath runneth over. Filled with “fun stuff to grow” like brussels sprouts, bok choy, edamame, zucchini, beans and strawberries, it’s a burgeoning land of many mysteries to his sons. “Things grow there overnight, it seems,” Sparks commented.

That’s exactly the experience the community garden leaders had in mind when the seed to reopen a garden on that particular corner germinated last summer. “We’re not just growing vegetables out there,” said Bill Rihn, president of the South Laguna Civic Assn. (SLCA). “We’re growing friendships.”

“Every Saturday, 20 to 30 people came from all walks of life,” stated Morrie Granger, one of the South Laguna garden’s volunteer organizers, at the ReThink Food discussion sponsored by Transition Laguna this past Monday at the Anneliese campus on Laguna Canyon Road. “People got their gloves on and got out the rakes, wheel barrels and shovels. Carpenters came with their carpenter’s belts and helped set up the boxes. Sometimes you have to knock on doors and twist arms, but this little garden has been welcomed with open arms.”

The South Laguna Community Garden was started six years ago by Ali Taghavi, who also worked at South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano. It served as a neighborhood oasis, offered children’s outdoor activities and included farm stand, where freshly picked produce was sold by the pound.

The current owner, Paul Tran, purchased the land for $1.2 million last year but since moved to Baton Rouge. He plans to build eventually, but for now has loaned the 75-by-150-foot corner to SLCA for 18 months to use as a food- as well as oxygen-producing patch of plenty.

With a well-thought-out plan in hand, SLCA was able to get all temporary use permit fees waived by the city as well as a water meter installed by the South Coast Water District at no charge. The organized design offered individual ownership and hands-on experience to anyone who was fortunate enough to make an early bid.

The well-maintained garden is maxed out with all 30 available plots taken. And not all gardeners are local; one plot is owned by a Dana Point resident, another stakeholder comes from Laguna Niguel. Plot-box-owners can sell the personal-size farm whenever they choose; there’s already a waiting list.

Besides community bonding, a sizeable amount of produce is picked. “We did a whole big jar of pesto, which we’re still eating,” said Sparks. “I wouldn’t say we’re going to feed the family but I’d say we’re definitely going to have at least one meal a week out of it.”

Transition Laguna, a local sustainable living movement connected to an international network of transition towns, is focused on teaching locals how to become a self-sustaining community in terms of food, water, waste and energy. The group is holding a series of ReThink panel discussions at 6:30 p.m. the first Monday of every month at Anneliese Willow Brook campus in the canyon.

The food work group, which teaches people about home and community gardening, was launched in response to local demand. Transition Laguna started to increase awareness about urban gardening and awakening the farmer within by putting together a food work group of eco-warriors, business owners, landscapers, architects and everyone in-between to grow and share local food.

“Everybody’s pretty aware now that we’re in trouble as far as the ecological system goes,” Mc- Cracken explained to the ReThink Food discussion. “So what can we do in our own communities, and on a bigger scale, to do our part?” The idea arose to develop a "virtual” community garden of literal individual gardens that would eventually share their produce with other gardeners around town. "It’s all about collaboration,” McCracken said.

Bill Roley, who is hosting the Transition Laguna potluck later on Sunday afternoon, urged the audience to “think with your stomach.”

He added: “It turns out that about 13 percent of your budget is spent on food, so, if we can take a certain percentage out of that budget and put it into producing your own food and guarantee the opportunity to meet friendly people at a community garden at the same time, that conviviality is almost as important as food.”

Roley said a website search by TL member Charles Alban produced several pieces of land that lay fallow in Laguna. He said the city is being approached for assistance in potentially converting the plots into community gardens, possibly sponsored by Laguna restaurants that would use locally grown produce.

McCracken compared having an organic garden in the backyard to having children. “I couldn’t wait to run down and see them. Putting the lettuce in, watching it grow, bringing it in for lunch. And broccoli, which is my favorite vegetable, I had no idea what it looked like.”