- Author: Betty Homer
This is the third installment in a four-part series where I feature an urban farm I visited this past summer on the Urban Farm Tour organized by the Institute of Urban Homesteading located in Oakland, California.
Aesthetically speaking, my favorite site of the farm urban farms I visited this year, was at Earthly Arts Farm located in South Berkeley. This was/is the site to visit to learn about maximizing food production while maintaining beauty in the garden, with an eye on water conservation.
This lot consists of 10,600 square feet and the area used for urban farming/gardening consists of 4,000 square feet (i.e., 37% of the property was devoted to growing food and other homesteading activities). The property owner, Sequoiah Wachenheim, is a very talented and interesting individual, who wears many professional hats, including, but not limited to, being both a landscaper and an artist.
Ms. Wachenheim's backyard farm is permaculture and French-intensive inspired. The aesthetics of her backyard farm reflects Ms. Wachenheim's years of experience in garden design and visual arts. Front and side yards are planted with drought tolerant ornamental gardens and pollinator habitat.
Ms. Wachenheim began the tour by discussing the history of her house and the property it sits on. It is an older home (I believe she said it was built in the 1930's) which was originally situated down the street from its current location. At some point prior to Ms. Wachenheim acquiring the property, the home was physically picked up and moved to its present location, such that it sits between 2 lots.
Ms. Wachenheim started improving her backyard 10 years ago by sheet mulching an applying horse manure. On the tour, Ms. Wachenheim told the story of how she had an acquaintance who would occasionally dump truckloads of free horse manure in front of her house. She carted most of it into her backyard, all the while tending to her sleeping child who was napping in a nearby baby stroller.
Over the years, Ms. Wachenheim has planted 26 varieties of fruit trees around the perimeter including, but not limited to, pears, persimmons, apples, pomegranates, peaches, cherries, mulberries, apricots, plums, lemons, limes, and oranges. She has added a small outbuilding constructed from salvaged wood and reclaimed windows, and a greenhouse. As water conservation is central to Ms. Wachenheim's garden design, she has a 1500 gallon rainwater catchment tank and 2 greywater systems located on her property which recycles all the grey water from her house. Ms. Wachenheim irrigates her plants on drip. She also keeps chickens for pets and for eggs and rescued a rabbit whose pellets help fertilize her backyard.
Although Ms. Wachenheim's was open to the public only on tour, more information about her can be found at http://www.earthlyarts.com/.