1. Plant Herbs: It’s no secret that using fresh herbs when cooking makes everything taste up to 1,000,000 times better. Plant your favorites, like basil, cilantro, dill, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage and tarragon and harvest the leaves for cooking as needed. Pinch back any signs of flowers to increase the plant’s longevity.
2. Aphids be gone! (naturally): Aphids are tiny bugs, usually green or black, that attach themselves to new plant growth and feed on plant sap. Unfortunately, an abundance of aphids doesn’t usually bode well for plants, and need to be controlled to maximize plant growth. You can remove aphids naturally by focusing a strong spray of water on the aphids several times a day for a week. This way, the aphids will be unable to reattach themselves to the plant, and the plant won’t have to endure any harsh chemicals found in pesticides. If water doesn’t suffice, try spraying a mixture of 1 cup veggie oil, 1 1/2 cups water and 2 teaspoons of dish soap onto the plant. Wait several hours and then wash the soap off of the plant. Then, put some ladybugs in the garden. They love to eat aphids!
3. Include Annuals: Spring and summer are great times to plant flowers that only grow seasonally. Some examples include begonia, chrysanthemum, geranium marigolds, zinnia, petunias, impatiens and sunflowers. If you’re planning to buy these plants from the nursery, select smaller sized plants with healthy green foliage, because bigger plants will take longer to assimilate to the garden and will not be as prolific.
4. Be conscious of your water consumption:  Warmer weather usually leads people to water their gardens excessively. Soil should be moist four to six inches below the surface of the garden, and you can check this by making a small hole in the soil and sticking your finger in the dirt to check for moisture content. If your garden has grass, step on it. If it flattens, your garden needs water. The best time to water your plants is in the early morning so that less water evaporates. Water less often, but for longer periods. Deep watering allows roots to grow downward so that they will be protected during hotter days.
5. Thinner is better: Fruit trees should be in full bloom during May. My boyfriend’s avocado tree, for example, has already produced thousands of beautiful, delicious avocados that can grow to be the size of a small papaya! As is true with this avocado tree, fruit trees typically produce more fruit than can grow to maturity, leading some of the immature fruit to fall of naturally. Thin the remaining smaller, unhealthy- looking fruit from the branches. This will help the stronger fruits to thrive.
6. Veggie time: Plant your veggies now to enjoy during the hot summer months. Some great choices for this region are artichokes, beets, cucumber, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, beans, corn, melons, and squash.
7. Perennial galore: Fill out your flower garden with perennials that bloom in summer. Be sure to include asters, coreopsis, clematis, coneflowers, daylilies, ice plant, speedwell, Shasta daisies, salvia and stokes aster.

We hope this helps you in your planting pursuits this Spring! We would love to see what’s in your garden, so post some pics on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OCFoodAccess?ref=hl! We’re looking forward to seeing some great produce, flowers, and full- on gardens! Happy planting, everyone!

Information about gardening taken from: www.agromin.com

     In a region of such monetary precedence, any issues related to hunger would seemingly prove irrelevant. Surely, a place teeming with showy sports cars, elegant mansions, and first- class dining wouldn’t be affected by its resident’s inability to adequately access or purchase nutritious foods on a regular basis, right? Unfortunately, and contrary to popular assumption, food insecurity in Orange County is a real problem. According to Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, about 21% of the county’s residents are unable to successfully purchase meals or groceries on a regular basis and many are affected by food- related illnesses such as obesity or hypertension as a result, given that low food costs directly coincide with high- calorie foods.

Even with this baseline information understood, much is unknown about the realities facing either Orange County or our nation with regards to food insecurity. So, what’s being done about this? Feeding America, the nation’s largest charity organization focused in hunger relief efforts, is conducting a study throughout Orange County and the rest of the country in cooperation with its subsidiary food banks, called the Hunger In America 2014 Study. The purpose of the study is to conduct research on charitable food assistance services for people in need, with the ultimate intention of raising awareness about hunger related issues and gaining more support and resources for food banks and their corresponding non- profits across the country. The data collected from these surveys will be compiled and published, and will be used to lobby for increased federal, state, and private support. Additionally, this study will be used to advertise the facts and statistics about hunger and food insecurity in the United States, and will help Feeding America and its network of food banks (including Orange County’s own, Second Harvest Food Bank) better understand the agencies they work with to provide hunger relief and the clients that receive their services.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with food banks and terms related to food banks, here are a couple of useful definitions.

• Food Bank: a food bank is a non- profit organization that accepts donations in the form of food from major grocery retailers and works with non- profits that are involved with hunger- relief efforts to provide food and groceries at a highly subsidized rate to support their programs.
• Agency: An agency of a food bank is a non- profit that is registered as a 501(c)3, such as a church that runs a soup kitchen or a shelter program, that gets a portion or all of the food it distributes to those in need through its corresponding food bank. 
• Program: Agencies run and operate different programs, both food and non- food related, for their clients. Examples of programs include: soup kitchens, shelter programs, and grocery programs.
• Clients: Clients represent the families and individuals who receive services from agencies.

The Hunger In America 2014 Study sixth in the series of Hunger Studies, with each study surpassing the previous ones in scope and impact. The first Hunger Study, conducted in 1993, included more than 3,000 agencies and almost 9,000 client interviews. By 2010, the number of Agency Survey responses increased more than ten- fold, to 37,000 agencies and the number of client interviews (61,000) was more than seven times that of the 1993 study. Over 47,500 agencies were invited to participate in the Agency Survey portion of the HIA 2014 Study, and it is anticipated that over 70,000 surveys will be completed at the client level.

The Hunger Studies are two fold: there is an Agency- level survey and a Client- level survey. The first portion of the HIA 2014 is the Agency survey, which was conducted from October 2012 through January 2013. The Agency survey was a web- based survey that collected information on the agencies in the Feeding America network, including data related to the types of programs the non- profit ran, its relation to nutrition, the resources needed to further expand or improve their services, etc. The Client survey is the second part of HIA 2014, and it will be administered directly to clients at food distribution sites of selected non- profits. This portion of the study will be used to understand the different issues clients face and their coping strategies for dealing with these problems. Information gathered in the Client survey will include issues related to individuals being able to access enough food, general knowledge about nutrition, relative incomes compared to family size, and demographic information, among other components.

This section of the survey involves systematically selecting a group of people at various programs to participate in the study, and leading through the Client Survey process, which is also completely automated. The Client survey is set to begin on April 15, and will involve food bank employees and a team of dedicated volunteers who will be traveling to selected program sites throughout Orange County to administer the survey to individuals affected by food insecurity in this region. Sounds pretty cool, right?

Well, if you’re interested in getting involved in something like this, you’re in luck! Second Harvest is currently recruiting volunteers who will be able to help travel to sites throughout the county and give surveys to selected individuals from April to August 2013. For more information, please contact Hunger Study Coordinator, Hannah Evans, at hannah@feedoc.org, or by phone at: (949)-653-2900 ext 154.

To recap, the purpose of the studies are to conduct research on charitable food assistance services for people in need. The information collected helps Feeding America, and its network of food banks, to better understand the agencies they work with to provide hunger relief and the clients they serve. Feeding America uses the information collected from the Hunger Studies to educate donors and the public about the scope of the services provided by the food banks. The data from these studies can also be used to advocate for government assistance, which of course has the potential to help combat hunger in the future.

So, while it’s daunting to think that there’s such an issue with food insecurity in Orange County, it’s comforting to know that the problem is recognized and that attempts to alleviate the situation are in place. Most importantly, it’s important to note that the work being done is available to anyone, regardless of their background or experience, who’s interested in making our county, our state, and our country a better, more secure, and more effectively developed place.

So it’s probably a good thing that I knew close to nothing about gardening, landscaping and urban agriculture back in April, when I first met Aerielle and was roped into the L’Avocat project as a Volunteer Coordinator. I knew it was a big project, but I didn’t know exactly what it would entail. I’m sure knowing that information would have sent me under a desk, huddled in fetal position, and hyperventilating into a brown paper bag.

As it turns out, I only suffered minor bouts of doubt. Every week, during our team meeting, we would draft a list of L’Avocat tasks to be completed with the help of the volunteer teams and staff. And every week, I would think, “No way. No way, no way, no way.” We won’t have enough volunteers. We won’t have enough time. The tasks are too difficult and require too much manpower. The volunteers will hate us forever and never want to volunteer with us ever again.

And every week, without fail, I was proven wrong.

The L’Avocat Vegetable Garden, now growing tomatoes, strawberries and a variety of herbs!

With the help of Eugene Cooke and Nicole Bluh from Gebsite, Mike Fenton from Fenton Family Farms, our landscape experts Dave Kern and Alex, and over 50 volunteers from the community, we cleared a small forest of jade that’s been encroaching upon the lower level of the property; trimmed over 100 trees; dug over 50 tree circles; cleared, marked and mulched the pathways; removed tree stumps; cleared off old drag hoses, antique soda bottles, and lots of old golf balls; installed new irrigation lines; planted over 60 new plants; relocated truckloads of compost and mulch; and installed a vegetable garden. In a mere four months, L’Avocat went from a neglected, overgrown orchard to a well-manicured and well-cared for growing space. It is not done. There’s still a lot of work to do. But the results are already tangible. You can see it on the trees, smell it in the air, feel it in the dirt, and taste it in the fruit. And when the beehives arrive later this fall, you will be able to hear it as well — the low hum of restoration and progress.

Volunteers Nicole and Lily!

And the volunteers didn’t hate us! On the contrary, many of them became regulars at L’Avocat. They see and believe in what L’Avocat represents. They recognize that this is a worthwhile cause. They are happy to lend us their time, their energy and their expertise. So many times our volunteers overshot my expectations, it began to feel like a secret plot to show me up, to instill in me a little more faith in the power of a great idea, a mission-driven cause and a community of people who believe in it.

Well, dear volunteers, it worked. I am now a believer. My phobia of big projects is fading as a growing faith and excitement in the endless possibilities takes its place. We can do this. We have the time. We have the resources. And most importantly, we have a community to support these efforts. None of this would have been possible without the sweat on your brows, the dirt under your fingernails, and the sore muscles you felt the next morning. So thank you. And we hope you learned something new, felt inspired to take on your own food projects, and continue to be a part of the transformation of growing spaces throughout Orange County, one big project at a time.

A big Thank You to all our lovely volunteers! Some of whom are pictured here.

Not to say home gardening isn’t hard work. Digging 3-5’ diameter tree circles out of the hard earth left my shoulders sore for days. Just two days ago, we were shoveling huge piles of compost with clumps of horse manure in it. But if you are willing to get your hands dirty and smell stinky for a couple hours, you can sustainably plant your own food source to feed yourself and your family. The knowledge and resources are out there if you know where to look. And Mother Nature is forgiving enough that there is room to make mistakes.

But despite being intimately involved in the project, I still had my reservations about creating my own vegetable garden. I know nothing about when to plant which vegetables, how to keep pests away, or what kind of condition the soil needs to be in so the plants can thrive. Before this week, I couldn’t even tell you the difference between fertilizer, compost and mulch and what the purpose are for each. Not to mention, my thumb is so far from green, it’s black. I even have trouble keeping cacti alive.

It wasn’t until I did some research about Lasagna Gardening, a technique we are planning to use for the vegetable beds at L’Avocat, did I think, “Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can actually do what I’ve been telling others to do.

So what is lasagna gardening? Basically, it is a way of layering different organic ingredients (like making lasagna!) in order to create the soil you need for planting. Instead of pasta, tomato sauce and cheese, you are using peat moss, mulch and compost. With this gardening technique, there is no need for sod removing, digging or tilling. Not to mention, close planting and a lot of mulching reduces the time needed to weed and water the plants.

Low maintenance? No heavy machinery? The chance to recycle plant waste and kitchen scraps? I’m in!

While reading up on lasagna gardening, fantasizing about where I can start my own vegetable garden, I realized that this gardening technique is a perfect metaphor for the food movement here in the US. Our local farms like Fenton Family Farms and Morning Song Farms comprise a layer in our lasagna garden. Learning centers such as The Ecology Center and the Farm and Food Lab at the OC Great Park consist of another. Food security coalitions and advocacy groups are one. Non-profits such as OC Food Access Coalition, m.a.m.a. earth, and Gebsite are another. And sandwiched between are local food banks, food pantries and other emergency food distribution agencies. There are countless layers in this lasagna, each coming from different places and made up of different parts. But we are all working towards one thing: To create the grounds in which everyone has access to healthy, nutritious food starting in your own backyard community.

It isn’t hard; you can do it too! You just have to be willing to get your hands dirty. Smelling stinky is optional in this case.

For more information on lasagna gardening, check out Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza.

I have never tasted anything like it before. It had a delicate minty flavor and melted in your mouth like the sugar fibers of cotton candy.  I literally stopped in my tracks.  As the rest of the group passed me by, I plucked off a couple more strands of wild fennel and placed them on my tongue.  A phrase came into mind, the same phrase that has been repeated at least 35 times that day:

What the heck is this?!?! 

Assortment of herbs

I imagine this was what Charlie Bucket must have felt like when he stepped foot inside Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.  Remember the scene with Chocolate Room?  Willy Wonka, played by Gene Wilder, leads the children and their guardians into the room where “all [his] dreams become realities.  And some of [his] realities become dreams.”  There is a chocolate river, giant edible mushrooms, gummy bear trees, lollypop bushes and more!  Almost everything is edible.

Well, I’m telling you now, dear readers, such a place like this exists.  I’ve been there.  And you don’t even have to worry about turning into a giant blueberry or getting stretched like taffy.  In fact, a trip to this place will lead to better health, not worse. This place called is Fenton Family Farms.  Our Willy Wonka is Mike Fenton.

Mike Fenton and a handful of rich soil

Mike showed us around his 17-acre property, pointing out this fruit tree and that berry bush.  We stopped to handpick and taste his oranges, strawberries, and blackberries.  We smelled three different kinds lavender, chewed on two different kinds of mint, and ran our fingers through nutrient rich soils.

But what surprised me the most were the herbs.  Mike would pluck the leaves or flowers off of a weed-like plant and say something like, “This goes great in a salad.  Try it.”  And it would be like nothing I have ever tasted before.  I had no idea there were so many edible plants I wasn’t familiar with!  At the end of our tour, Mike actually did make us a salad.  Garnished with herbs and freshly picked berries, it was the most flavorful salad I have ever had.  And it was only dressed in olive oil!  Needless to say, I will never look at salad the same way again.

I feel incredibly lucky to have had the privilege to visit Mike’s property.  It’s like I have won the Golden Ticket that was concealed between the wrappers of my position at OC Food Access Coalition (which is a treat on its own!).  But what if everyone has a Golden Ticket?  What if we all have access to these amazing properties that are growing all these amazing foods?  What if we all carried a ticket that opened the doors to a revolutionized way of eating, of thinking about food?

Life changing salad!

I believe we are getting there.  We are finding Golden Tickets in school gardens.  We are finding Golden Tickets in Farmer’s Markets.  We are finding Golden Tickets in health initiatives and policy changes.  We are finding Golden Tickets in the fight against obesity and diet-related illnesses.  We can even find Golden Tickets in our global agricultural past – growing, cooking and eating from the land before the institution of subsidies for cash crops, before the mechanized mass production of cheap, over-processed foods and before international food imports became the norm.  You don’t have to look very hard to see that these Golden Tickets are everywhere.  All you have to reach out and take it.

I leave you now with the words of Willy Wonka.

The Goddess of the Fenton Family Farms. Leave her a note and she'll grant your wish!

“If you want to view paradise,
Simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it.
Want to change the world?
There’s nothing to it.”

To see the rest of the photos taken during our field trip to Fenton Family Farms, visit our Facebook page here.  Don’t forget to like us on Facebook!

“Yeah, sure!”
“Could I get a close-up of you holding a branch?”

I had been sawing away at tree branches for the past hour.  There were wood bits in my hair.  A sheen layer of sweat covered my face and shoulders.  I probably had pit stains.  I was anything but camera ready.  But I took off my sunglasses anyway, held up the branch that took me a good five minutes to saw through, and tried to look triumphant for Raiya, who was holding the camera at a distance too close for comfort.

Raiya works for a media production company called Well.org.  Founded by Pedram Shojai, Well.org produces long-form documentaries and webisodes to bring exposure and media coverage to individuals and organizations that are doing good work and changing the world in positive ways.   One of their focuses is in local, sustainable agriculture as a means to provide the community with healthy food options.

Which is, of course, what we work towards at the Orange County Food Access Coalition!  Our mission is to create access to healthy, local food options for Orange County’s most nutritionally vulnerable residents.  By establishing partnerships the community, OC Food Access Coalition seeks creative solutions for hunger.  One creative solution comes through the Harvesting Orange County program, in which we seek to take advantage of the abundance of fresh food already growing in our community while also encouraging homeowners and corporate partners to grow more food that can be shared with those in need

Aerielle will become one of the most prolific growers for this program.  She is well on her way already!  By reviving her grandfather’s old orchard, L’Avocat, Aerielle will be able to provide fresh foods to the community as well as serve as a model for urban agriculture and home food production. Well.org will capture the whole process in a series of monthly webisodes.  There will no doubt be countless hours of content for Well.org; there’s a lot to be done!  There are weeds to pull, trees to prune, raised beds to put in, irrigation to install, and perhaps even a chicken coop to build with chicks to care for!

Which brings us back to where I was that weekend, arms sore, brows sweaty, holding up a tree branch that will later be used to stake out a path through L’Avocat.  Smiling awkwardly at the camera, I realized that these Well.org webisodes wouldn’t just be documenting the transformation of an old orchard; it will also be documenting the change in all of us.  By the end of this project, we will be able to identify tree types, recognize common plant diseases, and know the basics of tree care.   We will be better apt at wielding weed whackers, fruit pickers, tree pruners and handsaws.  We will sport scratches on our forearms and dirt under our fingernails.  We will all be wiser, grittier and closer to nature.

And if nothing else, hopefully we will be a little less camera-shy.

What better way to spend an otherwise uneventful weekday morning than picking loquats for the needy?  Or, more accurately, picking 20 loquats for the needy, then picking and eating one for myself.    (Tasting the fruit is one of the many perks of being a volunteer harvester!)

In case you aren’t familiar with them, loquats are small pear-shaped fruit with goldenrod skin, tangy flesh, and large brown seeds.   Indigenous to China, loquats have been successfully cultivated in many in places including Japan, India, Israel, Brazil and, of course, the lovely coastal areas of California.

And just judging from the loquat tree on Aerielle’s property in the Tustin Foothills, they seem to be doing very well here.  Aerielle has two loquat trees, each one over 40 feet tall with bunches of ripe loquats clustered between the green, glossy leaves.   We briefly considered climbing onto the roof of the house to get to the loquats, but decided to leave them for the birds.  After all, safety is our number one priority!

There aren’t just loquats on the property.  There are also lemons, oranges, avocados, macadamias and persimmons, scattered about by the whims of nature.    The land is covered with layers and layers of rich, natural compost from the tree leaves.  The air is perfumed with the scent of orange blossoms.  Standing in the middle of it all is like being in a different world, a lush microcosm populated by fruit trees.

And that was essentially what Aerielle’s grandfather had in mind when he purchased the property so many years ago.  What started out as a couple orange trees to supply Sunkist grew into an edible wonderland, with a different type a fruit within reach at every five paces.  This was more than just a hobby; it was his pride and joy.  When he passed away, the trees were left to their own devices.  Some flourished.  Others sacrificed themselves and became compost to help the other trees flourish.  But most trees just need a little more of that tender, love and care to produce fruit at their highest potential once again.

That’s where Aerielle comes in.  After 17 unsatisfied years in marketing and advertising, Aerielle decides to resign her job and come back to the property that supplied her childhood with fruit to eat, trees to climb, and an early awareness of the magic in growing your own food and sharing it with others.  Championing her grandfather’s spirit, Aerielle is on her way to returning the property to its former glory with the hopes that the fruits of her labor will be able to feed her community.

As for today, we harvested 90 pounds of loquats from her trees, enough to feed 240 people.  And the numbers will only grow from here.

Loquat tree!

Aerielle resting in an avocado tree