The Plot Thickens

We are all gardeners, coaxing healthy growth from seeds of possibilities. Though we’re often unaware of those tilling beside us, co-gardening is a tangible and nourishing community-builder. Bahala’s mission aims to connect us so we can support each other with stakes we all can use to grow upwards. 

One bright morning at Coffee & Connections, Teague Weybright, the Community Gardens Program Coordinator in the Office of Sustainability and Environment in Santa Monica, joined us at C&C and shared tidbits from his extensive knowledge.

In the larger conversation, we learned from someone in the group that the first community garden in Santa Monica didn’t have fences. It was the result of people who’d been guerilla-gardening and planting Victory Gardens that pushed the city to dedicate land for people to grow their own food. In 1976, the city began the program with 500 square feet-zoned plots for individual families. As people vacate, those large plots are further divided to accommodate the current high demand.

After a decade on the waiting list, my sister and brother-in-law are now the proud stewards of a ten-by-ten plot in the community garden at Broadway and Park Drive. Park Drive Community Garden started with twenty cordoned-off areas, which expanded to include nineteen 10-by-10 plots on the south side. Deb, Isaac, and Carlo discussed the idea of planting seeds to grow community alongside the plants. This vision would not only lighten their individual family’s load, but provide access to others who are still on waiting lists. Excited to undertake a gardening project as the main people responsible, they are eager to share their bounty and give others opportunities, spontaneous and scheduled, to use the plot as a “third green space.”

And so the Bahala community garden was born, a site of learning and gathering, open to anyone who wants to get involved. 

Whether used for an intense half hour of weeding (healthy expression of aggression as self-care) or hosting a group brunch with rosemary plucked from the shrub at our elbow, the hope is that others will be involved in planning, planting, harvesting, and otherwise enjoying. 

Deb and Isaac crowd-sourced advice from the gardeners in their midst. Jenn Zappia has a thriving plot in the same garden and offered advice for growing fruits and veggies in a small space. Isaac’s mom offered her diagram showing where to plant flowers and vegetables. Mapping color theory onto companion planting maximizes ideal mineral-sharing between plant species. In other words, good neighbors are gold.

The community garden movement continues to expand, nationwide and locally. Euclid Park opened in 2006 along with thirteen other community plots around the same size. Ishihara Park, eight years old, is, so far, the only garden funded by the city that’s non-rented, all communal-based, and volunteer-driven. The harvest, distributed into the community through the monthly free farmer’s market or given to Community Corporation of Santa Monica’s housing, yields 2,500-5,000 pounds of food/year. 

Marine Park is a hybrid model: some plots are rented by individuals, others are  communally grown. Like the Bahala garden, sharing the space allows people living in the community to participate even if they don’t have their own plot.

Growing Hope Gardens is a nonprofit that also operates as a communal growing and giving space at The People’s Concern and at some of the Community Corporation of Santa Monica’s buildings. 

Crucially, these gardens serve as distribution spots, gathering leftovers from farmer’s markets and local grocery stores, and giving it away.

Through urban agriculture education training, monthly programming, and learning opportunities in person and over frequent Zoom calls, a dedicated group of staff and volunteers have been educating the public, including students in local elementary schools, on the benefits of growing local food more efficiently. McKinley Elementary used to be a bean field, so volunteers have planted a lot of beans in that schoolyard to honor its land history. Intermixing pollinator and protector crops with food crops results in the most abundance. Will Rogers Learning Community uses part of its Santa Monica Education Foundation funds for a farmer and gardening classes at their Farm.

An expanded community gardening summer program for kids could serve as an evergreen, ever-evolving classroom. 

Last year, through the Community Development Block Grant, federal funding for low to moderate income communities, the city received a million dollars earmarked for community gardens. The project incorporates a fifty-year compilation looking deeply at the history of not just the community garden program, but of urban agriculture in Santa Monica in its entirety. 

The majority of the grant will go towards the Community Farm and Wellness Garden. Located north of Santa Monica Community College (SMC) and exponentially larger than Ishihara, the projected goal is producing 10,000 pounds of food for the community. Landscape architects have begun to grade the site, finding the ideal areas for water lines and putting in decomposed granite. Lest art lovers feel left out of this community plan, the 19th Street Project includes plans to revitalize the Miles Playhouse in Reed Park. 

The best news? Thanks to the grant, there’s no immediate need for funding. Let’s start dreaming. 

Twentieth century photos of fields before the Santa Monica airport was built show abundant crops and livestock. Now that the space is available again, it could be transformed back quite easily into orchards and edible planting areas interspersed with pollinator species. Ideally, we could hold fall festivals around the corner, instead of trekking out to Sylmar to see a farm. 

Working together, we can create a habitat. Our habitat.

Bahala’s Gardening Club meets every Friday from 9:00-10:00 am at Park Drive Community Garden; email Bahala at info@bahala.org for more information.