Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - [Livingontheland] Farming out the back yard

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Farming out the back yard
  • Date: Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:23:06 -0600


Farming out the back yard
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/47109627.html?elr=KArksLck

D8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ

Professional gardeners are nurturing their clients' ag skills along with
their produce.

Some busy people rely on personal chefs and personal shoppers. Attorney
Catherine Turner has a personal farmer.

About once a week, Stefan Meyer bikes to Turner's south Minneapolis home to
tend the crops he planted last month in her back yard. He pulls weeds,
applies organic fertilizer, makes notations in a garden journal.

Turner can't wait for the day when she can snip her first fresh greens and
toss a home-grown salad. "I'm super-excited," she said. Yes, she could
garden without hired help. She's grown her own veggies before but never on
this scale. "This garden has been planned and engineered for greatest
yield," she said. "Next year, I'd like to do it myself. Hopefully, some of
his [Meyer's] wide breadth of knowledge rubs off on me."

Many in the Twin Cities are producing food with the help of a pro this
growing season. Interest in home-grown produce is up because people want to
eat locally and organically, and they could save money in the long term.

This spring, at least two new residential farming services were launched,
tapping into a small but ripe niche market.

"It's going gangbusters," said Joan James, co-owner of A Backyard Farm.
James and her partner, Coleen Gregor, are longtime gardeners who were
inspired to turn pro after hearing about similar businesses on the West
Coast. They distributed fliers in St. Paul's Mac-Groveland neighborhood
early this spring, and quickly picked up more than a dozen clients, most of
them seeking complete garden maintenance (starting at $35 weekly) as well
as installation.

"People want to know where their food is coming from," James said. And
after the initial first-year investment of a few hundred dollars to have
their garden installed, many customers also hope to start saving money on
their food bills.

"We try to coach people on what has the best cost savings," Gregor said.
"Heirloom tomatoes are $6 a pound in stores. You are really going to get
your money's worth growing those. And basil. It's very expensive to buy
enough to make a batch of pesto."

Turner turned to another service, Backyard Harvest, a new pilot program of
the Permaculture Research Institute-Cold Climate. The program, launched
this spring, attracted more customers than it could handle, said
coordinator Krista Leraas. "We had to turn a lot of people down." Backyard
Harvest's 15 full-service clients pay about $1,000 to $1,300 for a season's
worth of farming services, including design, construction, soil, plants,
maintenance and harvesting. Garden-coaching services, at $30 an hour, also
are available.

Turner spent $1,300 for her 120-square-foot, flower-shaped garden, and
considers it a bargain. "I got all materials, all his [Meyer's] time and
all the vegetable plants," she said. She expects to produce more than she
can eat, and will give the surplus to family, friends and the local food
shelf.

New twist, old practice

The age-old practice of growing your own food is acquiring new cachet
around the country.

"There's a buzz around it," said Turner's sister, Jennette Turner, a
natural food educator who teaches at local co-ops. "Michelle Obama put in a
vegetable garden, and some of my neighbors are turning their entire back
yards into vegetable gardens." Experienced gardeners are expanding their
efforts, she said, and "people who have never done it before are trying
it."

But hiring someone else to tend your garden? Some think that seems
over-the-top and a bit elitist.

"It strikes me as bizarre," said Paula Pentel, urban studies professor at
the University of Minnesota. "You're paying someone to crop your land for
you. It fits with the trend of people wanting local food, but part of
growing your own food is understanding how it's grown." On the plus side,
"at least they're being exposed to how it's done."

That's the point, say proponents. Minnesota may be an agricultural state,
but many of its residents are transplants or a generation or two removed
from their rural roots. There's a knowledge vacuum when it comes to growing
food, and personal farmers help fill the gap.

"We don't know anything about gardening," said Jennifer DeMeglio, who hired
A Backyard Farm to install and to maintain two raised beds at her St. Paul
home as an early Father's Day gift for her husband, Michael. "Food you grow
yourself is a whole lot better, and we want to do it right." But with two
full-time jobs, a toddler and a baby on the way, "this would be a lot for
us to take on," she said. After the initial investment, "the cost will pay
off. It's less expensive than doing a crop share."

Rebecca Abas of St. Paul tried growing vegetables last year. "It was a
miserable failure," she said. "I'm kind of a city girl. I had too many
tomatoes. They ended up rotting, and the weeds took over. It was just
pathetic." This year, she hired A Backyard Farm. "It's not a rich person's
thing," she said. "I told them, 'This is my budget,' and they came back
with some options so I could afford it. They show you how, let you do it
with them."

"We try to coach people on what has the best cost savings," Gregor said.
"Heirloom tomatoes are $6 a pound in stores. You are really going to get
your money's worth growing those. And basil. It's very expensive to buy
enough to make a batch of pesto."

Turner turned to another service, Backyard Harvest, a new pilot program of
the Permaculture Research Institute-Cold Climate. The program, launched
this spring, attracted more customers than it could handle, said
coordinator Krista Leraas. "We had to turn a lot of people down." Backyard
Harvest's 15 full-service clients pay about $1,000 to $1,300 for a season's
worth of farming services, including design, construction, soil, plants,
maintenance and harvesting. Garden-coaching services, at $30 an hour, also
are available.

Turner spent $1,300 for her 120-square-foot, flower-shaped garden, and
considers it a bargain. "I got all materials, all his [Meyer's] time and
all the vegetable plants," she said. She expects to produce more than she
can eat, and will give the surplus to family, friends and the local food
shelf.

New twist, old practice

The age-old practice of growing your own food is acquiring new cachet
around the country.

"There's a buzz around it," said Turner's sister, Jennette Turner, a
natural food educator who teaches at local co-ops. "Michelle Obama put in a
vegetable garden, and some of my neighbors are turning their entire back
yards into vegetable gardens." Experienced gardeners are expanding their
efforts, she said, and "people who have never done it before are trying
it."

But hiring someone else to tend your garden? Some think that seems
over-the-top and a bit elitist.

"It strikes me as bizarre," said Paula Pentel, urban studies professor at
the University of Minnesota. "You're paying someone to crop your land for
you. It fits with the trend of people wanting local food, but part of
growing your own food is understanding how it's grown." On the plus side,
"at least they're being exposed to how it's done."

That's the point, say proponents. Minnesota may be an agricultural state,
but many of its residents are transplants or a generation or two removed
from their rural roots. There's a knowledge vacuum when it comes to growing
food, and personal farmers help fill the gap.

"We don't know anything about gardening," said Jennifer DeMeglio, who hired
A Backyard Farm to install and to maintain two raised beds at her St. Paul
home as an early Father's Day gift for her husband, Michael. "Food you grow
yourself is a whole lot better, and we want to do it right." But with two
full-time jobs, a toddler and a baby on the way, "this would be a lot for
us to take on," she said. After the initial investment, "the cost will pay
off. It's less expensive than doing a crop share."

Rebecca Abas of St. Paul tried growing vegetables last year. "It was a
miserable failure," she said. "I'm kind of a city girl. I had too many
tomatoes. They ended up rotting, and the weeds took over. It was just
pathetic." This year, she hired A Backyard Farm. "It's not a rich person's
thing," she said. "I told them, 'This is my budget,' and they came back
with some options so I could afford it. They show you how, let you do it
with them."

Kim Palmer • 612-673-4784








  • [Livingontheland] Farming out the back yard, Tradingpost, 06/06/2009

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page