The Sunflower Project

The Sunflower Project

Creating a culture where edible, organic landscaping is the preferred usage of land in urban/suburban areas is an ongoing Green project. Taking the same resource inputs that go into lawn care and transferring them in gardening would allow for less stress on agricultural/wild lands. So far I have planted 16 fruit trees on a city lot in Venice and have converted the front yard into a vegetable/herb/flower garden. No organic material leaves the yard as it is all composted. There are: corn, sunflowers, tomato's, zucchini, tomatillos, radishes, onions, leeks, mustard greens, rosemary, cilantro, sage, lemon balm, sorrel, mint, curry, oregano, and marjoram; to list only a few of the veggies/herbs and a host of flowers right on Venice Boulevard. The neighbors love the yard and

I am always giving away herbs and veggies. Showing by example works and is a pattern to consider.

There are economic consequences to converting to an edible, organic landscape. Import-Substitution is the term for the activity. This usually applies to nations, but can also be used for regions as well. By producing much of my own food I am not buying as much from the grocery store as I have substituted my own produce for what was being imported from the Central Valley and Mexico. Thus, for every dollar I have not spent at the grocery store I have a dollar that I can spend in other ways. And I am eating healthier food that is locally grown. The only input imported is the water. But, instead of using the water for the "perfect monocultured lawn", there is a wide diversity of flora that allows for a diversity of fauna. The pineapple sage attracts humming birds with its red flowers, as one example. The squirrels got real fat off the sunflowers last year, they tore through them, but somehow I did not mind. There are always birds, butterflies and all sorts of insects in the yard, as there are no pesticide to harm them. Yes, the aphids and snails can be a problem at times, but you learn integrated pest management, and by having a diversity of flora do not have the infestations that mono cropping allows. Further, since I am always out weeding, shoveling and engaging in physical activity, my own physical health is better. And my psychological health is improved by the exercise, the sense of connection to the land and the positive interactions with my neighbors.

The Sunflower Project is the promotion of Edible, Organic Landscaping. It is done by example and by promotion. A local church run thrift store is now taking the seedlings I grow in plastic six-packs reused from a local community garden and almost giving them away. I give them to the thrift store and they make them available to a community that has traditional problems, the Oakwood neighborhood of Venice, which was the only place where blacks could live in Venice when it was founded are there were racial deed restrictions.

The Sunflower project could be used by every local to transform its community. Sunflower days could be a fund raiser each spring with seeds and seedlings made available for sale. The Sunflower is the Green Party symbol and is promoted with this marketing. Sunflowers grow fast and make many seeds that have a wide variety of beneficial uses. May every local have its own Sunflower Project!

With the new year now is the time to prepare a new garden.

Do you have room for a Sunflower Project in your residence or worksite?

Peace,

The Sunflower Project
a G.A.R. D.E.N. activity

Will Yeager
Gardenbeekeeper
1407 Venice, CA 90291
Venice, California
(310) 804-9916