FOOD The next Los Angeles will welcome orchards and gardens where cars now pass and park. Housing will consolidate to allow roofs and yards to bloom. At full flower, Los Angeles’ acres will be 50% edible (producing much of its own food), 20% habitable (with more people than today), 10% commercial (factories, markets, storage), 10% wild or unusable, 5% recreational (playing fields, playgrounds, amphitheaters), 5% mobile (trollies, bikepaths, pedways). This enormous change will be gradual and systematic, providing basic security and causing less disturbance than would trying to avoid change. Though food is typically grown outside cities, there are several reasons why food must be grown within cities and why, in fact, cities need to be rebuilt to make space for crops amid people.
1) SECURITY: Food does not grow on shelves or live in vending machines. It comes from distant soils, which are diminishing, and is owned by remote companies. We are more secure when we own and control food, in our neighborhoods. 2) ENERGY-EFFICIENCY: Oil and natural gas shortages will raise food prices, because agribusiness relies heavily on fossil fuels for planting, fertilizing, cultivating, harvest, processing, distribution. 3) ENVIRONMENTAL: Air will become cleaner and fragrant, greenhouse gases will reduce, groundlevel ozone will form less rapidly, stormwater will be absorbed, groundwater will be filtered, less packaging will be trashed. 4) SOCIAL: Neighborhood labor will generate more jobs and less crime, neighbors will know and trust one another, children will enjoy playgrounds and be connected to a safe and beautiful community. 5) PERSONAL: We’ll have greater mental and physical health, make new friends. 6) ECONOMIC: Orchards multiply harvest value, by creating related jobs, reducing crime, making areas safer, teaching skills, cleaning air, improving nutrition and health., shading and cooling homes.
To accommodate this transformation several broad changes begin. These are detailed in the next chapters: • housing is rebuilt as ecolonies which consolidate residential space. • paving is removed • soil is decontaminated • water is saved for irrigation • irrigation is efficient • sewerage is reformed • harvest is processed • harvest is stored • transit is expanded
•FRUITS IN L.A.
Apple, Apricot, Avocado, Banana, Cactus (prickly pear), Calamondin, Cherimoya, Cherry, Chestnut, Fig, Grapefruit, Pineapple, Guava, Jujube, Kiwi, Kumquat, Lemon, Lime, Limequat, Loquat, Macadamia, Mango, Mulberry, Nectarine, Olives, Orange, Passion Fruit, Pawpaw, Peach, Pear, Persimmon, Plum, Pomegranate, Pomelo, Rose Hips, Quince, Sapote, Strawberry Tree, Tangelo, Tangerine,
• NUTS IN L.A.
Acorn, Almond, Carob, Cashew; chestnut, filbert (hazelnut), Pecan, Pine, Pistachio, Sunflower, Walnut
• BERRIES IN L.A.
Bababerry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Boysenberry, Brambleberry, Raspberry, Salal, Strawberry,
• VINES IN L.A. grape, hops, kiwi
The original seal of the Count of Los Angeles feeatured grapees, among primary crops
EDIBLE DESIGN ELEMENTS:
“ESPALIERING” fruits and vines-growing them on south-facing walls or trellises --extends the growing season, reduces sucker and leaf growth, gathers more fruit from less space, makes fruit larger, easier to protect from birds, easier to pick.
ORCHARDS
GARDENS
“You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can't count the number of apples in a seed."
VEGETABLES IN L.A.
Once known as the Orange Empire, Southern California hosted 100 million orange trees, just 60 years ago. Orchards 15 miles long and 8 miles wide spread across the basin. In 1910, the walnuts of southern California had a total value greater than all other nuts grown in the United States. The cities of Walnut, Pomona, Gardena, Hawthorne, Bell Gardens and Orange recall those years. Tending trees is less laborious than raising vegetables. Within the City of Los Angeles, 202 million dwarf food trees could fit, were every square foot given to them. Assuming orchards on two-thirds of the 50% total acres allocated to crops, we could plant 67 million food trees. That’s 22 trees per resident. Within the entire metropolitan area, less densely populated with 13 million residents, comparable figures would be 700 million food trees, or 54 trees per resident. In Pasadena, the Dervaes family grows 6,000 lbs/year of 350 varieties of foods on a lot just 66’ x 132’. In Los Angeles, Treepeople and in Austin, Texas, TreeFolks Urban Orchard Project plant orchards and teach planting skills to neighbors and schoolchildren. In India, one quarter of all city trees yield fruit. Prague and Stockholm fill open space with apple, pear and plum trees.
Annual: Bean, Borage, Cabbage, Carrot, Cucumber, Lettuce, Okra, Onion, Pea, Potato, Squash, Sweet Potato, Tomato Perennial: Artichoke, Asparagus, Bamboo, Chives, Eggplant, Endive, Escarole, Jerusalem Artichoke, Kale, Peanut, Peppers, Spinach, Swiss Chard,
HERBS IN L.A. Basil, Chamomile, Ginger, Marjoram, Mint, Mustard, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Saffron, Sage, Sorrel, Tea, Thyme
MUSHROOMS IN L.A. lamushrooms.org
HYDROPONICS growing plants without soil produces organic food faster with less labor and no weeds-- in nutrient slurry with gravel, peat, guano, worm castings, seaweed, vermiculite, styrofoam, pumice or sawdust.
Food Forests
Once planted, these acres take care of themselves and are usually located at the neighborhood fringe. They provide food with least work. Plant them in layers: nut trees shade dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit and nut trees, which shade berries, vines and vegetables. See Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison.