In mid-November, Will Allen, a pioneer farmer of the field and of the urban landscape, and founder of Growing Power, visited Los Angeles. The University of California Cooperative Extension Department of Ag. and Natural Resources invited a group of farmers, policy makers and advocates to participate in a compost tour with Will to research, discuss and vision the future of composting in L.A. It was my great pleasure to be invited to present my work to Will and the group. Although this was a custom-tailored talk, it included my usual accompaniment - poster boards of pictures of The Wynbrandt Farm and a silver platter of WF compost. During my talk, and during his day-long compost workshop for us the next day, Will remarked on the fertility of my compost and my growing methods. What were seeing in Stevens pictures - this is the kind of soil fertility Im talking about! This is the kind of soil fertility we have at Growing Power! The intensity of planting that Steven achieves, and how vigorously his food grows - this is how we grow at GP. The next day, during his all-day workshop, I had the great pleasure of learning from Will his tao of compost - how he teaches about soil fertility and composting to thousands of people all over the U.S. and internationally. It was such a joy to be in this mans presence and to share our passion for creating world-class compost and the results it produces in the soil, in our food, and in us. Taking a walk around Oceanview community farm together, Will said to me, youre one of the only people Ive ever met who knows how to seed like that (referring to the technique displayed in my pictures of planting tens of thousands of seeds in a bed and getting them to come up disproportionately quickly, uniformly and with the highest germination rate). And I said, youre one of the only people Ive ever met who knows how to seed like that! Will and I share knowledge and mastery of scores of secrets (secrets because they are little known and practiced to mastery level) of the intricate nuances that are essential to our success in compost making and in growing, and our passion for creating the most vital compost > soil > plants > optimum health for humanity and the planet. We are kindred spirits, and Will is a veteran pioneer whom I greatly admire and celebrate as a champion of beyond organic, sustainable agriculture in the 21st century. In 2012, I went on a pilgrimage to visit one of my mentors, Mark (and Judy) Dornstreich at their farm, Branch Creek Farm in Pennsylvania, and Petra and Mark Zinniker of Zinniker Farm, the oldest Biodynamic farm in the U.S. in rural Wisconsin. Although Will was out of town, I visited growing Powers flagship HQ, in Milwaukee. It has been a long time coming to meet him and it was extra sweet to do so on L.A. soil. Last year, Will visited Los Angeles and noted that he noted that most farms he visited were struggling with soil fertility and that farmers were only composting on a limited bases - not enough to support their enterprises. Thats what prompted Wills visit this year. (I was not a part of his 2013 visit - apparently I was not yet known about by the organizers). When I came to present, for the first time ever, I brought a sample of my actual soil from the skin of the earth of WF, especially for Will. He reached onto silver platter #2, held it in his hands, smelled it and smiled. I exclaimed, now you cant say you havent seen spectacular soil in Los Angeles.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 23:24:31 +0000
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