by Diane Sussman
To the casual observer, the asymmetrical plot of land looks like a hopeless mess of mud and rock and rotting wood. Dave Powers and Victor Frost see something else entirely: neat rows of baby vegetables punctuated by tall stalks of corn and stands of pastel flowers. And parked alongside the field--an old pickup truck with a flat bed and a new coat of paint. "With a logo on the side," said Powers, "saying 'Palo Alto Homeless Garden.'"
The Palo Alto homeless garden is a recently enacted plan to turn 5,400 square feet of land near El Camino Park in Palo Alto into an organic garden that sells fresh produce to local restaurants and farmers' markets.
The Palo Alto City Council approved the plan last month, giving the Urban Ministry an annually renewable seven-year lease on the land and a hookup for water. In exchange, the Urban Ministry must build a fence and shed and maintain the garden.
But this is not the Urban Ministry's garden--it belongs to the city's homeless. "This is not a case of us telling them what to do," said Tom Pirkle, food program coordinator and volunteer manager for Urban Ministry. "It's their project." In fact, the contract calls for turning over all managerial and financial responsibility for the garden within five years.
The project is modeled after highly successful community garden programs in San Francisco and Santa Cruz. The San Francisco project, which sells its produce to the discerning Chez Panisse in Berkeley, has put more than 600 low-income people to work. The Santa Cruz project employs more than 100 homeless people on its five acres of community garden space.
Admittedly, transforming the Palo Alto site from rocks to broccoli "is going to take a bit of doing," said Frost, sitting in the lotus position on a piece of wood.
Last week, the burly, bearded former operator of heavy machinery took the first step in that transformation, driving "the big tractor" across the field to prepare it for planting.
Both Frost and Powers have gardened before. The 57-year-old Powers loves to recount the time he coaxed a few stalks of "stunted corn" from a minuscule patch of dirt outside a rented room in Los Angeles. "We're talking inches here," he said. "I can't say I grew big corn, but can tell you what it did for me. It gave me a spiritual and emotional boost."
He expects the Palo Alto garden to have the same positive effect on local participants. "This isn't for the people who just want to drink and pass out, drink and pass out," he said. "It's a stake in the earth for people who don't have a place or a permanent address.
"There's a discipline and education that comes from working with a group, from being outside in the sun and making things grow," he continued. "You realize abilities you didn't think you had."
Money is only "a side effect," he said. "The main objective is to have something owned and operated and run by the homeless."
To the city and other bean-counters, the money isn't altogether a side effect.
Initially, workers will be paid $6 an hour from a combination of grants, and donations from the Another Way campaign. Another Way, a fund-raising drive organized by downtown merchants, raises money by asking shoppers to donate money to Another Way rather than to panhandlers. The organization has committed $2,500 to the project.
The city, too, will bear some of the costs. According to the proposal approved in July, Palo Alto will provide an initial $3,100 for the water hookup and $250 for tools.
As for the rest, Pirkle has "high hopes for grants," as well as in-kind donations of tools, wheelbarrows and volunteer labor.
Powers has somewhat earthier desires. "I'd like to see a steady source of manure. Or a hundred crapping horses."
Ultimately, the garden is expected to generate enough revenue to pay all its bills, including wages. For that to happen, said Pirkle, "we need people to buy our food."
Powers is putting his faith in arugula. "There is an insatiable demand for arugula," he said. "People around here can't get enough arugula."
Powers may be onto something. Although not so much as a single leaf of arugula has sprouted, one Palo Alto catering company has already agreed to buy all the arugula--and salad greens--the gardeners can grow.
If Powers has any worries about the garden, it is the danger of nighttime raiders who feed for free on the produce. "I think we should put up a sign that says, 'This is a homeless garden. Please respect it.'"
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