01x04 - Backyard Crop

[bunniefuu]

(rooster crows)

INDY: If you've ever

dreamed of owning a farm,

come with me.

PETE: Things are living and

things are growin' on a rooftop.

INDY: I'm Indy Officinalis.

I'm a farmer who loves

helping other farmers.

My passion for farming

started in my teens,

working on a homestead

in North Carolina,

and led me to

urban farming in LA.

I've worked on farms

from coast to coast,

but farming is hard work.

MAN: We've planted about

ten variety of fruit trees,

and they all died.

INDY: So, I'm traveling the

country to offer some hope.

Hi.

WOMAN: Indy.

INDY: Hey!

STEPHANIE: Oh,

my gosh, Indy.

INDY: Join me as I

transform farms on rooftops,

in backyards, warehouses.

This is insane!

And even out on the ocean.

Farm rescue on a boat ♪

INDY: On the way,

we'll get tips from

some of my

expert farmer friends.

WOMAN: This is so

awesome, I'm so excited!

INDY: Yeah.

INDY: Today, I'm

not far from home,

in California's

San Fernando Valley.

I'm meeting with the three

co-founders of a suburban farm,

to help get them

past the growing pains of

their two year old garden.

Knock, knock. Hi.

HALEY: Hi. Hello.

INDY: I'm Indy.

HALEY: Nice to meet you.

Haley. INDY: Nice to meet

HALEY: I'm so glad

that you can visit today.

INDY: I know. Hi.

MADISON: Hey.

INDY: Indy.

MADISON: Indy, I'm Maddie.

So good to meet you.

INDY: Yes, nice

to meet you. Yes.

MADISON: Welcome to

SOW Collective Backyard Farm.

And then back

here is Stephanie.

INDY: Hey.

STEPHANIE: Woo. Hi.

Hi, I'm Stephanie.

INDY: Indy.

Nice to finally meet you.

STEPHANIE: Nice to meet you.

INDY: This looks awesome.

I love this.

This is such a

cute little micro-farm.

HALEY: Yeah,

definitely our backyard farm.

Our micro-farm.

INDY: Cool. That's so neat.

STEPHANIE: We've been

wanting to really revamp this space up,

and we would love any help

that you can share with us.

INDY: Yeah.

MADISON: Yeah.

You know, we're

only two years old,

so everything is

still kind of new to us,

and we've really put

things together, like, DIY,

as we go.

INDY: Mm. Mm-hmm.

MADISON: So we really

need someone to come in,

like yourself, and really

take it to the next level.

INDY: What is the

goal of this garden space?

Like, you're

feeding the community,

is that kind of what?

HALEY: Yeah, one

of the many goals.

INDY: Mm-hmm.

HALEY: Feeding people and

also just demonstrate to them that

they can do something

similar in their backyard.

We started SOW Collective

because we know that

sustainability is not

accessible to everyone,

and we wanna make it

accessible to everybody.

MADISON: So, people are

able to come to our neighborhood and

harvest themselves.

INDY: What? That's so cool.

MADISON: So

STEPHANIE: The

Backyard Farm,

which is what we

call our SOW Collective

was really from that idea

that you could have a farm

in your backyard, you could

have it in your neighborhood,

you could have it

in a very small space,

and it will still be important.

INDY: And so then how do

you have access to this land?

STEPHANIE: So, it's

owned by the neighbors here,

and so they're

able to rent it to us.

MADISON: We pay for the

water bill and the property tax.

INDY: That's so cool, and so

then what did this area look

like before you three

started growing food?

MADISON: Yeah, it

was just Bermuda grass.

INDY: Driving around LA, you

just see all these vacant lots

and you're like, how is

nobody growing food there, when,

when there are so many

food insecure neighborhoods.

I think it's

really important work.

You can tell that they've

put a lot of love into it,

and that space would

be completely empty if

it wasn't for

their collective vision.

Some of the plants in

this garden look healthy,

but in the blazing

hot California sun that

I'm all too familiar with,

others seem to be suffering.

Is this an irrigation line

that I'm seeing in here?

MADISON: Yes, it is. Our

irrigation is a little bit, um.

HALEY: DIY.

MADISON: DIY. Yeah.

INDY: Uh-huh.

MADISON: So, like, these

corner plants don't get enough water.

You can see this one's

drying out a little bit.

HALEY: Last summer, we

didn't had a good yield,

we lost all the crops

because of the heat.

So we would really want to

not repeat that this summer.

INDY: 'Kay, so you

have the spear heads,

so this isn't like a

drip line, you're not,

there's no holes in this.

MADISON: We need a

little revamp on that

INDY: Yeah.

MADISON: So that we can have

more successful crops to feed more people.

INDY: Yeah.

STEPHANIE: We've got some parsley

that has gotten to flower.

INDY: Nice. And they're

flowering and they're,

you know, inviting in more

community of pollinators.

Pollinators could be a key to

encouraging more crop growth,

and to attract

more pollinators,

this farm needs

more native plants.

STEPHANIE: And then we've

got some beets over here.

INDY: Oh!

STEPHANIE: Yeah.

MADISON: Yeah, and

this one's actually ready,

if you'd like to harvest it.

INDY: Oh, my gosh, yes.

Our first beet of the winter.

Oh, man, this is a nice one.

MADISON: Oh, wow.

STEPHANIE: Oh. Oh, wow!

INDY: Wow. I love it.

MADISON: We should eat it.

INDY: Yeah?

MADISON: We can wash it

off at the hose and taste it.

INDY: I love that you all were like,

"Let's wash it off," like,

I'm such a weirdo that

I'm always just like

(grunts)

STEPHANIE: Little bionic,

right? INDY: Yeah, exactly.

Okay, yeah, let's wash

it off, let's be civilized.

MADISON: These

beets are all ready.

(laughs).

INDY: Yay.

MADISON: We also have blueberries

planted in the middle here.

INDY: I noticed that.

So blueberries are

kind of acid loving.

They like an acidic soil,

so I always add my

coffee grinds to blueberries.

STEPHANIE: Oh.

INDY: Yeah, and you

don't even have to, like,

let it fully compose,

you can just let it compose

straight into the bed.

HALEY: Good tip, good tip.

STEPHANIE: Pro tip, pro tip,

we're gonna have to try that.

HALEY: Yeah.

INDY: And then these

are really exciting,

barrels of potatoes.

It's so nice for people

to see how potatoes grow,

that they do produce a

green leafy part just like

any plant does,

because every, I don't know,

it's like when I was a kid,

I didn't really have access

to seeing how food grew,

and so I just thought potatoes,

I don't know, were just, like,

out in the field like rocks and

you just kinda

like picked 'em up.

MADISON: Yeah.

STEPHANIE: Pick 'em up, right?

INDY: And then you just

turned 'em into a French fry,

and there you go.

HALEY: Your snap your fingers,

it becomes a fry?

INDY: Yeah, exactly.

HALEY: Let's go eat a beets.

INDY: Yes. Yes, I almost

forgot I was holding it.

MADISON: Beet cheers.

(laughter).

INDY: Woo!

I don't think I've ever, like,

gnawed into one

raw like an apple,

but I, I'm down

to give it a try.

MADISON: Let's check it out.

INDY: Mm. Oh my gosh.

Look at the inside of mine.

MADISON: Whoa!

INDY: Yeah. This is so cool.

STEPHANIE: This is so good.

INDY: Mm, that flavor.

MADISON: I love this.

STEPHANIE: Wow. Okay.

INDY: Biting into

that beet, you know,

it was fun but it was a lot

different than just biting into

a beet that you might

get from the grocery store.

It was a lot more symbolic.

It had this

feeling of community.

There are people out there

trying to do really good work

in their neighborhoods.

STEPHANIE: I didn't know I

liked beets just like this,

but I can do it.

INDY: What made you realize

that you wanted to grow food?

HALEY: It's just

by being here.

You know, back home in, in China,

I didn't have this opportunity.

INDY: So this is

such a shift for you?

HALEY: It is! Like, we

don't have suburbs there.

I'm, I'm living in

apartment my whole life,

so this really is a

privilege to have this access

to this type of

environment here.

STEPHANIE: I think it's

also just like paying, like,

respect to kind of, like,

our backgrounds as well.

Like, we think about our

grandmothers when we're in

this space and we just

hope people feel that,

they feel that comfort when they come here.

INDY: Yeah. Did your grandmother

grow food growing up?

STEPHANIE: Yeah, my

grandma, she's from Mexico,

so I think when I

think about food,

I think about that hard

work that's put into it.

MADISON: My grandparents

were actually industrial farmers in

the Midwest, and they

didn't know back then that

synthetic pesticides and

fertilizers were actually

causing a lotta

damage to our environment.

And so, um, I learned

that first hand by growing up

on a river that was polluted

by agricultural runoff.

So I just wanted to do my part

in creating a better future.

INDY: The SOW Collective

Garden is adorable, but I'm interested

in how many people they can

really affect with a plot this size.

I would love to see, you know,

who's in this community and

MADISON: Yeah!

INDY: And what's going on.

MADISON: Let's go check it

out. INDY: Yeah?

Getting to know the area may give

me a better understanding of how I can

help the SOW Collective

reach more people.

STEPHANIE: So,

Arleta is really home to,

I would say, we have

kind of all demographics,

but prominently it

would be, like, Latinx,

it would be, um,

Asian American, Filipino.

HALEY: Yeah.

So really diverse, uh.

We know a lot of neighbors.

MADISON: They

will support us.

INDY: Hey.

MADISON: Hi. Hi.

HALEY: Hi.

Um, this is a middle class

neighborhood that, like,

it's been just historically

neglected by the city.

INDY: So, would you consider

this area a food desert?

Like, how, how close to grocery stores

are people that live here?

MADISON: Yeah, I've heard

it called before a food swamp.

INDY: Mm-hmm.

MADISON: When there's a

lot of fast food around.

That's, like, the easy option,

the convenient option.

So we're there to

flip that upside down,

bring in this

fresh space, organic farm.

INDY: Food sovereignty is

this concept that individuals within

their community can be

completely responsible for

sourcing their

own food, locally.

On the other side of

that is the term food swamp,

which refers to an area where

residents may struggle to find

affordable healthy food.

HALEY: You look at

the grocery stores,

they don't have a

lot of organic options,

so being here, being in

a walkable distance for

the neighbors is

very important to us.

INDY: What a cute neighborhood,

and I can really see how, like,

it's amazing that

this is on a corner, too.

It really has turned into, like,

the cornerstone of

food in this neighborhood.

The family and

emotional connection to this

garden runs deep, for

all three of these farmers.

What are some of the

things that you've faced in,

in growing food in this space?

MADISON: As you

can see at our farm,

there's not a

whole lotta shade.

(laughter)

Um, so the temperatures

in the heat of summer

get up past 110 degrees.

INDY: Oh, wow.

MADISON: And we have

this brick wall that just

radiates heat back

on to our plants,

and we can lose a

lot of our crops,

which in turn means we can't feed as many

people in our neighborhood.

HALEY: Yeah.

And also the irrigation.

INDY: Yeah.

Water access is such a huge

issue in Southern California.

HAILEY: Yes.

MADISON: We have to elevate this farm

so that we can grow

more food for our community.

INDY: It's amazing

what Haley, Maddie,

and Stephanie have been

able to do in two years.

But it's clear improvements need to be made.

Their irrigation

system is inefficient.

They don't have enough

pollinators to propagate

their crops, nor yields

to feed their community.

And worst of all, the plants

are roasting in the hot sun.

They're throwing a

two year anniversary party

in just a few days, and

my hope is to use the party

as a launchpad to

tackle these issues.

Now it's time for me to

rally some farmers to help

their fellow farmers, and

really get this garden growing.

HALEY: Thank you.

STEPHANIE: Thank you.

INDY: All right, bye!

MADISON: See you soon.

HALEY: See you soon.

STEPHANIE: Bye.

INDY: I'll be back.

SOW Collective is trying to

make their micro-farm thrive

in a concrete suburbia.

Others have

certainly come before them,

so I'm going to tap into the knowledge

of some nearby farmers.

I'm meeting with David Newsom

of The Wild Yards Project,

and his friend

Janet Valenzuela.

The Wild Yards Project is

a non-profit on a mission,

to convert grass lawns

into thriving habitats.

American lawns drink about

nine billion gallons

of fresh water a day,

and are responsible for

5% of total air pollution.

And if SOW Collective is

going to increase their crop yield,

they're going to need a

leg up from nature's helpers.

This feels like this is what

Earth is meant to look like.

INDY: This looks amazing!

DAVID: So, two

and a half years ago,

this was a lawn, and we

started planting native plants,

to show people what this

land is meant to look like,

so that we could invite as much

light back into the site as possible.

INDY: Wow.

DAVID: What you're also doing is creating

sanctuaries for native bees.

INDY: It's almost like they

have their own little metropolis.

One misconception is that

all bees are native to the US,

but there's actually a

shortage of native bees,

and so it's really important to

use plants that would naturally

be growing in the area,

to bring in pollinators,

that will in turn also help

pollinate some of the crops

that SOW Collective

is growing.

The California poppies

never cease to amaze.

There's some lupin here?

DAVID: Yep.

We have a royal lupin.

This is a one year old

California buckwheat,

and California buckwheat,

it probably has the greatest

pollinator appeal of almost

any plant in our ecosystem.

INDY: So this is like the

equivalent of a coral reef?

DAVID: Yeah. It is a,

it is a very powerful and

useful coral, and a

lot of people, you know,

don't show it

any love or respect

INDY: Aww.

DAVID: But this plant is

holding down our ecosystem.

JANET: Yeah. I mean, if you

bring anyone in the community

and they see something,

they're like, "What

can I use this for?"

That's often the question

that community members will ask,

and it's like we've always

had a symbiotic relationship

with plants, and so of course it's an

instinct in us to be like,

how can I use this plant,

what can this plant do for me

and what can I

do for the plant?

INDY: Whenever we

build a freeway, a house,

or even a farm, we disrupt the natural

flow of the native ecology.

Everything from plants, bugs,

and birds migrate from

one habitat to another.

What's essential to

their existence is how well

habitats connect

to one another.

Throughout the world,

urban communities have begun

to design and

maintain eco-corridors.

These human-helped arteries

of nature can be wildlife bridges

over highways so

animals can cross safely.

They can also be lawns,

patios, even tiny balconies,

that can be transformed with

the presence of specific plants

designed to lure and nurture

habitat wherever it's found.

Everything here

looks stunning, I,

I want to help my

friends at SOW Collective

do what you're doing,

and what do you recommend?

DAVID: So, black sage,

Cleveland sage, white sage.

JANET: Autumn sage.

DAVID: Um, California buckwheat.

INDY: Adding more native

plants to the SOW Collective space will

do wonders to balance

out their ecosystem,

boost the natural

pollination process,

and turn out more

yield from their crops.

I have another friend who's making

the most of a small space,

and I think he'll have

some ideas for how to combat

the blazing California sun.

ERIC: Hey. How's it goin'?

INDY: Hey!

ERIC: It's so nice to

have you, thanks for comin'.

INDY: Yes.

ERIC: Yeah.

INDY: Can't wait

to check it out.

ERIC: Yeah.

INDY: How have you been?

It is toasty.

ERIC: Good. It is.

It's a hot day, so a lotta,

a lotta taking care

of the plants today.

INDY: Eric

started out as a chef,

but found growing food

to be more rewarding.

He's been able to transform

his property into a thriving

backyard farm that supplies

local restaurants and markets.

ERIC: So, this area is kinda

like a transition into the farm,

so we trial some cut

flowers down here in crates and

then a bunch of native plants.

INDY: I love it.

ERIC: Yeah, so this is the farm.

INDY: Oh. This is awesome!

What?

I would never expect that all

of this food is growing back here.

ERIC: Yeah, it's a little unassuming

from the street, yeah,

just because of the hillside.

INDY: He's really

embraced his location,

and turned it into these

perfectly terraced rows and rows

and rows of green veggies.

Just, like, seeing how you're

workin' with the hillside,

you don't really see

that that much around here.

ERIC: Yeah, definitely.

INDY: Usually people

are farming on level land.

ERIC: It's kind of by

necessity in a lotta ways.

But let's head up the

hill and you can see kinda

the other areas of the farm.

INDY: Okay. Oh, carrots.

ERIC: Yeah. Carrots.

INDY: Those carrots are

pretty close to ready, yeah?

ERIC: Yeah.

INDY: Wow.

Everything looks so

incredible from up here too.

It feels like.

This is where I feel like I

would hang out in every day.

How, how much space

did you say this was?

ERIC: Uh, with the kinda

house, it's, like, 1.2 acres.

INDY: Okay, yeah.

But I feel like, you know,

the average person doesn't need

1.2 acres to grow food for

themselves or their family.

ERIC: No. Right.

You can really kind of fit

a lot into a small space,

and so a lot of what we do

here is really applicable to

someone who's

growing at home.

INDY: I know that Eric

is no stranger to the heat,

so I'm just looking

around and trying to figure out

how he deals

with this direct sun.

My friends like I was

mentioning at SOW Collective,

they really want to

lower the temperature.

ERIC: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

INDY: Of their

farm, you know,

they're getting kind

of blasted with heat.

You could fry an egg

on their, on their soil.

ERIC: Right.

Well, actually, the thing

that we're doing is using, um,

shade cloth, and I could

show you on this bed here.

INDY: Nice.

ERIC: Um, so if you

want to take a few.

INDY: Yes.

ERIC: They're a little hot.

INDY: Oh. Oh.

ERIC: Yeah.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

INDY: They're really hot.

ERIC: It's a hot day.

INDY: I feel like this is

just further driving the point

home that it's really hot.

ERIC: It's very hot.

Yeah, I mean, that's interesting

about shade is, like,

underneath that

shade'll be 20 degrees cooler.

Pull them through

these three.

INDY: Cool.

ERIC: Yeah.

I'll hold this shade cloth

and you can roll it out.

INDY: Oh, yay.

(laughs)

ERIC: You can just pull.

INDY: Okay, cool.

ERIC: Yeah. There, out it

goes. INDY: Oh, fun.

I feel like we're

flying a kite together.

(laughs)

ERIC: And then, we'll

unfold it, up and over.

Yeah, perfect.

INDY: I was hoping we

would run under it, like,

in elementary school.

ERIC: You could

army crawl, maybe.

INDY: Yeah.

ERIC: You know?

When the plants, like, when they're

wilting in the afternoon sun, you know,

obviously it's

not gonna k*ll them,

but they stop photosynthesizing

during that period,

and they're actually using up

energy rather than creating it.

So especially

with, like, you know,

younger plants

that we transplant in,

the shade really helps

with transplant shock.

INDY: Nice, yeah.

Transplant shock.

I feel like I got transplant

shock when I moved to LA.

ERIC: I'm sure.

INDY: I like this

neat little row cover.

It feels like we

tucked them into bed

ERIC: Yeah.

INDY: And, like, now we

can play their lullaby.

Seemed like, you know,

such a simple solution to

making sure that your water

isn't evaporating straight out

of your garden beds as

fast as you can put it in.

And this is really accessible,

this is really easy for

the everyday person to use.

And you could physically put

your hand underneath and feel

how much cooler it was just

by adding that small structure.

Bye, lettuce.

With Eric's help, I've got a

great idea for how to handle

the shade problem

at SOW Collective.

But I still need to

tackle the irrigation problem,

and I think I

know just the place.

INDY: I'm on my

way to Pasadena,

to visit the

Urban Homestead farm.

Where three

siblings took over

their father's

37 year old backyard farm.

With the help of

interns and volunteers.

I think this

place is something like

what SOW Collective

is aspiring to be.

ANAIS: Good morning.

(gasps)

INDY: Hey.

ANAIS: Hey. How you doin'?

INDY: It's so nice to meet you

in person and see your garden,

this is stunning.

ANAIS: I am so glad

and the p*nsy's happy face

is greeting you as well.

INDY: Oh. Yes. Yes.

This is way more

than I imagined, like,

what you've done

in this small space.

ANAIS: Yeah, in

this small space.

That's what it's

supposed to be, small.

It can be

beautiful and productive,

and that's what

we're trying to show here.

So, let me show you around!

INDY: This is beautiful.

ANAIS: Yeah, thank you.

(sighs)

INDY: You're, you're one of

the only gardens that I've seen

that's just taken

over your front yard.

ANAIS: Yeah. So, front yard.

We transformed this from

typical urban front lawn.

INDY: Like grass and

ANAIS: Grass, in '89.

So, my dad was

very practical,

and it was a

drought at that time.

You know, California

struggles with drought,

and so if we have to water,

might as well water something

and then you know, the birds and

the bees and we benefit as well.

INDY: Exactly.

ANAIS: We're actually

regenerating the landscape by

changing over, you know,

the typical lawn.

INDY: Right. Show me

more ANAIS: Great!

INDY: I, I would love,

like, a little

ANAIS: Yeah, let's go meet

the rest of the family in the back.

INDY: Oh, okay.

This urban farm has the exact

same beginning as everyone else

in the neighborhood.

They're given the

exact same allotment,

but what the Urban Homestead

has done with their space is

just vastly different

than the folks around them.

You

JORDANNE: I'm Jordannne.

INDY: I'm Indy, nice to meet.

JUSTIN: Justin.

Nice to meet you.

INDY: Nice to meet you.

JORDANNE: Welcome.

INDY: This is incredible.

You're living in a dream.

(laughs)

INDY: So, so it went

from your, your dad?

ANAIS: Yeah, we're

second generation farmer.

INDY: No way!

ANAIS: Yeah, urban farmers.

Yeah. And you can see some

of the spaces that we transformed.

This were our

very first garden.

INDY: Oh, what?

Oh my gosh.

ANAIS: This is

back in the days. Yes.

INDY: Wow.

This is some real, like,

street cred, like,

you really were doing this

before anyone else was doing

the food not lawns.

JUSTIN: Yeah.

ANAIS: We've been

selling edible flowers and,

and produce for, to restaurants and

caterers since, like, '92.

JORDANNE: And, yeah, what makes it

successful is we all have our passions.

So together you know, I,

I love the animals, he's, like,

he can't stop planting plants.

And so, between.

JUSTIN: She

likes the flowers.

JORDANNE: She likes the

flowers, so putting all our passions

together has made it this,

like, little, you know,

micro-climate of amazing,

you know, production, so

INDY: You know, this is

really cool to see because

I have some friends who have

a pretty much a micro-farm,

and they are in their

first two years of farming.

JORDANNE: Hmm.

INDY: And so it's incredible

to see your first two years,

and how much

you can achieve.

They definitely

have a few kinks that

they're trying

to still work out.

ANAIS: Yeah. Even

mature farms have it too,

30 years later,

we still have problems.

JORDANNE: Years later,

INDY: Yeah. Yeah, so they're

getting just baked by the sun,

and they're having problems

with their irrigation system,

and on any farm,

water is, like,

one of the most

precious resources.

ANAIS: Right. Right.

INDY: So it's like, I want to

come up with some sort of way

for them to water all of their

plants without just standing out

there with a hose all day long.

ANAIS: Yeah, I think

we can help you, um

JORDANNE: We

have some ideas.

ANAIS: And we have

some ideas that, you know,

suggestions that we've

put into practice over

the years and we've done.

Yeah, let's go check it out.

INDY: Okay, yeah.

ANAIS: All right.

Well, come on through.

All right, Louis will

show you our urban farm.

INDY: Oh! This is amazing!

This is beautiful!

ANAIS: This is

our field of greens.

INDY: This is a dream.

Well, I, I can't believe

that this is back here.

Even though the

SOW Collective

are three friends

and not three siblings,

I could totally envision

them being really similar

in a few years, just growing food

and connecting with

their community

in the same way.

Just show me.

That kale is stunning.

ANAIS: So, lots of greens,

we have radishes, kales.

LOUIS: And we have

apple trees on the side.

We got our salad mix.

Some more lettuce.

INDY: Okay.

ANAIS: This is you know, from farm to

table is just a couple feet.

So, but yeah, our backyard is our

grocery store (inaudible).

So you can see here

we have our chickens.

INDY: No! Oh, my gosh.

ANAIS: They're taking

dust baths right here.

JORDANNE: Yeah, this is their

INDY: I love the dust baths.

JORDANNE: This is their

midday dust bath bathing spa day.

INDY: Aww.

ANAIS: I think Justin's gonna explain

about all the ollas, right?

JUSTIN: So here we are

our clay pots, our ollas.

INDY: Nice.

JUSTIN: This is how we

install our drift irrigation.

JORDANNE: Pay close

attention, it's very technical.

INDY: Oh, yeah.

What?

And then you fill

that up with the water?

JUSTIN: Yeah,

and plant around it.

INDY: And

JUSTIN: It's a

self-watering container now.

INDY: So, how is the

water getting out of

this clay pot into

the rest of the

JUSTIN: Yeah, it's

unglazed so it sweats.

INDY: I've seen a lot

of methods of irrigation,

but these clay pots or

ollas are eye-opening.

So olla is just the

Spanish word for clay pot.

JUSTIN: That's

basically what it is.

INDY: Okay, cool.

JORDANNE: Bottle.

JUSTIN: Yes.

INDY: It sounds so much

cooler when you call it an olla.

JUSTIN: Yes, a olla.

INDY: Yeah.

Clay pot irrigation dates back

thousands of years.

Remnants have been found

in ancient garden beds from

China to South America.

When soil is dry,

moisture from within

the pot is drawn out,

through the porous clay and

seeps through the soil evenly.

JUSTIN: So we got the ollas

here every couple of feet.

INDY: Wow.

These look awesome.

Ollas are simple and efficient.

When compared to

traditional watering,

they can save up to 70%.

And so the idea is

that because it's unglazed,

the water is just

able to seep out.

JUSTIN: So in

the summer time,

we'll fill it up more often,

obviously, 'cause it's hotter.

INDY: Okay.

JUSTIN: Winter time, um,

maybe every couple o' weeks.

INDY: So, what,

what is their, like,

you know, radius

for sweating the

JUSTIN: It would be

about two, two feet radius,

so diameter would be

one foot on each side.

So if you planted

this one, let's see here,

you know you got

a foot on this side,

and then next one

would be two feet down.

INDY: Wow.

JUSTIN: We've been

usin' them for 15, 20 years.

They're, like you said,

it's saved us a ton of water.

Our water bill for the

entire year's, like, $1,000.

INDY: Wow.

I can't wait to bring this idea

to my friends at SOW Collective,

because I think that this could help

solve a lot of their problems.

JORDANNE: All right guys,

sorry to interrupt,

we have a couple orders come in,

we have to get 'em picked for

the Chef Daphaline today.

INDY: No way.

Yeah, I can help you.

JORDANNE: Yeah. Absolutely.

INDY: I can give you a hand.

The Urban Homestead

is like a window into what

SOW Collective could be,

with decades of

experience behind them.

Their interns take home fresh

food and the farm donates over

10,000 pounds of food to

neighbors in need every year.

Absolutely inspiring.

Honestly, this has

been really helpful for me.

I feel like I can go back to

my friends at SOW Collective

and tell them about the ollas.

I think they're gonna

love that, like, that there's

this low tech way of

watering their garden

ANAIS: Yeah.

INDY: That's, like,

a light bulb moment.

ANAIS: And you're, you're

gonna take some ollas home with you.

INDY: No. Really?

ANAIS: Yes.

JORDANNE: Yeah.

ANAIS: You are, yes.

INDY: Aww.

ANAIS: So we

have some set aside!

INDY: What?

ANAIS: Yes.

INDY: Thank you.

That's super kind.

Oh gosh, awesome.

ANAIS: So

INDY: This is perfect.

I can, like, bring

this right over to them.

ANAIS: Right.

INDY: Bye, plants.

I'm gonna miss you.

Well, I'm just excited

to be able to go back to

SOW Collective and give

them this sense of hope.

Having just this notion that

there's folks out there doing

the exact same kind of work

that you're doing and succeeding,

and are still

passionate about it.

And they're still there,

they're still functioning,

they're still the cornerstone

of their community.

♪

INDY: When I get

back to SOW Collective,

the team is in full swing,

getting ready for their

two year anniversary party,

where some of my changes

will start to take shape.

And I can't attend a party

without bringing something.

STEPHANIE: Hey, Indy! Woo.

MADISON: Welcome back!

HALEY: Nice to see you!

INDY: Um, I do have something

that I want to show you.

Yeah, come, come

outside with me.

Yes, yes.

STEPHANIE: All right.

INDY: This way, this way.

STEPHANIE: Let's do it.

MADISON: Okay, let's do it.

INDY: David from Wild Yards

has brought a friend and a whole

bunch of gorgeous native

plants to donate to SOW Collective.

DAVID: This is Matthew

Burrows. MATTHEW: Hi.

DAVID: Owner of

Plant Material nursery.

WOMAN: Hi, Matthew!

MATTHEW: Hi, I'm Matt.

DAVID: He conspired with

Indy to get 'ya a little few more plants

for your pollinator garden.

MATTHEW: I brought some plants.

STEPHANIE: Oh, my gosh.

(gasps).

Ooh.

MADISON: Wow.

STEPHANIE: We love plants.

HALEY: Oh, you're sweet.

MATTHEW: Let's go

with the tried and true.

MADISON: Ooh.

STEPHANIE: Ooh. My sage.

INDY: These are

native California plants,

and so they'll not

only bring in pollinators,

but they'll also kind of

help remediate the soil.

STEPHANIE: Oh, those are beautiful

large plants already too.

DAVID: Well, we thought

you might appreciate too.

MATTHEW: Some of them

have some blooms comin' out.

MADISON: Yeah!

HALEY: Yeah!

INDY: I was hangin' out at,

um, David's spot where he's totally

transformed what would've otherwise

been just a grass yard area,

kind of like what the

lot looked like before,

before you guys

started planting.

There are hummingbirds

everywhere and butterflies.

I mean, it was just like this

whole community of pollinators.

MADISON: Oh, what's that?

STEPHANIE: Pretty.

INDY: This? Yes, you

have to take this out.

STEPHANIE: What is this one?

MATTHEW: Tell 'em about that.

DAVID: Yeah. This

is apricot mallow.

This is our

indigenous mallow.

MADISON: Aww.

STEPHANIE: Apricot mallow.

DAVID: Yeah.

STEPHANIE: It's gorgeous.

DAVID: We'll really like it

out in the hot and dry out here.

MADISON: Perfect.

DAVID: Big bee magnet.

You'll get all kinds of

native bees on this plant.

MADISON: Awesome.

STEPHANIE: I'm, like, I want

to hug it 'cause it's so beautiful.

DAVID: Yeah.

(laughter).

Makes a nice big basket,

and loves the heat.

This is bladder pod, which

has the funniest name in the world.

MADISON: Ah.

DAVID: Huge pollinator plant,

hummingbirds love it.

All the native bees love it.

Everybody likes it.

(cheering).

STEPHANIE: Awesome.

Sweet. DAVID: Yeah.

STEPHANIE: We're gonna get some

hummingbirds over here?

Very rare for us.

DAVID: If you plant them,

they will come.

Am I right?

STEPHANIE: Absolutely.

I love it.

DAVID: So, if you cut

this down, you get that flow,

and the bees that come to

this will more easily and

intuitively go

right into your

HALEY: Yeah.

DAVID: Your

flowers of the edibles.

So, you'll get more pollination.

HALEY: Thank you for doing

this. STEPHANIE: Thank you.

MATTHEW: You're very welcome.

MADISON: Thank you.

MATTHEW: Thank you guys.

INDY: Thanks, guys.

DAVID: Have fun.

INDY: We'll get these beautiful new plants

into the ground on

both sides of the hedge later.

Now, I've brought one

more surprise to the party.

Well, I have a local friend named Brittany

who's an incredible artist,

and she agreed to come do an interactive

mural painting session

during the SOW

Collective party,

and so I think that this is a

great way to just bring in folks

and make them feel

like a part of the farm.

BRITTANY: So I've basically

just laid the sketch and I'm excited

to paint with

the community later.

MADISON: Ah.

INDY: Thank you so much,

Brittany, you're awesome.

I knew she would

be perfect for this.

MADISON: Yeah.

INDY: And this light color is going to be so

much better for this wall.

You're not gonna get all,

you're not gonna get everything

blasted by the sun again.

MADISON: Exactly!

It's gonna tame down the

heat, the plants will be able to hang

out around all

this beautiful art.

INDY: Yeah. And this is

great advertising for you guys.

It's such a selfie moment.

MADISON: It is, and it has a

great meaning behind it because

that's what we stand for, is

moving into a direction that's

more sustainable and more

inclusive for all cultures.

Thank you so much,

Brittany, for being here.

BRITTANY: Thank you for

having me, I'm so excited.

MADISON: Yeah! Woo.

So let's get to the party.

INDY: Yes!

I will help you drink a neat.

MADISON: Thanks. Woo!

INDY: Yes.

♪

STEPHANIE: Thank you so much for

coming and thank you to our donors.

(applause)

MADISON: Enjoy the day!

(overlapping chatter)

INDY: It was awesome seeing

the community come together,

celebrating two years

of SOW Collective.

Now, it's time to

roll up our sleeves and

start summoning

some birds and bugs.

If you bring in

these native plants,

then you're gonna have more of the local

native pollinators coming in.

And so creating a habitat of

these local pollinators is gonna

increase your crop yields,

and it's also just nice.

I mean, it's, who doesn't want

to see butterflies and moths and

bees and hummingbirds

hanging out in their garden?

MADISON: We're all

about inviting the bugs in.

INDY: Yeah.

STEPHANIE: The more,

the merrier.

INDY: Let's get to work.

MADISON: All right, let's do it.

HALEY: Right. Do it.

MADISON: This is so exciting,

I love planting natives 'cause

you know they're gonna

be there for years to come.

INDY: Yeah, they're gonna do

so well and they won't require as

much water as you know,

non-native crops because

they're very drought tolerant.

STEPHANIE: Let's

dig some holes.

INDY: Yeah.

HALEY: More diggin'.

I feel like people are lacking opportunities

to work with their hands.

I feel like with

your imagination,

you need to exercise it.

Like, if you don't put effort

long time, you lose that.

INDY: Yeah.

STEPHANIE: Lookin' really

deep, should we, do we add water?

INDY: You want to pop

this baby out and stick it in?

MADISON: Yeah.

STEPHANIE: Sure.

Are we massagin'

the roots a little bit?

HALEY: Just a little bit.

INDY: Get it, get it,

shake it, shake it.

STEPHANIE:

Yeah. Little wiggle.

INDY: With some

of its native soil.

HALEY: Live

long and prosper.

MADISON: Ooh. Ah.

(laughter).

HALEY: Wait,

this is really deep.

MADISON: Oh, it's beautiful.

HALEY: Yeah.

INDY: Oh, that's awesome.

MADISON: Woo.

INDY: This looks great,

but guess what.

I have other stuff

to show you guys.

MADISON: All right.

INDY: Yeah.

MADISON: More presents?

STEPHANIE: Oh,

my gosh. Indy.

♪

INDY: We have solutions underway to

help bring in native pollinators and address

the heat radiating

off the brick wall.

Now it's time to

tackle the issue of shade,

and luckily, Stephanie's

friend Oscar is a contractor.

OSCAR: So this whole

site is gonna be shaded,

and then at the end we'll put a

big one at the end, a 16 by 16.

STEPHANIE: Beautiful.

MAN: Plants sure need it.

STEPHANIE: Yeah.

MADISON: Yeah. Thank you.

OSCAR: Not only

the plants, so do we.

MADISON: This is awesome.

(laughter).

INDY: All right, well, yeah,

let's get to work.

OSCAR: We're gonna lift up

this post and put in the hole.

INDY: Yeah.

OSCAR: It's a little heavy and then we're

just gonna try to center it.

INDY: Okay.

I was visiting my

friends at Avenue 33,

which is a, also

a local urban farm,

and I realized that a

shade structure would

really help cool

down this area.

It's not easy working

in full sun like that.

You know, it's hot, it's dry,

but I know that their community

is really invested in

seeing this farm succeed.

MAN: We'll show you

real quick this side now.

It is nice and level.

OSCAR: Yeah.

INDY: Wait, this is braced, do

I need to hold this in anymore?

MAN: This is braced.

OSCAR: You're good.

MAN: This side as well.

OSCAR: Yeah.

And then when we

pour the concrete,

it's not going anywhere.

INDY: With the construction

of the shade post well on its way,

it's now time to focus on

SOW Collective's

irrigation system.

So, these are called ollas, so

it's just Spanish for clay pot,

but this works in a similar way than the

irrigation system would work.

HALEY: Oh.

STEPHANIE: Mm-hmm.

INDY: They actually seep

water out into the garden.

MADISON: Amazing.

HALEY: And it's really smart.

INDY: Yeah.

So this is not as you can tell

any kind of modern invention,

they've been using this in

North Africa and West Africa and

Burkina Faso, and certain parts of China

for over 4,000 years to water gardens

MADISON: Oh, my gosh.

That's so special.

INDY: Which is super cool.

I know, I love it.

So for a bed this size, we

could probably do two or three.

HALEY: They're really cute.

INDY: So then it's a

lot easier as you know than

installing a drip

irrigation system.

HALEY: That's so special.

STEPHANIE: Oh, my gosh.

MADISON: Thank you.

INDY: Yeah.

I can't wait to

show you how they work.

While Maddie and Stephanie help

Oscar out with the shade structures,

Haley and I will

find a home for these ollas.

HALEY: It takes, like,

two feet, right?

INDY: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

HALEY: Covers

I mean, how about here?

We have some space right here,

we wanted to grow

more towards the middle.

INDY: Right, yeah.

It doesn't have to be

right in a garden bed.

Each olla can water up

to two feet in diameter,

and the team decides to

sink some native plants around

this one once it's buried.

So we're gonna make the

hole go as high as the base of this.

So we're gonna

leave this exposed.

HALEY: Okay.

I just feel like this is

so cute, like, it's so round.

INDY: It is really cute.

HALEY: I know, and I don't

know, I just really have a soft spot

for clever low-tech,

but, you know, like,

strategies that leverages

what nature already does.

INDY: It's, like, interesting to think

that both of our ancestors,

even though they were

living on different continents,

were using ollas.

HALEY: Absolutely. I know.

INDY: And

And now we're using it and you're still

passionate about growing food.

HALEY: That's crazy.

I know. I know.

I'm happy to, yeah, find this connection

with my ancestor here it

INDY: So, you said

you grew up in China.

When did you move here?

HALEY: I moved here

when I was 16 in 2017.

INDY: No way, that's wild.

HALEY: So, it's been hard.

You know, different foods,

different cultures.

You know, one of

the hardest thing,

it's just very hard

to meet new people.

INDY: Mm-hmm.

HALEY: Um, because,

yeah, it's a suburb,

everybody's kinda confined

in their single family houses,

I mean, which is feeding to

part of the reason why I'm seem

so in love with this idea,

'cause it's a space to bring

people together, that did not previously

exist in this neighborhood.

INDY: Absolutely. Yeah.

HALEY: This is so neat.

INDY: Yeah.

It looks cute, doesn't it?

HALEY: I know.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's magical.

Now we pour water in it?

INDY: Yes. Exactly,

now we pour water in it.

HALEY: Okay.

Olla in, that was not that hard.

INDY: Right? I know,

it was really simple.

It's really their stories

that make me realize a lot of

how I felt when I

started growing food.

That access to food,

or lack thereof,

really shaped how she

views growing food now.

Then, like, her getting

excited about plants made

me excited about plants.

HALEY: I love it.

STEPHANIE: Hey, ladies,

what are you guys up to?

INDY: Hey.

HALEY: Hey. This baby's in.

STEPHANIE: Ooh.

That's so crazy,

you can barely see it.

INDY: Right?

With the olla planted,

the SOW Collective farmers

surround it with four

plants that will drink from it.

There's more to do, but I'm

heading out with the knowledge

that they're on the right path.

And I'll be back soon to

check on how things are going.

STEPHANIE: Yeah, we can't

wait till you visit us again

so you can see the

finishing results.

INDY: Yeah.

HALEY: Give us, like, a month, and

we'll finish irrigation, everything, yeah.

INDY: Yeah. Of course.

MADISON: See you next time. Woo.

INDY: I know, I know.

I can't believe I'm leaving.

With these simple

low-tech solutions,

SOW Collective should

start immediately seeing

big improvements

to their crops.

I can't wait to see if

our changes have worked.

INDY: It's been two months

and summer is fast approaching

in Southern California.

I'm anxious to see how the

SOW Collective is getting on

with some of the issues

affecting their farm.

Their imperfect

irrigation system,

low crop yields, and

their battle against

the blazing hot sun.

Hi. How's it goin'?

HALEY: Hi, it's Indy!

INDY: So good to see you.

How have you been?

It's so good to see you.

MADISON: Woo. Welcome!

INDY: Thank you.

MADISON: We've missed you.

INDY: I've missed you guys.

STEPHANIE: Hello, hello.

INDY: Hi.

STEPHANIE: Welcome!

INDY: This is beautiful.

When I was here last, there

were a few plants here and there.

But everything is in full

bloom and it's really healthy.

So there's vibrant green.

And then, my eyes immediately move to the shade.

There's shade.

Oh, my gosh.

This looks so good.

I mean, it's crazy you can

see such a huge difference,

even just on the

ground between

STEPHANIE: Yeah.

HALEY: Yeah.

INDY: Where it's

sunny and shade.

I want to go stand

under there.

HALEY: Same. Same.

MADISON: It's

such a hot day, and

INDY: It's such a hot day.

MADISON: Not only for

ourselves, but for our plants.

INDY: Wow.

MADISON: So the shade has really

helped us have a successful crop of peppers.

INDY: That's so cool.

MADISON: Yeah.

INDY: Wow, you can

seriously see a huge difference.

MADISON: Yeah.

These are just lush,

and thriving,

so this is gonna be a higher yield to

feed our neighbors with.

INDY: That's so awesome.

You guys really

just made it work.

MADISON: Yeah.

INDY: This looks incredible!

I'm so excited,

I want to feel the soil.

MADISON: Yeah!

(laughter).

INDY: Like, let me touch it.

So, the shade structures that

we put in have really helped

mitigate water evaporation.

Now, the water is staying

where it needs to be, in the soil.

Oh, my gosh, the

finished mural.

This looks so good.

MADISON: Yeah.

INDY: It turned out

really nicely, and just, like,

having these soft colors

back here really, like,

brightens it up.

MADISON: We're so

grateful for Brittany.

INDY: How are the

pollinators doing?

MADISON: Variety.

INDY: Ah!

HALEY: They're doing great.

INDY: They look awesome.

STEPHANIE: Definitely seen,

like, more butterflies.

MADISON: And I think because we also

trimmed these hedges lower.

INDY: That's so cool,

you've created like

this little pollinator highway.

MADISON: Yeah.

STEPHANIE: Yay, I love that.

INDY: And there's

a pollinator now.

MADISON: Yep.

INDY: Aww!

(laughter).

MADISON: They

frequent here often.

INDY: That's so incredible.

MADISON: Yeah.

INDY: David Newsom at Wild

Yards suggested that they cut their

hedges and turn this

area into an eco-corridor,

where butterflies and moths

and ladybugs are able to come in

and thrive, and I think it's

incredible to see how these

three ladies have just

taken that information and

made it their own.

Oh, I see one of the ollas too.

STEPHANIE: Just the

top of it buried there.

INDY: Oh, my gosh.

How have the ollas

been working out?

STEPHANIE: We don't hand

water this section at all,

so they are just

doing their thing.

We'll probably

have to get some more.

INDY: Yeah, it's super moist here and

you guys aren't hand watering this.

HALEY: They're doing their

part to keep our water bills down.

STEPHANIE: Mm-hmm.

INDY: Being able to water

your plants from their roots instead

of from overhead just further reduces

the amount of evaporation,

and makes a stronger,

healthier plant.

STEPHANIE: Definitely want

to see this integrated more into

all of our neighborhoods' front

yards and things like that,

so I'm really excited.

INDY: You're actually, you

know, going out and changing how,

I mean, you're

shifting people's ways!

(laughter).

That's what it's all about.

HALEY: Yes.

STEPHANIE: This will be the

first year that we're gonna have

some peaches on

our peach tree.

INDY: Oh, yeah, I can

see the little baby peaches.

HALEY: Yeah.

There's a teenager right here.

(laughter).

INDY: Aww, little fuzzies.

We're right in the

middle of this suburban area,

and SOW Collective is

able to grow food here.

That's a lot different than

what this area used to be for.

For folks who want to turn

their yard into a micro-farm,

think it's really important to

just figure out what plants you

can grow in one square foot,

because you can grow corn,

and have beans

right beside it,

and then have watermelon

spreading underneath.

You don't have to go and

tear up your entire lawn.

You can start really small,

and see what you can grow in

a small area that

feels manageable.

STEPHANIE: I still

look at all of this and

it almost feels

like a fever dream,

'cause I'm, like, waking up

and I'm like, this is all fresh,

this is all something

I can eat and pick.

It's really empowered us and given us

some confidence to expand.

Like, we definitely want to

expand in a different area in

the valley as well, and

so that's another project

we're gonna take on.

MADISON: Mm-hmm.

INDY: Oh, wow.

MADISON: Yeah! There's a empty

lot in Reseda.

So it'll be

another SOW Collective

INDY: No way!

MADISON: On the

other side of the valley.

STEPHANIE: Yeah.

INDY: Congratulations,

that's so cool!

MADISON: Yeah. Yes.

STEPHANIE: Thank you.

INDY: That's awesome.

MADISON: I mean, there's so

many empty lots that are being unused

out there, it just takes

a little people power and

a dream to transform them.

So, that's what we're all

about here at Shift Our Ways.

INDY: I just think that the

work that the three of you are doing

is really inspiring and then

hearing that you're going out

and you're gonna keep continuing to

do this work in other places

and inspiring other people,

that is beautiful, I mean,

that's what

farming is all about.

It's about teaching

and empowering folks.

MADISON: Mm.

So thank you for that.

INDY: Yeah. Incredible.

(laughter)

You're awesome!

What I find most

inspiring about Maddie,

Haley and Stephanie is

they're not just committed to

the individuals that

comprise their community,

but they're also caring about

creating a space where everyone

is treated well, from the

individuals that they're in

community with, to

the smallest insects that

help make their farm grow.

MADISON: Thank you.

See you next time.

INDY: Bye, I'll

be back, for sure.

HALEY: Oh, yeah.

MADISON: Yeah, of course.

STEPHANIE: See

you next time.