July 2015
Bringing Food Home-New film takes a closer look at whether local food sources are the better way to go
By Jackie Jadrnak / Journal North Reporter
Every neighborhood should have an urban farm.
That’s a declaration from Erin O’Neill, who oversees the culinary garden at Santa Fe Community College. And if you’ve ever visited that garden, you would clearly see what abundance can occur in a relatively small space.
“Our youth want to know how to grow food,” she said in a film that will be screened publicly for the first time Saturday at the Center for Contemporary Arts Cinematheque.
The documentary “Bringing Food Home” is the work of filmmakers David Aubrey and Nanda Currant.
They started work on it after Gaia Gardens, an urban farm operating along Arroyo Chamiso, attracted a host of city zoning, fire, electrical and more inspectors after a neighbor complained about the operation. Founders Poki Piottin and Dominique Pozo labored to bring it into compliance, losing some of their flexibility to bring in volunteers to help farm and groups to learn how urban farms can work, and to sell produce on the premises.
At the same time, a host of neighborhood residents spoke out in favor of Gaia Gardens, saying it was a center to build community, and a welcome oasis in the scrubby and weedy environs along the sandy arroyo.
Aubrey said in a telephone interview that he had ridden his bike along the trail behind Gaia Gardens and seen the plantings taking shape there. When he heard about the issues it was having with zoning and city ordinances, he thought it would be ripe for filming.
He hadn’t had a particular interest in urban farming before, but has been a filmmaker in Santa Fe for 34 years. Previous work of his includes “A Thousand Voices” about tribal women in the Southwest, which aired on New Mexico PBS and won an award from New Mexico Women in Film, and the Emmy-winning “Canes of Power,” which explores the history of the canes President Abraham Lincoln presented to tribes to signal their sovereignty.
Hearing about Gaia Gardens, Aubrey said, he wondered “with all our best intentions, with the interest so broad in eating healthfully, it seems kind of like a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t we love this?” The filmmakers considered broadening the project to a feature-length documentary on urban farming, but the time and money for such a project meant it would not be ready in time to have an impact on the local situation, he said. “It would take a long time to get out the word,” he said.
But the film does reach beyond Gaia Gardens in talking about the need for local food sources.
And that was one of the points that stood out for me. The more centralized any industry or system becomes, the easier it is to derail.
Just think of our worries these days – remember Y2K? – about computer espionage and sabotage, and about what might happen to our banking, defense and a host of other systems if a hostile hacker invaded electronically and wiped out stores of data or took control over them.
Bringing Food Home-New film takes a closer look at whether local food sources are the better way to go
By Jackie Jadrnak / Journal North Reporter
Every neighborhood should have an urban farm.
That’s a declaration from Erin O’Neill, who oversees the culinary garden at Santa Fe Community College. And if you’ve ever visited that garden, you would clearly see what abundance can occur in a relatively small space.
“Our youth want to know how to grow food,” she said in a film that will be screened publicly for the first time Saturday at the Center for Contemporary Arts Cinematheque.
The documentary “Bringing Food Home” is the work of filmmakers David Aubrey and Nanda Currant.
They started work on it after Gaia Gardens, an urban farm operating along Arroyo Chamiso, attracted a host of city zoning, fire, electrical and more inspectors after a neighbor complained about the operation. Founders Poki Piottin and Dominique Pozo labored to bring it into compliance, losing some of their flexibility to bring in volunteers to help farm and groups to learn how urban farms can work, and to sell produce on the premises.
At the same time, a host of neighborhood residents spoke out in favor of Gaia Gardens, saying it was a center to build community, and a welcome oasis in the scrubby and weedy environs along the sandy arroyo.
Aubrey said in a telephone interview that he had ridden his bike along the trail behind Gaia Gardens and seen the plantings taking shape there. When he heard about the issues it was having with zoning and city ordinances, he thought it would be ripe for filming.
He hadn’t had a particular interest in urban farming before, but has been a filmmaker in Santa Fe for 34 years. Previous work of his includes “A Thousand Voices” about tribal women in the Southwest, which aired on New Mexico PBS and won an award from New Mexico Women in Film, and the Emmy-winning “Canes of Power,” which explores the history of the canes President Abraham Lincoln presented to tribes to signal their sovereignty.
Hearing about Gaia Gardens, Aubrey said, he wondered “with all our best intentions, with the interest so broad in eating healthfully, it seems kind of like a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t we love this?” The filmmakers considered broadening the project to a feature-length documentary on urban farming, but the time and money for such a project meant it would not be ready in time to have an impact on the local situation, he said. “It would take a long time to get out the word,” he said.
But the film does reach beyond Gaia Gardens in talking about the need for local food sources.
And that was one of the points that stood out for me. The more centralized any industry or system becomes, the easier it is to derail.
Just think of our worries these days – remember Y2K? – about computer espionage and sabotage, and about what might happen to our banking, defense and a host of other systems if a hostile hacker invaded electronically and wiped out stores of data or took control over them.
Focusing on food, have you ever noticed how people rush to the grocery store when there’s a prediction of a major snowstorm, hurricane or – well, if we ever developed a good way to predict earthquakes, them, too. In most cases, it seems a little irrational.
But is it really? When we rely on stores for our food that is shipped in from across the nation, and across nations, it’s easy to get a little nervous about shelves becoming empty if our transportation systems suffer a major disruption.
And how about the way food is grown on a massive scale? More and more, major growers limit themselves to only a few types of crops. Yet that makes those crops more susceptible to failure if a bug or other pathogen attacks en masse.
Just look to the Irish potato famine, which began in 1845, lasted a half-dozen years, and caused the deaths of a million people and the emigration of another million, according to historyplace.com. There were a lot of political factors that greatly increased the misery caused then, but a root factor was that poor peasants began to rely strongly on the potato, and a particular variety of potato at that, when it was hit by a fungal blight. The potatoes died and, without a good supply of other food to rely on, people starved.
Variety is good. Local is good. A food supply relying on a bunch of small, local (or at least regional) growers can adapt more quickly to challenges, both in what is grown and where food is sent, say people interviewed in the film.
To get there, though, we all have to be adaptable, they said.
“Sustainability is going to mean changes. It’s going to mean sacrifice,” said Bianca Sopoci-Belknap, chair of the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission.
And it’s going to mean some loosening of some city rules that make urban farming more of a struggle than it needs to be.
In his online blog, Piottin has said that he only made $10,000 last year. Many of us would have a hard time surviving on that kind of income.
On July 8, after a devastating hailstorm hit his crops, he wrote:
“I work from sunrise to sunset seven days a week every day of the year. After 5 years of farming, I am coming to some difficult realizations. Small scale farming like we practice, in the desert, on less than an acre, without machinery and with very little water (our well is shallow and doesn’t produce enough) is unsustainable. I work all the time and am tired all the time. I don’t have any life outside the farm.”
But, he continued, he sees hope under Mayor Javier Gonzalez, who “has invited us to help create a vision for a sustainable Santa Fe and shape a comprehensive urban agriculture ordinance.”
“As difficult as it’s been, we’ve made a huge impact on the city and hopefully have opened the way for more food production to take place in Santa Fe (as it once was!).”
Bringing Food Home (35 min) is available on DVD $15 Order here
See Documentary trailer here
October 2014
A New Take on Gaia Gardens
After visiting a small farm on the south side of Santa Fe recently, I felt as if I had been to the ocean. I say this because there, amid oscillating stands of healthy spinach, chard and kale, my senses were saturated with the effervescent sights, sounds and scents of a place teeming with life. Standing beside a kaleidoscopic garden of medicinal plants on a gentle rise in the land while listening to the clatter of ducks, and watching many birds fly overhead, I was aware that my being was being suffused by a benevolent and undeniably tangible cosmic force like the tides of the sea.
Gaia Gardens is a varied and lush
one-acre project on a three-acre plot on the edge of the Arroyo Chamisos,
between Siringo and Zia roads. The spirit behind this wonderful gift to a
mostly residential arroyo-side neighborhood is Poki Piottin, a Frenchman with a
resolute piercing gaze possessed of the fervent warrior spirit of his Gallic
ancestors. That spirit, luckily for us, is directed toward amicable
life-engendering gardening. Beside Poki is the gentle, marvelously happy spirit
of Dominique Pozo, who lavishes care on the once unremarkable, dry, rocky piece
of ground they planted with the help of volunteers.
The three-year-old nonprofit initiative
is only partially about providing affordable, wholesome food to the community.
It is just as much about the nourishment that such a place can provide the
minds and souls of people who may not in their day-to-day lives otherwise find
such calm and soothing healing effects.
“Even though, within the rigidly
conceived constructs of our present culture and society, people are not
supposed to wander into another person’s ‘private property’ and recharge their
spirits courting ducks or running their hands over velvety plants, it is precisely
my wish for them to do so,” said Poki, as we sat at a table beneath a tree in
the garden’s informal open-air kitchen and enjoyed a glass of fruit juice,
fresh radishes and humus on toasted bread. “Sometimes in the midst of a
particularly toilsome afternoon, a mother and her children will show up, and
while the mom is sitting beneath a tree taking an obvious break from the
arduous task of raising children, the children are responding to all the
stimulating biological phenomena at their fingertips”.
“With only the slightest French accent,
he continued. “There are just too few alternatives for experiencing the
culturally and historically significant life forms that once inhabited the
spaces between the sheer wilderness of say, Hyde Park and the controlled environment
of shopping malls. At its boldest, our society may try to fill these spaces
necessary to human well-being with a recreation center, a carefully manicured
park or bicycle trails. In fact, this property is bounded by a bicycle trail
and many of the bikers are compelled to stop, get down from their bikes and
intently study the gardens. Why not create any number of food, flower and herb
producing gardens throughout this town?”
I believe that the common person
inwardly yearns to experience the elemental sources of life that were germane
to the evolution of all of human culture and which can still be accessed on a
small-scale intensive organic farm such as this. Here nothing is wasted and the
bounteous yields serve to nourish our bodies, oui, but together with the rich processes inherent in growing food,
they supply us with inspiration and energy for things of transcendental
importance.
The fact that this garden is embedded in
the midst of a thriving neighborhood where people can come together around one
of the most creative things on Earth should be seen as one of the
neighborhood’s most important assets. A garden such as this can function as the
perfect catalyst for creating healthier, more integrated and sustainable
relationships between people, to say nothing of the relationship between people
and the Earth, which is also of vital importance, lest we all float away into
cyberspace. By its very nature, the garden integrates plant, mineral and animal
life but it also integrates the elderly, children, youth, adults, mothers,
fathers and entire families, into a seamless caring community of vibrant,
creative and happy human beings. What more do we want?
Such spaces are at the very root of
Santa Fe’s soul, history and way of doing things. The old Chicano-Mexicano
people of this town are quick to tell you that until the 1940’s and 50’s,
gardens and cornfields permeated all of their family compounds that comprised
the entirety of Garcia, Canyon and many other residential enclaves. Archival
photos from that period clearly show that the grounds of the Plaza, the very
heart of this world-bedazzling town, was set aside for productive gardening and
was tended to by locals. In fact, the religious, cultural and economic
underpinnings of the Pueblo world as well as of much of the native Nuevo Mexicano villages that constitute
the foundations of our state, arise from the very same or similar set of values
and practices being carried out at Gaia Gardens.
Alejandro López
is a Northern New Mexico writer, photographer and educator
Free Farmin’
Can urban farming flourish in the high desert?By Conor L Sanchez
Growing up in the Candlelight
neighborhood of Santa Fe, I often felt like I lived in adobe suburbia. The
homes in this wedge just west of the intersection of Zia Road and St. Francis
Drive are pretty cookie-cutter, you have to drive everywhere and nearly every
property has a perfectly manicured yard full of gravel.
So when I visited Gaia Gardens for the
first time this summer, I felt like I had been transported into another
dimension. The whole setting, from the lush garden beds with over 30 different
types of vegetables to the spacious chicken coop where fresh eggs are produced
daily, breaks the mold of concrete driveways and xeriscaped landscapes.
To get to the farm that’s off Yucca
Road along the Arroyo Chamiso Trail, I park on Paseo de los Chamisos and walk
through a set of wrought-iron gates adorned with Zia symbols. I am greeted by a
long-haired 20-something guy on a bike, who turns out to be a volunteer with
Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, an organization that links volunteers
with organic farms all over the planet.
We walk down the hill toward the
gardens where Poki Piottin, the farm’s founder, is organizing deliveries for
the day. As we stand under a tree chatting, Dominique Pozo, Piottin’s partner
and the farm’s artistic director, walks outside and shouts at us to look up. We
lift our heads in time to spot a large gray and white bird perched on a nearby
branch.
Despite growing up a mile away and
attending high school just down the street, I had never seen a hawk here
before.
For Piottin, this is what it’s all about—getting
the community to engage with the environment and its neighbors in a way that
doesn’t happen in cities anymore.
“I tend to look at this operation more
from the intangible side of things,” he says. “They aren’t hard figures, so you
may have to use your imagination for the benefits of nurturing well-oxygenated
kids and happy moms who stop by here on a daily basis.”
Proponents of urban farming are
offering up a lot of hype, going so far as to tout its potential to rejuvenate
depressed neighborhoods in cities like Detroit and Baltimore by developing
unused land, addressing food insecurity and promoting healthier diets.
I knew nothing about the concept until
two years ago, when a friend in Washington DC said he was growing tomatoes on
his roof. On Facebook, friends in New York City and San Francisco were posting
photos of themselves in overalls with skylines in the background.
When I moved back to Santa Fe in June,
I was convinced I’d find a plethora of these progressive efforts to build a
more sustainable future for food production. I didn’t.
One way cities can promote urban
farming is by addressing land use laws. Those ordinances are typically broken
down into three categories: residential, commercial and industrial. And since
urban farms often occur in someone’s backyard, cities are grappling with how to
appropriately regulate these new operations given their tendency to blur the
lines they’ve drawn over the past half-century.
The city of Santa Fe, however, has yet
to produce a policy that addresses urban farming. Last summer, the Public Works
Committee considered a resolution that ordered city staff to look at ways for
urban agriculture to be integrated into land use, but that didn’t get far. Now,
the Santa Fe Food Policy Council is preparing what it calls “a comprehensive
food plan,” part of which addresses urban agriculture. This fall, those formal
recommendations are expected to land before city and county officials.
Gaia Gardens is a perfect example of
how bumpy the road can be. The farm started in February 2012 shortly after
Piottin spent six months working on a farm in San Pancho, Mexico.
Piottin has spent the last two years
working to develop the farm despite complaints from some neighbors about the
frequency of farm visitors. Last summer the city issued citations about code
violations on the property and even said school kids could no longer take field
trips to work on the farm and volunteers weren’t allowed to sleep in tents
there. A farm stand had to be shuttered and the produce couldn’t legally be
sold from the site, the city ordered.
I knocked on the door of the neighbor
who, according to Piottin, takes photos of the garden when too many volunteers
are on the field. She told me she was “addressing the issue in other ways” and
shut the door.
Even if the city adopts a more
farm-friendly policy in residential zones, I wonder what we can realistically
expect from a region that averages 14.21 inches of rainfall per year and where
the cost of water, not to mention land, is so high.
Although Gaia Gardens has a permit
application with the State Engineer that is under protest and could affect the
water part of the equation, much of their overhead costs are uniquely low. Last
year, they brought in just over $21,000 from sales. Their total expenses were
$16,000, leaving the farm with about $5,000 in net revenue.
The slim profit margin, Piottin says,
is why it is so important that the city provide support for urban farmers.
“There’s a lot of talent and potential here. We may be behind most cities, but
we can forget that by creating something that help young urban farmers,” he
says.
Although Gaia remains the city’s
largest commercial farm, there has been a local uptick in the number of
residents interested in farming.
“I would definitely say that in more
recent years, urban farming has become a growing trend in Santa Fe, and not in
the sense of large commercial farming, but rather a lot of folks just want to
grow their own food,” says Patrick Torres, interim Northern District director
for the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension program.
Gerard Martinez, who lives in Los
Cedros neighborhood near Nava Elementary, began growing food in his backyard
five years ago. Today, Martinez says he saves $300 on food costs each year by
getting food from his backyard.
The biggest challenge, he says, is
water. He’s installed an irrigation system that reclaims water used by his
dishwasher, but he says if the city is serious about helping urban farmers, it
also needs to find residents more access to graywater.
So what’s holding urban farming back?
It’s impossible to argue that Santa
Feans lack the interest or ingenuity to boost local food production and expand
access to affordable produce on their own. But residents need clarity as to how
the city plans to regulate farms, and they could really use greater access to
safe reclaimed water.
My childhood neighborhood needed
something like Gaia. I’m waiting for the city government to catch up.
June 21, 2014
Reader View: Gaia Gardens - a remarkable treasure
As a first-time
visitor to Santa Fe, where I’ve spent the week training 15 high school
teachers for environmental science, I had the great pleasure of visiting
the Gaia Gardens organic urban farm. For many years, I’ve heard so many
good things about Santa Fe — a national leader in arts and
sustainability — and thus was delighted to find this jewel in the heart
of your lovely city.
During my visit, I learned not only is Gaia Gardens producing high-quality organic products but also has the mission of educating Santa Fe citizens, including students on all levels.
I also learned of your “Sustainable Santa Fe Plan,” yet another forward-thinking program that includes “making the community more resilient in the face of climate change” based on the three principles of environmental stewardship, economic health and social justice.
During my visit, I learned not only is Gaia Gardens producing high-quality organic products but also has the mission of educating Santa Fe citizens, including students on all levels.
I also learned of your “Sustainable Santa Fe Plan,” yet another forward-thinking program that includes “making the community more resilient in the face of climate change” based on the three principles of environmental stewardship, economic health and social justice.
Gaia
Gardens encompasses your commitment promoting all three of these
principles. There is no greater human impact on our biosphere than
agriculture, which consumes 40 percent of our planet’s fresh water, 40
percent of its arable land, more than 40 percent of the gross annual
biological productivity and a toxic soup of agrichemicals while it emits
18 percent of global greenhouse gases. This is obviously an
unsustainable food production system.
Thank
goodness for Gaia Gardens, which demonstrates another way — highly
nutritional, local, organic produce with carbon-neutral input and
insignificant water use. If you haven’t visited this remarkable
operation, you’re missing a Santa Fe treasure.
Thanks
to Santa Fe for its foresight in promoting such activities. I will be
telling your story to many more as I travel across the nation for my
teacher-training activities.
Jack Greene is a College Board Advanced Placement environmental science workshop consultant and resides in Logan, Utah.
June 28, 2014
Our View: Urban farming needs support, not more talk
Most city folk have no business wearing a pair of overalls or handling a scythe. But some are anxious to try. As the demand for locally grown food continues to rise nationwide, a few city dwellers are responding by tilling the soil in vacant lots, empty fields, rooftops and other innovative spaces. It’s called urban farming — the growing and harvesting of food in a city that is intended for sale — and it’s taking off, little by little.Some cities have even implemented policies encouraging and subsidizing its growth, helping the movement to reach its full potential. For example, San Francisco is considering tax breaks for property owners who make empty lots available for farming. Detroit has enacted an urban agriculture ordinance law, specifying where farms can operate and under what conditions. Austin, Texas, has adopted a framework that helps farmers connect the dots between various stakeholders.
Cities are taking action because they recognize that urban agriculture does more than just produce locally grown, sustainable food. It builds community, improves the environment, beautifies empty lots, increases food security and encourages healthy diets. The verdict is still out on whether the concept has any substantial economic potential, but few can argue its ability to bring people together and to educate them about food production.
Despite all this, Santa Fe seems to be on the fence.
Gaia Gardens — located across from Santa Fe High along the Arroyo Chamiso Trail — remains one of the few commercial urban farms inside city limits. Since it started in 2012, the organization has repeatedly been cited for various city code violations. At one point last year, the Gaia controversy prompted the city’s Public Works Committee to consider a resolution ordering staff to look at ways urban agriculture can be integrated into land uses. Unfortunately, the resolution has not progressed.
Regardless of how the Gaia saga plays out, the city needs to let residents know where it stands. The absence of a concrete, citywide policy sends a message of indifference to would-be urban farmers and their would-be customers. The Santa Fe Food Policy Council has prepared a food plan that covers a range of issues, including urban agriculture. After taking comments from the public, the council will make a recommendation to city and county officials for what is most appropriate for our city, given its unique water needs. Irrigation water rights should be available on some vacant lots, making growing food possible and affordable. Their recommendations are expected to come in early fall.
There may not be a magic formula that leads to the successful implementation of urban agricultural initiatives. Cities inevitably have differing approaches, each according to their own needs, desires and politics. But the longer Santa Fe waits to figure out what works best for its population, the longer it postpones reaping the benefits of what is already serving to revitalize hundreds of communities throughout the United States. With food insecurity such a problem in New Mexico, making healthy, fresh food available close to home makes sense.
If Santa Fe wants to be a leader in the green economy, we have to dig deeper.
Feb. 1, 2014
Urban Farming-The School of the Future?
Wendell Berry, the legendary farmer and poet states: “Our Children no longer learn how to read the
great book of Nature from their own direct experience, or how to interact
creatively with the seasonal transformations of the planet. They seldom learn
where their water comes from or where it goes. We no longer coordinate our
human celebration with the great liturgy of the heavens."
When my mother took me to my first
kindergarten class, I screamed and kicked; I had no desire to go to
school. Already I sensed I would be confined and indoctrinated for many
years, molded into a good tax-paying citizen. I survived my so-called
“education” and became a creative entrepreneur for 25 years until the 1999
World Trade Organization events in Seattle. Profoundly affected by our
government’s violent response to civil disobedience, I vowed to become an
activist and steward of the Earth. For the past ten years, I have been involved
in a variety of projects related to sustainability and, at 52 years of age, became
a farmer.
I chose to farm within the City to
interact with and inspire as many people as possible, believing that lasting
ecological health and social well-being are fostered by rekindling our
connection to the Earth and reclaiming our food sovereignty. For the past two
years, with the help of countless volunteers and school children, we have built
Gaia Gardens, a one-acre working farm, using imagination, elbow grease and a
wealth of community resources.
A farm is much more than a place that
grows vegetables. It is a living organism, a sanctuary for wildlife, a
business operation, and a micro-community. In order to keep it alive, the
people involved must understand not only the world of plants and soil health,
but also plumbing, carpentry, electricity, animal husbandry, accounting, public
relations, sales, marketing, grassroots community organizing, conflict
resolution, and, as we’ve painfully discovered this year, politics.
Unlike the sustainable Santa Fe of 1919, when
a survey found 1200 acres of farmland irrigated by 38 acequias, modern urban farms must negotiate a maze of city ordinances,
building codes, land use and water issues, all in an effort to demonstrate
compatibility with the neighboring residential community.
In addition to growing food, Gaia
Garden’s activities have also included educating school children, working with
groups of volunteers, hosting free workshops, and setting up a produce
stand. Such activities have conflicted with existing city ordinances
regulating a business in a residential neighborhood.
Although these activities fully align
with the 2008 Sustainable Santa Fe Plan passed by the City Council, our current
city ordinances do not accommodate the reality of urban farming.
When I look at Gaia Gardens, I see
not only a modern version of a victory garden but a perfect school, all
in harmony with a regenerative Santa
Fe. Math, physics, ecology, science, construction, economics, art and
more are all present in a palpable and real-time form. And best of all,
the classroom is outdoors, so a child can BE with Nature, have fun, learn the
skills of the future and build a strong and healthy body at the same time.
The mission of Gaia Gardens is to
inspire a citywide movement of urban farming and permaculture education, while
demonstrating the viability of urban farming in Santa Fe. Our project explores
numerous revenue-generating elements that can be incorporated in such
operation. We sell produce at the Farmers Market and through a CSA
(Community Supported Agriculture), along with plant starts, worms, compost tea,
seeds and healing salves.
Education and community building are
probably the greatest benefits of an urban farm and are certainly compatible
with residential zoning. Many Cities have already passed comprehensive urban
farming ordinances because they understand that urban farms help build
self-reliant communities and inspire positive local action around food access
and interrelated social, economic, and racial justice issues.
How do we prepare ourselves and our
children to live in a World desperate for restoration and care? Can we afford
to wait for our school system and government to evolve and provide kids with
the necessary tools to cope with the monumental task that they will inherit?
One practical way to prepare our
children is to consider urban farms as partners-in-education with our local
school system. This may require new city ordinances that allow urban farms to
become sustainable education centers while also paving the way for them to
attract capital, land and infrastructure so they can fulfill their purpose.
Children who learn to care for the
Earth, belong to community, grow food, build and repair things, and heal
themselves naturally are much more apt to become adults who will create
rather than destroy the future. These adults will contribute to the
regeneration of our ecosystem, fostering a healthy and resilient culture.
Poki Piottin, together with his
partner Dominique Pozo, operates Gaia Gardens (www.thegaiagardens.org) a non-profit urban
farm in Santa Fe. They are currently exploring ways to purchase the 3.5-acre
property where the farm is located. Poki can be reached at poki@nodilus.org 505-796-6006.
Donations to the farm are tax-deductible.
Nov. 17, 2013
CLICK ON IMAGE TO READ ARTICLE
Oct. 13, 2013
As a longtime ecology educator in town, I wondered what all the
fuss is about Gaia Gardens, so I rode the bike trail right to the
gardens and visited the only educational produce garden in the city.
As a gardener of four decades in Santa Fe’s challenging high
desert environs, I was impressed by what I discovered. Even more so with
the winds of climate change. Gaia Gardens is beautiful, productive and
resilient, because its caretakers understand soil microbiology, are
dedicated to building soil fertility and water wisely with
state-of-the-art drip irrigation (four times a day for 10 minutes —
brilliant!)
Only one neighbor out of a
hundred in the neighborhood has complained about “the activities of the
farm being beyond the scope of a home occupation business”; examples
cited were using small groups of volunteers to run the farm operation
and welcoming a few groups from the neighborhood schools. Why can’t the
Gaia Gardens people, who are excellent youth mentors, and whose project
is so needed in Santa Fe, work with groups of volunteers and school
groups for free?
These are vegetable
farmers who make $500 per week during the growing season, a far cry from
the neighbor’s description of the farm being a “massive commercial
operation.” So few people who attempt these types of community gardening
projects succeed. The hurdles and challenges are too many. The
restrictions imposed by the city already have badly damaged the farm
financially.
But worse, neighbors,
many of them elders and children, have been prevented from gathering and
working together as they had done for the past year. It would be a
shame to lose these gardens and see its operators relocate to a more
urban farm-friendly town. I doubt that anybody will try again having a
neighborhood farm school in Santa Fe after this experience.
The Gaia Gardens folks
are exemplary teachers: kind, disciplined and generous. They did not
deserve to be maligned. Their being called “bad neighbors” in the press
is a shame when the neighborhood association of 43 homes bordering the
farm on two sides has voted in favor of having the farm in the
neighborhood.
Santa Fe needs to make
this excellent educational gardening project possible, or the next
generation will not learn this most vital human knowledge which we
desperately need for each new generation. Each neighborhood needs a
gardens and youth project. Perhaps this can be surmounted with “a little
help from our friends” such as the Santa Fe youth and ecology
supporting foundations? We are nominating the main gardeners, Poki
Piottin and Dominique Pozo, for the next New Mexican “10 Who Made a Difference” award and as Santa Fe Living Treasures.
I encourage all the city
councilors to visit this unique urban farm, as Ron Trujillo and Peter
Ives have already done. I hope the Gaia Gardens folks will be able to
persevere and get past the hurdles, and that people realize the great
gift this farm gives Santa Fe. These are the folks that we need involved
in the new Arroyo de los Chamisos watershed enhancement the city is
about to embark on.
If you read their blog at http://gaiagardens.blogspot.com
I believe you will see the truth of the situation. Please, wise
citizens of Santa Fe, help save Gaia Gardens. They need and deserve to
be championed.
Chris Wells is director
of the All Species Project’s “Healing human relationship to the Earth,
elements and species through cultural arts and applied ecology.” He has
been the recipient of The Santa Fe New Mexican “10 who made a
Difference” award, as well as the Roger Tory Petersen Award for
excellence in ecological education.
AUGUST 25, 2013
Santa Fe drafting urban farming regulations
AUGUST 25, 2013
Article and Interviews on SeedBroadcast
The struggle to hold the hope and dreams for a new urban agriculture in Santa Fe, New Mexico
City Council considers resolution to promote urban agriculture
Operators of an urban farm in Santa Fe’s Bellemah neighborhood are still negotiating with the city about how they can continue to legally grow vegetables. Meanwhile, city councilors are weighing a resolution that would order staff to look for ways urban agriculture can be integrated into land uses in the city.
The City Council’s Public Works Committee on Monday recommended approval of the resolution, but councilors said the idea is not intended to pave the way for Gaia Gardens, which is working to resolve city code violations identified earlier this summer.
“I don’t have a problem
supporting local agriculture, but what I don’t want to do is reward bad
behavior,” said Councilor Chris Calvert.
Gaia Gardens had already
stopped selling produce from a farm stand along the Arroyo de los
Chamisos when it received a letter in June that also ordered operators
to stop hosting school groups and other volunteer helpers.
One of the six alleged
code violations had to do with makeshift housing that property owner
Stuart Jay Tallmon put up on the land without a permit. The city also
found that the nonprofit garden founded by farmers Poki Piottin and
Dominique Pozo was operating without a business license.
The pair have since
applied for a home occupation license that, if approved, would allow
them to grow and harvest vegetables on the property and sell them at
another location. The license also would restrict the number of workers
at the garden to two at a time. City Land Use Department Director
Matthew O’Reilly said the application is under review and Piottin is
acting as the landowner’s agent to address building code violations in
some structures on the 3.5-acre property.
Councilor Patti Bushee,
who sponsored the resolution before the City Council, stressed Wednesday
that it isn’t really about Gaia Gardens. She said it’s more about the
kind of issues it has raised.
“They are sort of a bad
example of something well-intentioned that went too far,” she said,
noting that she’s not proposing immediate code changes, but rather an
examination of broader issues. Bushee’s proposal also asks staff to
consider how the city can allow farm stands to sell produce near
community gardens in public spaces.
The city and county
Advisory Council on Food Policy is already working on recommendations to
help the region move toward more local food production and consumption,
said Katherine Mortimer, the program manager for the city’s
sustainability plan. She said the extra direction from the council on
urban agriculture would be timely.
“The Food Policy Council
has been talking about wanting to promote urban agriculture long before
the concerns with Gaia Gardens were present,” she said.
Piottin said he believes
Santa Fe should focus on creating a section in the land use code to
explicitly welcome food production in the city.
“Before we can talk about having farm stands, we have to talk about having farms,” Piottin said Monday. “The big thing is that the city ordinance for home occupation businesses in residential neighborhoods is completely hindering the work of a farm by limiting the amount of people that can come and the amount of volunteers and the amount of structures and of all that.”
Other cities have taken steps that make it easier for urban farming, he said.
“It’s doable. It just has to be on the books, otherwise our operation has to fit within the terms of the home occupation license, which is not made for farms,” he said.
“It’s doable. It just has to be on the books, otherwise our operation has to fit within the terms of the home occupation license, which is not made for farms,” he said.
Even if such changes get
made in the long term, Gaia Gardens might already be over, he said. “We
are a nonprofit with an educational mission, so if we can’t have
schools, we are closing up shop,” he said.
Area residents who say
the garden has not been a good neighbor have raised the issue with the
City Council on several occasions. The city also has received dozens of
letters from people who live nearby and support the farm.
O’Reilly said city staff
believe there’s a way to help the nonprofit understand the city code and
operate within it, noting that the biggest violations have to do with
substandard housing and plumbing as well as grading for the garden that
took place without a permit. Another big concern, he said, is the amount
of car traffic that the operations generated.
Councilor Ron Trujillo
said he hopes city staff will consider the history of the area. Gaia
Gardens is in his district and he’s heard an earful from constituents.
But he noted that the main artery through Bellemah is Rancho Siringo.
“There’s a reason it’s called Rancho Siringo. There used to be ranches and agriculture there,” he said.
July 28, 2013
Urban Farms Help Create Communities
There has been a lot of recent buzz related to farming in metro areas. While there always are multiple aspects to consider, making the most of urban farms and gardens provides the opportunity to bring together a broad spectrum of fields — including health, urban planning, transportation, education, environment, food and sustainable agriculture, and economic development — in creating healthy communities.
As a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting locally based agriculture, Farm to Table’s programs strive for equity in our food system. As such, we consider city-based farms and gardens exceptional venues in reducing the disconnect that happens when the only food consumed is store-bought.
Regardless of income
level, urban farms and gardens enhance our quality of life. They can
improve community nutrition and physical activity, maintain cultural
traditions and help enhance food security by providing opportunities for
community-members from all income-levels to grow or purchase local
fresh produce. Low-income communities, where fresh produce is often hard
to find and expensive, greatly benefit by having nearby urban farms and
gardens that provide access to healthy options, which otherwise are not
available.
As an entrepreneurship
venture, urban farming can be an economic development option that, while
requiring regulation to ensure multi-zone neighborhoods work well
together, has benefits that surpass a routine business transaction.
Beyond increasing the
accessibility of local fresh produce, urban farms and gardens build
local leadership, have the involvement of volunteers and community
partners, and include skill-and-awareness-building opportunities for
community members of all ages and interests.
Likewise, Farm to Table
supports engaging children in gardens and agricultural-related
activities that help develop the understanding of the interdependence of
all living things. Many educational goals can be addressed through
gardens, including personal and social responsibility, such as how to be
a good neighbor and how to care for a livable environment. Gardens and
agriculture integrate several subjects, such as science, math, art,
health and physical education, with social studies, storytelling,
creativity, visioning and play.
We hope Santa Feans share
Farm to Table’s support of urban farming and gardens, and, as such,
embrace livable spaces that add options and access to healthy foods in
our community.
Visit us at www.farmtotablenm.org to learn about all of our programs.
July 25, 2013
Gaia Gardens working on code issues
City inspectors found a host of violations at the property that hosts Gaia Gardens off the Arroyo de los Chamisos Trail, but progress is being made to correct every one, according to city Land Use Director Matthew O’Reilly.But that doesn’t mean the urban farm is out of hot water. A water use complaint is pending with the Office of the State Engineer, and farm founder Poki Piottin said he still faces a series of obstacles before he can run the property in a way that would match his vision.
Two issues are at work here. One relates to structures and rental units on the property, which is owned by Stuart Jay Tallmon, who lives in Colorado. The other relates to the appropriate type of activity at a large garden there, created by Piottin, whose produce is sold at the Farmers Market and used to be sold at the garden.
The most recent violations stemmed from a June 27 inspection at the property, from which notices of violation were issued July 3. The most urgent issue, according to O’Reilly, was that water distribution lines from a private well had been connected to unpotable water in an underground cistern. “That was taken care of,” he said. “They tested and sanitized the lines.”
Other violations concerned shed construction, plumbing and electrical installations, and other renovations that were done at several buildings, including rental units, on the property without required permits. Others involved things such as improper venting for a water heater and dryer, lack of safety railings on stairs, lack of ground fault circuit interruption on electrical receptacles, and more.
One issue affecting the garden concerned the need for erosion controls in an area that was graded.
“They are taking care of these items,” O’Reilly said. “We will give them more time to take care of some of these things … They’re being very responsible and we appreciate it.”
But Piottin, who said he was turned down the first time, is trying again to get a home occupation license that will allow him to operate the farm in a residential area. And even if his second try is successful, such a license “is very restrictive about how many people we can have visiting and have working” in the garden, he said.
His website tells volunteers that he can currently have only two people at a time helping out in the garden. It also shows photos of a July 1 community potluck with about three small tables of visitors.
“We want to have three groups of five kids each week, during certain hours,” Piottin said of approvals he’s seeking.
But Piottin, who said he wants to be able to serve an educational function, showing groups how to create such a garden in urban spaces, is wrestling with how to have such visitors allowed.
Applying for rezoning or a special use permit could be very costly, and likely would encounter some community opposition, he said.
Piottin said he is also faced with a complaint to the Office of the State Engineer about using a domestic well for commercial purposes and is also in the process of declaring water rights on a second well on the land.
“If we don’t get an extension from the Office of the State Engineer, or succeed at obtaining a declaration of agricultural water rights, we will have to stop selling our produce by August 12 (as per order from the Office of the State Engineer),” he wrote in an email.
Complaint to City
Susan Turner, who lists a Llano Street address and filed the initial complaint against the property with the city Land Use Department in February, as recently as June 19 had sent photos to O’Reilly of Piottin giving a garden tour to “fifteen people, mostly children.” She also submitted a log of six days in June during which from four to nine people were working in the garden.
Turner did not return a call from the Journal on Wednesday.
In her February complaint, she requested “an immediate halt … of any further development of this large scale for profit agricultural production.”
She alleged Tallmon placed a manufactured dwelling on the property “several years ago” that was used as a school and later as a summer camp for more than 25 children. People in the community expressed their concerns about it at the time, she wrote in her complaint.
Grading done in 2011, she wrote, altered the watershed and led to flooding of the foundation and crawl space of an adjacent home.
With Gaia Gardens, produce selling from a stand on the property (since discontinued) and the size of the agricultural production are prohibited in residential zones, she wrote, adding that the scale of the work would exceed even a home occupation license.
She referred to people picking crops early in the morning and after dark, sometimes with car lights shining on the garden. She also referred to vehicles parked on both sides of the street; stacks of equipment, debris and lumber on the property; individuals camping on the property and portable toilets brought in; vegetables growing and “shrines” created outside the property lines.
“This property continues to be an ‘eye-sore,’ and a possible health hazard,” she wrote, complaining of a degradation of property values and quality of life for nearby residents. “We were subjected … to the noxious smell of twenty plus tons of manure being spread over the property, loud speakers playing music at high volume, an audibly engine running a manure tea machine in operation all night, debris from the stirring of dust and dirt” and more, she wrote.
July 22, 2013
City inspectors found a host of violations at the property that hosts Gaia Gardens off the Arroyo de los Chamisos Trail, but progress is being made to correct every one, according to city Land Use Director Matthew O’Reilly.
But that doesn’t mean the urban farm is out of hot water. A water use complaint is pending with the Office of the State Engineer, and farm founder Poki Piottin said he still faces a series of obstacles before he can run the property in a way that would match his vision.
Two issues are at work here. One relates to structures and rental units on the property, which is owned by Stuart Jay Tallmon, who lives in Colorado. The other relates to the appropriate type of activity at a large garden there, created by Piottin, whose produce is sold at the Farmers Market and used to be sold at the garden.
The most recent violations stemmed from a June 27 inspection at the property, from which notices of violation were issued July 3. The most urgent issue, according to O’Reilly, was that water distribution lines from a private well had been connected to unpotable water in an underground cistern. “That was taken care of,” he said. “They tested and sanitized the lines.”
Other violations concerned shed construction, plumbing and electrical installations, and other renovations that were done at several buildings, including rental units, on the property without required permits. Others involved things such as improper venting for a water heater and dryer, lack of safety railings on stairs, lack of ground fault circuit interruption on electrical receptacles, and more.
One issue affecting the garden concerned the need for erosion controls in an area that was graded.
“They are taking care of these items,” O’Reilly said. “We will give them more time to take care of some of these things … They’re being very responsible and we appreciate it.”
But Piottin, who said he was turned down the first time, is trying again to get a home occupation license that will allow him to operate the farm in a residential area. And even if his second try is successful, such a license “is very restrictive about how many people we can have visiting and have working” in the garden, he said.
His website tells volunteers that he can currently have only two people at a time helping out in the garden. It also shows photos of a July 1 community potluck with about three small tables of visitors.
“We want to have three groups of five kids each week, during certain hours,” Piottin said of approvals he’s seeking.
But Piottin, who said he wants to be able to serve an educational function, showing groups how to create such a garden in urban spaces, is wrestling with how to have such visitors allowed.
Applying for rezoning or a special use permit could be very costly, and likely would encounter some community opposition, he said.
Piottin said he is also faced with a complaint to the Office of the State Engineer about using a domestic well for commercial purposes and is also in the process of declaring water rights on a second well on the land.
“If we don’t get an extension from the Office of the State Engineer, or succeed at obtaining a declaration of agricultural water rights, we will have to stop selling our produce by August 12 (as per order from the Office of the State Engineer),” he wrote in an email.
Complaint to city
Susan Turner, who lists a Llano Street address and filed the initial complaint against the property with the city Land Use Department in February, as recently as June 19 had sent photos to O’Reilly of Piottin giving a garden tour to “fifteen people, mostly children.”
She also submitted a log of six days in June during which from four to nine people were working in the garden.
Turner did not return a call from the Journal on Wednesday.
In her February complaint, she requested “an immediate halt … of any further development of this large scale for profit agricultural production.”
She alleged Tallmon placed a manufactured dwelling on the property “several years ago” that was used as a school and later as a summer camp for more than 25 children. People in the community expressed their concerns about it at the time, she wrote in her complaint.
Grading done in 2011, she wrote, altered the watershed and led to flooding of the foundation and crawl space of an adjacent home.
With Gaia Gardens, produce selling from a stand on the property (since discontinued) and the size of the agricultural production are prohibited in residential zones, she wrote, adding that the scale of the work would exceed even a home occupation license.
She referred to people picking crops early in the morning and after dark, sometimes with car lights shining on the garden. She also referred to vehicles parked on both sides of the street; stacks of equipment, debris and lumber on the property; individuals camping on the property and portable toilets brought in; vegetables growing and “shrines” created outside the property lines.
“This property continues to be an ‘eye-sore,’ and a possible health hazard,” she wrote, complaining of a degradation of property values and quality of life for nearby residents. “We were subjected … to the noxious smell of twenty plus tons of manure being spread over the property, loud speakers playing music at high volume, an audibly engine running a manure tea machine in operation all night, debris from the stirring of dust and dirt” and more, she wrote.
What a pathetic dichotomy! In the same week that city code and
zoning inspectors visited Gaia Gardens, the state of New Mexico was
graded dead last — not our usual rank of 49 or 48 — in general child
welfare.
Gaia Gardens, an organic farm on the city’s south side, sprang into being last year from the vision and hard labor of Poki Piottin and Dominique Pozo. When I first visited the garden last summer, I was astounded at the miraculous change that had occurred on that portion of Santa Fe’s arid landscape. Six-foot tall sunflowers swayed in the breeze above rows of green arugula and chard. A little farm stand provided a chance for local folk to purchase organic vegetables. Later on I learned about composting and soil preparation through workshops at the gardens, and met like-minded folks at potlucks. These activities were quietly conducted with no increased noise or traffic in my residential neighborhood.
City inspectors found a host of violations at the property that hosts Gaia Gardens off the Arroyo de los Chamisos Trail, but progress is being made to correct every one, according to city Land Use Director Matthew O’Reilly.
But that doesn’t mean the urban farm is out of hot water. A water use complaint is pending with the Office of the State Engineer, and farm founder Poki Piottin said he still faces a series of obstacles before he can run the property in a way that would match his vision.
Two issues are at work here. One relates to structures and rental units on the property, which is owned by Stuart Jay Tallmon, who lives in Colorado. The other relates to the appropriate type of activity at a large garden there, created by Piottin, whose produce is sold at the Farmers Market and used to be sold at the garden.
The most recent violations stemmed from a June 27 inspection at the property, from which notices of violation were issued July 3. The most urgent issue, according to O’Reilly, was that water distribution lines from a private well had been connected to unpotable water in an underground cistern. “That was taken care of,” he said. “They tested and sanitized the lines.”
Other violations concerned shed construction, plumbing and electrical installations, and other renovations that were done at several buildings, including rental units, on the property without required permits. Others involved things such as improper venting for a water heater and dryer, lack of safety railings on stairs, lack of ground fault circuit interruption on electrical receptacles, and more.
One issue affecting the garden concerned the need for erosion controls in an area that was graded.
“They are taking care of these items,” O’Reilly said. “We will give them more time to take care of some of these things … They’re being very responsible and we appreciate it.”
But Piottin, who said he was turned down the first time, is trying again to get a home occupation license that will allow him to operate the farm in a residential area. And even if his second try is successful, such a license “is very restrictive about how many people we can have visiting and have working” in the garden, he said.
His website tells volunteers that he can currently have only two people at a time helping out in the garden. It also shows photos of a July 1 community potluck with about three small tables of visitors.
“We want to have three groups of five kids each week, during certain hours,” Piottin said of approvals he’s seeking.
But Piottin, who said he wants to be able to serve an educational function, showing groups how to create such a garden in urban spaces, is wrestling with how to have such visitors allowed.
Applying for rezoning or a special use permit could be very costly, and likely would encounter some community opposition, he said.
Piottin said he is also faced with a complaint to the Office of the State Engineer about using a domestic well for commercial purposes and is also in the process of declaring water rights on a second well on the land.
“If we don’t get an extension from the Office of the State Engineer, or succeed at obtaining a declaration of agricultural water rights, we will have to stop selling our produce by August 12 (as per order from the Office of the State Engineer),” he wrote in an email.
Complaint to city
Susan Turner, who lists a Llano Street address and filed the initial complaint against the property with the city Land Use Department in February, as recently as June 19 had sent photos to O’Reilly of Piottin giving a garden tour to “fifteen people, mostly children.”
She also submitted a log of six days in June during which from four to nine people were working in the garden.
Turner did not return a call from the Journal on Wednesday.
In her February complaint, she requested “an immediate halt … of any further development of this large scale for profit agricultural production.”
She alleged Tallmon placed a manufactured dwelling on the property “several years ago” that was used as a school and later as a summer camp for more than 25 children. People in the community expressed their concerns about it at the time, she wrote in her complaint.
Grading done in 2011, she wrote, altered the watershed and led to flooding of the foundation and crawl space of an adjacent home.
With Gaia Gardens, produce selling from a stand on the property (since discontinued) and the size of the agricultural production are prohibited in residential zones, she wrote, adding that the scale of the work would exceed even a home occupation license.
She referred to people picking crops early in the morning and after dark, sometimes with car lights shining on the garden. She also referred to vehicles parked on both sides of the street; stacks of equipment, debris and lumber on the property; individuals camping on the property and portable toilets brought in; vegetables growing and “shrines” created outside the property lines.
“This property continues to be an ‘eye-sore,’ and a possible health hazard,” she wrote, complaining of a degradation of property values and quality of life for nearby residents. “We were subjected … to the noxious smell of twenty plus tons of manure being spread over the property, loud speakers playing music at high volume, an audibly engine running a manure tea machine in operation all night, debris from the stirring of dust and dirt” and more, she wrote.
Reader View: Gaia Gardens needs nurturing to thrive
Gaia Gardens, an organic farm on the city’s south side, sprang into being last year from the vision and hard labor of Poki Piottin and Dominique Pozo. When I first visited the garden last summer, I was astounded at the miraculous change that had occurred on that portion of Santa Fe’s arid landscape. Six-foot tall sunflowers swayed in the breeze above rows of green arugula and chard. A little farm stand provided a chance for local folk to purchase organic vegetables. Later on I learned about composting and soil preparation through workshops at the gardens, and met like-minded folks at potlucks. These activities were quietly conducted with no increased noise or traffic in my residential neighborhood.
It was disheartening, to
put it mildly, to learn of the difficulties this year with city zoning
and codes. These difficulties seemed antithetical to the sustainable
Santa Fe guidelines adopted by our city in 2009. This plan listed
initiatives such as, “Adopt and enforce land use codes and policies that
promote sustainable, energy-efficient, carbon-neutral development.
Provide for alternatives to the automobiles. Keep neighborhoods livable.
Provide economic opportunity throughout the city.”
Personally, I never go to
the Santa Fe Farmers Market. I don’t like the drive and don’t want to
mess with parking downtown. However, last year it was possible to walk
over and purchase vegetables from the farm stand. Economic
opportunities? Alternatives to automobiles? Sustainable development?
Livable neighborhoods? Gaia Gardens actualizes this vision, and much
more.
Gaia Gardens fosters
educational opportunity and a true sense of community. Visiting classes
from small schools and students from nearby Santa Fe High School, as
well as adult volunteers, have had the opportunity to get their hands
dirty, shovel compost, watch baby ducklings and eat carrots fresh from
Mother Earth. I worked in the Santa Fe Schools for 25 years. Sadly, many
children I worked with thought food only came from MacDonald’s — not
Old MacDonald’s farm.
The Sustainable Santa Fe
Plan has a large section devoted to food systems. Stated goals include
creating multiple food growing, processing, storing and selling
opportunities. Other goals include identifying and reducing barriers to
urban agriculture, developing neighborhood centers for home economics,
sustainability, food-related processes and providing educational
resources for organic food production. Both the vision and the actuality
of Gaia Gardens support these goals.
Communities spring up
organically, but they need nurturing. It was my experience working in
the schools that well meaning attempts to implement a sense of community
from the top down were rarely successful. Yet other schools had a
strong sense of shared vision and were wonderful learning communities.
What made the difference — what really worked — was a magical coming
together of opportunity, leadership, and willing participation.
Like the tender shoot of a
plant, an emerging community can grow and bloom under favorable
conditions or can die from lack of nourishment. I urge the City Council
to do whatever necessary to allow Gaia Gardens to thrive.
Susan McDuffie
retired from the Santa Fe Schools in 2007. She now writes historical
mysteries and enjoys growing a few vegetables at home.
June 30, 2013
Find a way for the farm to sta
Posts by Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board
Some days, you just don’t know whether to laugh or cry. On the glad side, Santa Fe’s city land use department appears to be taking enforcement of the zoning code seriously. The bad side? The department has all but shut down a thriving urban farm in the process.Gaia Gardens got started at the back of a lot on Santa Fe’s southside last year. The little farm operates with volunteer labor, and with a sideline produce stand patronized by neighbors and walkers along the neighboring Arroyo Chamiso Trail. Movie nights, educational sojourns for kids, a monthly neighborhood potluck – Gaia Gardens was a happening place.
Then, in January, one of the neighbors complained. In four visits over the ensuing months, city inspectors found all sorts of violations of the city code, ranging from unpermitted structures to an RV that was being used as living space. More problematically, the little farm drew crowds – or, as the city put it, more visitors were coming to the property than would normally be expected at a residence. And that produce stand was not an approved land use in a residential district.
So, Poki Piottin’s vision of a sustainable communal garden plot is on hold, at least until city inspectors issue a written report next week.
Clearly at least one of his neighbors hasn’t appreciated his efforts. But other neighbors point out that Piottin has cleaned up a property that was otherwise something of an eyesore. Plus, his garden with its rows of green growing food crops is a pleasure to behold.
The city shouldn’t be criticized for cracking down on unpermitted structures, people living in RVs, or other significant violations of the residential zoning code. On the other hand, Piottin seems to be doing more good than harm with his little farm. And surely some of his infractions are easy to correct – he could stop selling produce on site, for example, and just take the veggies to the farmers market. Better coordination among his volunteers might eliminate the traffic problem.
In short, there’s room for maneuver here. Both the city and Piottin should get together and work out a way for the little farm to stay.
June 28, 2013
Trouble in Paradise as zoning laws are broken
Tomas Montaño, chief electrical inspector for the city of Santa Fe,
right, works with other city inspectors as they check structures on the
same property as Gaia Gardens for any code violations. (Greg
Sorber/Journal)
Poki Piottin’s dream of creating community and spreading the
gospel of home-grown veggies on urban plots has run smack into Santa
Fe’s building and land use codes.
Five inspectors toured the property Thursday, taking
pictures and notes, leaving the future of Piottin’s Gaia Gardens along
the Arroyo de los Chamisos Trail up in the air. “Basically, we are being prevented from operating as a
nonprofit. We grossed $12,000 last year and spent $10,000 (on improving
the property),” said Piottin, who explained that ongoing city
inspections, which began in February or March, resulted in six
citations. This was his fourth inspection, he said.
But Mike Purdy, director of inspections and enforcement in
the Land Use Division, told Piottin and some of his supporters Thursday
that the city was responding to a complaint and was trying to apply the
codes equally to everyone.
Piottin, an advocate of urban farming, developed and tends the gardens, and began selling its produce to the public last summer. Purdy said his crew on Thursday was checking for building
code violations or work on buildings that might have been done without
the proper city permits, and that a report of their findings should be
ready by Monday. The biggest obstacle for Piottin is that he is operating in a
residential neighborhood, with activities that don’t fit that land use.
He developed a farm on sandy scrubland on the arroyo,
started selling vegetables both at the site and at the Santa Fe Farmers
Market, used both local volunteers and wwoofers (interns from around the
country who spend the summer as “willing workers on organic farms”) to
help grow the crops, held potlucks and movie nights for the
neighborhood, hosted schoolchildren to visit the garden and learn about
growing food, and held some classes on related topics.
“My intention never was to just grow food,” he said. In the
past, he has described his role as providing a model, education site,
community gathering place and inspiration for other people to grow
organic food in a sustainable way in town.
But a lot of those activities don’t fit in with what is
allowed in a residential area, according to the city. The Gardens are
located at 2255 Paseo de los Chamisos, just north of the Arroyo de los
Chamisos between Yucca Road and Camino Carlos Rey.
The property, which is owned by Stuart Tallmon of Boulder, Colo., has been cited already for a number of issues:
• Structures were built without a permit.
• An RV was being used for lodging (Piottin, who said he sometimes slept in it, said he is having it taken away).
• Land was graded without a permit (Piottin said he will
comply with requirements to build a barrier to keep pumice from that
project out of the arroyo).
• Piottin did not get a business license (Piottin said city
workers told him a permit he got to sell produce and plants at the
Farmers Market constituted his business license, but now is told he
needs a license for a home occupation business).
Neighborhood support
City Councilor Patti Bushee, contacted later for a telephone
interview, said she has talked with some of the garden’s advocates, but
said that some of its activities simply don’t fit in a residential
neighborhood.
Stressing that she supports urban agriculture, especially in
public spaces, such as city parks that have adequate parking and some
buffer from nearby homes, Bushee said of Piottin, “I am definitely
certain he can correct quite a few of the concerns that the Land Use
director has, but a few (of the activities) may not be appropriate,
period … . That’s a lot of activity going on in a residential area.”
She said Piottin or the landowner could apply for a variance
from the zoning requirements, but O’Reilly said that isn’t true.
Variances from a zoned use for a property are not allowed, he said.
Piottin said he’s going to wait and see what the results of the latest inspection are, and decide how to proceed from there.
June 28, 2013
See editorial page A7
June 27, 2013
Urban farm cited for land-use violations trying to get up to code, thrive again
An urban farm that abuts an arroyo in a residential neighborhood near Santa Fe High School recently stopped using volunteer labor and allowing visits by schoolchildren and other groups after being notified that the farm is in violation of city ordinances.
Gaia Gardens was started last year by Poki Piottin and Dominique Pozo on land leased from a Colorado resident. With help from numerous volunteers from area schools and a national group that places volunteers on organic farms, the couple grows chard, arugula, corn, beans, tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes, garlic and other “market” vegetables on about a third of an acre on the edge of a 3.5-acre property that also includes seven residential units.
Until recently, the pair have had help with weeding, watering, transplanting and other garden work from dozens of volunteers, including students from Monte del Sol Charter School, Santa Fe High School and Wee Spirits (a nursery school whose young charges walked across the arroyo every Thursday morning to help in the garden). The couple sold their produce at the farmers market, to local restaurants (including Joe’s Diner and Counter Culture) and from a stand located along their back fence, which was accessed mostly by pedestrians using trails in the adjacent arroyo.
Piottin said their mission has been to develop a farm that could serve as a demonstration project, modeling the potential for high-desert gardens, permaculture and biodynamic practices. The garden operates as a nonprofit under the auspices of the New Mexico Community Foundation, Poki said, and has hosted a series of classes over the past year on water harvesting, medicinal plants and fermentation. The farm also donates free food boxes to six families who are part of a group aimed at addressing health problems. Gaia is certified as an organic farm by the USDA and the state of New Mexico.
In essence, Piottin said, the idea is to create the type of sustainable, urban agriculture encouraged, at least in theory, by the city’s own planning documents. Piottin — who has worked on several other community farms in the past — said he reached out to city planners before starting the project to make sure it would be feasible in the residential area.
“I wrote the mayor and requested some guidance to find out what I need to do to start an urban farm,” Piottin said. He said he was referred to a city planner and later met with her and five or six other city employees, including staff from the water division. The farm draws irrigation water from a well.
“I told them what I wanted to do to see what was permissible within our zoning,” Piottin said. “They said farming is completely allowed. The only thing you can’t do is sell on the premises. So I left the meeting with their blessing.”
Piottin acknowledges, however, that he didn’t discuss the volunteer labor with city planners because it didn’t occur to him that it would be a problem.
But Piottin did begin selling on the premises to about 20 or 30 customers a week who used nearby walking and biking trails. That and the increase in activity on the property, including the construction of sheds, moving of earth, etc., raised concerns for at least one neighbor whose home faces the project’s largest growing plot.
That neighbor, Susan Turner, wrote the city in February, stating that she represented “individuals of the residential community” that surrounds the garden and complained about a number of issues, including the fact that the size and scope of the project seemed to be larger than allowed by zoning rules and that the number of volunteers — some of whom were placed by a national agency and camped on the farm while working there — also seemed out of keeping with what should be allowed in a residential area.
Turner’s letter also stated that the barrels, wood scraps, building materials and various equipment stored on the property had become an eyesore. She noted in her letter that she had discussed these issues with city staff on six prior occasions and asked that the city investigate.
Piottin said he believes Turner is acting on her personal views regarding the garden and doesn’t represent many other neighbors. To the contrary, he said, most of the neighbors support the farm. He presented letters of support from about a dozen neighbors, including a couple who wrote that they moved into the neighborhood earlier this year partially because of the garden because they “wanted to be able to feel close to gardens and community within town.”
Turner could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
On June 7, city Land Use Department Director Matthew O’Reilly sent a letter to Stuart Tallmon, who owns the property but currently lives in Boulder, advising him that the city had determined that activity on his property violated six different city laws.
The violations cited in the notice include: grading without a permit, erecting structures without permit, using the property in ways not permitted by the residential zoning, failure to obtain a business license, attracting a greater number of visitors than would normally be expected in a residential neighborhood and the use of a recreational vehicle as a dwelling.
The notice gave Tallmon — who agreed to allow Piottin to act as his representative in the matter — up to 14 days to rectify the problems to avoid having criminal charges that include penalties of up to $500 a day filed against him in Municipal Court.
On June 18, Piottin requested a 30-day extension to remedy the violations. All volunteers and visits by school groups were also canceled, Piottin said, and the trail-side food stand was taken down.
O’Reilly responded June 21, granting him the extension but noting that while some of the violations could be remedied by obtaining after-the-fact permits and licenses, certain others — including the use of volunteer labor on the land, the excessive number visitors and the residential use of a recreation vehicle as a dwelling unit — could only be corrected “by their immediate cessation.”
Piottin said he and Lozo have taken the steps they can to address some of the issues immediately — he said he works long days to make up for the loss of volunteer labor — and is waiting for another city inspection scheduled for Thursday, to find out the total extent of violations that still must be addressed.
If the list is too long — Piottin said he feels city inspectors are on a “witch hunt” and determined to find fault with anything they can on the property, which includes some structures that date back to the 1950s — he and Lozo may have to abandon the farm.
If material deficiencies can be cleared up without too much cost, he said, the couple may decide to pursue other options — such as petitioning for a change to the city code or a special-use permit — which he said, city staff other than O’Reilly told him might be options.
O’Reilly’s letter gives Gaia Garden’s until July 21 to address the alleged violations.
Dec 1, 2012
(click on image to read full article)
Now, after 20 to 30 tons of horse
manure and 100 gallons of compost tea, the 7,500-square-foot garden flourishes
with sturdy green vegetable plants fronted by colorful flowers.
Well, it also took some digging,
hauling out of rocks and construction waste that had been dumped there over the
years, and some serious irrigating, according to Poki (Hugo) Piottin.
But now he’s got a farm stand set up
selling the fruits – and vegetables – of his and many others’ labors. Unlike
many roadside stands, though, this one fronts the Arroyo Chamiso Trail that
hosts people on foot and non-motorized wheels.
After being open six times, Piottin
said the record take was $84. “We
get bigger sales each time,” he said. “Neighbors are starting to come down. …
We’re trying to encourage foot and bicycle traffic,” so vehicle traffic won’t
disturb the residential neighborhood.
The goal isn’t so much to make money
off produce – Gaia Gardens is nonprofit – as it is to spread the gospel about
permaculture and urban farming, and to integrate into and create community,
Piottin said.
Workshops are scheduled next month for
horno building and medicinal salves; another is upcoming on water harvesting. A
class in qigong, a Chinese exercise routine, is offered on Monday mornings, and
Wednesday evenings feature kid-centered activities, such as art, puppets and
gardening.
A community meeting and potlucks are
held on the first Monday of each month. And on Saturdays, sometimes there’s singing and
guitar-playing around a wood fireplace, he said.
Wwoofers (willing workers on organic
farms) camp on the property and offer their labor during the summer in exchange
for a place to stay, along with some pretty healthy food.
It all started in February when the
owner of the land said he was willing for Piottin to set up his project there. “I’ve been fascinated with compost and
urban farming for three years,” Piottin said. He participated in a project in Mexico, at a coastal town
called San Pancho, he said. Last
summer, he set up Dandelion Ranch, a community garden off Don Gaspar. And this
year has been devoted to Gaia Gardens. “It’s more than doing a garden,” Piottin said. “It’s putting elements in place to create sustainable culture.” “The greater vision,” he said, “is to create a pocket of inspiration for the community.”
Zigzag journey
Like many people in the City Different,
Piottin arrived here via a peripatetic pursuit of his various passions. “It’s
been a long journey for me,” he said.
Born in Lyon, France, Piottin said he was a downhill ski racer and instructor in Europe, but spent his summers working as a commercial fisherman in Alaska. That brought him to Seattle, where he opened a punk nightclub, Metropolis, that’s been coined the "birthplace of grunge,” Piottin said.
Then he opened a vegetarian restaurant,
getting interested in nutrition and farmers markets, and then taught nutrition
and physical fitness, along with team-building, in seminars for corporate
clients.
Then he got into corporate consulting
and formed a company called Contractor Referrals Inc. that marketed
construction companies in the Seattle area. “That was my big money venture,” he said, adding that it was
bought out by an Internet company.
From there? Permaculture and then sacred dance, which brought him to
Taos. “The desert grabbed me,” Piottin said. But not enough to immediately keep him here. He went on a
walkabout through Africa, and then along the Continental Divide Trail in the
Gila Wilderness.
In 2009-11, he launched The Nodilus
Project, described in his online biography as “designed to harness collective
intelligence in order to inspire and foster sustainable and regenerative
culture.” He dove into sustainable community gardening in Mexico in the first
six months of 2011, and then came back to see what he could make work in Santa
Fe.
“I’m really trying to foster a practice
space for a new form of community to emerge,” he said. He’s planning to form a
board to oversee the organization – “I’m waiting to see who shows up here regularly.
Some people are starting to stand out,” Piottin said.
The property hosts one trailer and
three tents, along with an outdoor kitchen; he also is planning to build
outdoor showers. He has a vision for a no-energy greenhouse that could grow
crops throughout the winter. Goats are also on the horizon. Besides the
vegetable garden, workers have planted 50 trees, including 20 fruit trees, he
said.
“The big picture is to purchase this
land,” Piottin said. “I’m just starting to get connections to people who can
help us out. … The idea is to really secure the land, to put it in trust so it
stays farmland and an education center.”
August 3, 2012
A Garden for Green Thumbs, Innovative Ideas
By Galen Hecht
Special for Generation Next
August 3, 2012
A Garden for Green Thumbs, Innovative Ideas
By Galen Hecht
Special for Generation Next
I have always been intrigued by gardening. From a young age I enjoyed seeing things grow. It feels like magic to me.
It
is what drew me to Gaia Gardens while searching for volunteering opportunities
in Santa Fe. Some blog entries on
their website captured my interest. Gaia Gardens looked like a nice place where I could invest
some time over the summer.
I
contacted them and was impressed by the fast e-mail reply from Poki the garden
coordinator. I soon went to investigate
the place to make sure it was where I wanted to invest time during my short
school break.
Upon
arrival I met Poki who appeared to have been working hard. He was wearing a tattered pink straw
hat. He gave me a tour of the facilities. I was impressed.
The garden was clearly well cared for; there were chickens, a greenhouse, many small gardens, a large garden and a camp for the farm interns. Not only was I discovering a place where I could do some good work, but also an environment where I felt comfortable to sit down and relax.
I was back the next morning at six.
After
this first visit in mid June, I have gone back to Gaia Gardens on a fairly
regular basis. Whether I go to
lend a hand picking apricots, or enjoy food at a potluck with interesting
people from the community, I’ve only had good experiences.
To
me, Gaia Gardens is a place where I am welcome and encouraged to do things that
would typically feel very difficult to do in Santa Fe. Simply picking fresh food right out of
the ground and eating it is not an everyday occurrence for me, nor most of my
friends, but let me tell you, it is very satisfying.
Metaphorically,
that is how I feel about many of my peers and myself. We are hungry for a comfortable place to achieve something
cool and interesting but are lacking the garden from which to ‘pick’ or find
that interesting thing. To me, Gaia Gardens is that sort of place.
For
example I have recently been interested in building a traditional wood fired
oven, and just days ago I was introduced to a man at Gaia Gardens who holds a
wealth of knowledge on the topic.
I
find that I can take initiative at Gaia Gardens, and contribute to its growing
vision, while being supported by the folks running the project. Their aim is to create a place where
innovative ideas and activities are birthed, contributing to the emergence of a
dynamic new local culture. This
feels good. In fact, it gives me a
lot of faith in the power of a supportive community, something that we are very
lucky to have right in our backyard in Santa Fe.
I encourage you to visit their blog (and sign up to receive
notices!) at http://gaiagardens.blogspot.com. Many events are scheduled for the
summer from cob-building to medicinal salves and tinctures workshops.
Galen Hecht grew up in Santa Fe. He attends Pearson College, part of the United World College, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Duo turn stretch of land along Arroyo Chamiso Trail into an urban farm
People biking, walking or running along the Arroyo Chamiso Trail this summer have been craning their necks at a new sight. Just a few feet off the paved recreational pathway through southeast Santa Fe, an urban farm called Gaia Gardens has sprung to life.
Earth-moving equipment created clouds of dust there in February as the work got under way. Piles of dark manure and compost soon replaced stones. By July, sunflowers rose from the center of a cultivated plot, and thousands of vegetable plants began spreading their green leaves and colorful blooms along deep rows.
Gaia Gardens opened its trail-side produce stand four weeks ago, and word has spread around the community. At times, a trickle of customers at the stand turns into a stream. Many shoppers arrive on foot or bicycle.
This week, three kinds of beans are ready to harvest (scarlet runners, purple dove and blue lake) along with beets, carrots, chard, broccoli, squash, potatoes and herbs.
Garden “instigator” Poki Piottin wore a floppy pink hat atop his braided pigtails as he maneuvered around the plot with a wheelbarrow one morning this week. Across the rows of plants, his partner, Dominique Pozo, a massage therapist and Qigong teacher, flashed a beaming smile.
In between helping shoppers select produce and chatting about the neighborhood, Pozo leaned into rows of squash, balancing several yellow vegetables in each hand as she headed for a rinsing sink.
Each calls the other “the pillar” of the farm. While growing and selling produce is their outward goal, they share a vision of using the garden as a place for gathering. Already, workshops on herbs and outdoor oven construction have been held, and another is in the works on fermenting and preserving. Parents are welcome to bring children at any time, but 5 p.m. Wednesday is designated “kids time.”
Their basic idea is that all are welcome.
“It’s so fun to have people in the garden,” Pozo said. “I wave a lot. It’s nice to have the trail so close so that people can come see what is happening. It’s definitely a part of what we want. It’s not some private thing. It’s for everybody.”
After Piottin and master gardener Juaquin Lawrence Hershman started a biodynamic garden in Mexico, Piottin, who was born in France, spent the last year setting up a shared family garden off Don Gaspar Avenue called the Dandelion Ranch. But he left that endeavor to do something more public that had the promise of community involvement, he said.
“I started with a bare piece of land and zero money. We made compost with donations from The Food Depot. We started from scratch,” he said. “All of these conditions are perfect for demonstrating that, yes, it can be done. For not a lot of money. All you need is determination, skills and a little bit of water.”
Gaia Gardens is supplied by a private well and uses about 300 gallons per day. The irrigation system alone costs about $1,500, and so far, the farm has earned $1,300 from vegetable sales, he said. Seeds and plants were donated, as was the earthwork and the parts for a rebuilt greenhouse. Already, groups from Community Options, Boys to Men and the Little Earth School have come to Gaia to work and learn. Piottin said he’s also invited teachers from nearby Santa Fe High School and permaculture experts to take on projects on the land.
“Ideally, we want to evolve toward an educational center,” he said, “not just a production farm that sells vegetables.”
The farm is located on a 3-acre parcel at the edge of the Bellemah subdivision owned by Jay Tallmon, who bought the property in 1999. The land had been part of a 19-plot owned by a church for a summer retreat. About 14 people live in rental units at the site now, and another three to five camp out and work as farmhands.
“It’s kind of like an oasis, almost,” Tallmon said. “Travelers may be on the trail, and they see this, and it’s a little inspiration for them and maybe they feel good about what they’re doing. Everything else is brown everywhere, and then you see this.”
Andromeda, who lives about a mile and a half west via the trail and who does not use a last name, has been walking by regularly since work began at the site. The timing was perfect, she said, because this summer she had to give up her own backyard garden due to the high water bills. “This is something, a vision of what I’ve seen for a long time, that there would be some kind of store along this walking trail,” she said Monday morning. “So, this is cool.”
The future of the garden is uncertain, however, because of a dispute between the landowner and the bank that could result in the sale of the land. Piottin said he is hopeful that won’t happen and that the farm will continue with community participation.
“Sustainability is not a spectator sport. It’s not clicking ‘like’ on Facebook. It’s being on the ground, taking care of business, taking care of the kids and taking care of pollution and taking care of the trees,” he said. “We are inviting people to really be co-creators.”
Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com2
September 22, 2012KSFR Santa Fe
Interview by Bob Ross
May 4, 2013
KTRC Santa Fe
Climate Change, with Richard Eeds
(Show is in 2 parts. Gaia Gardens starts at 56min)
June 29, 2013
KSFR Santa Fe
Interview by Bob Ross
Sptember 25, 2014
KSFR Santa Fe
Interview by Zelie Pollon