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Popularity Of Urban Farming Is Growing

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By KATE SPINNER

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: September 28, 2008

Nearby traffic sounds from Sarasota's Main Street evaporate in Jodi John's backyard, where sprouts emerge from deep boxes of soil with peanuts, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, spinach, basil and other plants.

It is early September and the fall planting season is just beginning for John, who decided four months ago to take her garden to farm-like productivity levels.

She is among a growing number of urbanites rejecting manicured lawns for edible landscapes that feed the owners, their neighbors and perhaps an occasional restaurant or food vendor.

With food and fuel prices soaring and recent scares over jalapenos and spinach, more people are looking to their own backyards for food, said Robert Kluson, an agricultural scientist with Sarasota County's extension office and the University of Florida's Small Farms and Alternative Enterprise Program.

Nationwide, urban farming's increasing popularity coincides with a rise in the number of farmers markets and a growing demand for eco-friendly products, organic foods and locally grown produce.

Last year, 150 people from around Southwest Florida attended Kluson's two-day workshop on small farming. Next year, he expects more.

"I like to call it the new face of agriculture. It's highly sustainable production on less land," Kluson said.

The Look Of Urban Agriculture
John lives on a downtown lot with two historic homes - one occupied by her mother - and a bungalow she rents out. Edible plants in large containers, colorful butterfly gardens and painted cisterns connected to garden hoses and irrigation tubes dominate the scenery between Laurel Road and the alley behind her property.

From the sidewalk between her house and her mother's, John bends over a planter to pluck a succulent climbing spinach leaf.

Behind her, a tiered tower of painted tires, lined and filled with soil, grows peanuts and sweet potatoes.

In her own yard, more planters await seed and in the back corner, while a compost barrel and bins turn vegetable scraps and yard waste into soil.

John, and others sharing her philosophy, are driven by the desire to know exactly what they are putting in their mouths at dinnertime.

"It really pays to watch what you consume and try to live healthy and I think the best way to be healthy is to grow your own food," John said.

An Old Tradition Renewed

The United States has a history of turning to the backyard for food, particularly during wars and economic stress.

From victory gardens planted during the world wars to inner-city community gardens in 1970s, the idea of growing food close to home is not new.

In 1930s Punta Gorda, almost every home sported a backyard garden, said Vernon Peeples, a Florida native and local historian.

Convenience and modern agriculture in the later 20th century helped to shift the urban yard from practical gardens to lawns and hedges.

But a handful of Southwest Floridians resisted. Today, they inspire the newcomers to urban farming.

Off Beneva Road in South Sarasota, a fruit-bearing jungle grows on two lots owned by John and Natividad Burns.

John Burns, 84, started planting in the 1970s after he found that eating lots of fruits and vegetables made him feel better. Later, he met Natividad, a younger woman with a very green thumb, who grew up on a coconut plantation in the Philippines.

The garden grew tall and wide, and in 2001 Burns bought the house next door and swiftly dug up the grass.

Now, both backyards burst with star fruits, papayas, avocados, sugar apples, bananas, coffee beans, coco, jack fruit, lychee, mango and rice.

Where most people would put a swimming pool, the couple built a fish pond teeming with more than 100 tilapia, sometimes harvested for dinner. A deck rising above the tree canopy and skirting the pool cage hosts lettuce, strawberries, beans and other sun-loving crops.

Curious people drop in almost daily. Tours and growing tips are offered to those who are "serious" about growing.

"Gardening in Florida is not a science. It's a romance," Burns said.

Leaving Nature's Balance Intact

A more entrepreneurial counterpart to Burns is Peter Burkard, who turned his suburban backyard into his family's primary income source 30 years ago.

Burkard, 54, grows vegetables on a 1.5-acre lot three miles east of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

He keeps bees to pollinate his plants and make honey, raises chickens for eggs and natural fertilizer and shuns chemical pesticides.

"By not spraying you leave nature's balance intact," Burkard said.

Each Saturday morning he loads his honey and produce in his truck and drives six miles south to the Sarasota Farmers Market.

"From the time I was a late teenager, I knew I couldn't just be a cog in the wheel of society," Burkard said. "I had to make a living in a way that suited my values."

He is not afraid to share his growing tips or his place at the Farmers Market.

For a 20 percent commission, Burkard also welcomes other growers to help make his table at the market more bountiful and diverse.

As long as it is organic, Burkard will sell anyone's excess, especially mango, avocado, lychee and citrus.

"It's a way to help me expand what I have," Burkard said. "I insist that everything that I sell, produce-wise, be both local and organic."

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