01x05 - Balance

[bunniefuu]

[birds chirping]

[Jamila] In farming, you're
constantly solving problems

In a small backyard, on a
large farm, just in life in general,

you have to account for the fact

that nature is something
that you work with

and it's not something that
you're going to get away from

I've built some raised beds so
we don't have to deal with flooding

We are just as much a part
of this ecosystem

as birds and bees
and butterflies and water

And we just have to learn to kind of
like co-exist and find that healthy balance

My name is Jamila Norman and I'm
an urban farmer in the city of Atlanta

I farm on 1.2 acres
in the middle of the city

where I grow and harvest
organic fruits, vegetables and herbs

I love potatoes They're like
jewels under the earth for me

I started farming to grow
fresh food for my sons,

but saw a greater need
in my community as well

After ten years as an engineer,

I left the corporate world
to farm full time

Connecting with the land and
sharing it with my community

is my greatest passion

Yeah!
All the good stuff this week

We got red okra and
green okra - Ooh, yum

- Appreciate you. Bye
- Thank you. Bye

Hearing the stories from my mom

growing up in Jamaica
on my great grandparents' farm

really planted a seed deep
inside of me

I started this journey
for my family

and I love to help others
discover the joys of farming

and start their own gardens
for their family

It's everything
that I've ever dreamed of

After all, everything tastes a
little better when it's homegrown

[acoustic music playing]

We're going to an in-town Atlanta
neighborhood called Cabbagetown

Way back in the day
a bunch of Irish settlers

actually settled this part of Atlanta
and worked in the mills nearby

They grew a lot of cabbage and apparently
there was the smell of cabbage in the air

and hence the name Cabbagetown

Oh, that's a good boy
That's a good boy!

[Jamila] I'm really excited
about working with the Blacks

They're a young couple
just starting off

Hey, can you help me
with this one?

[Jamila] And the space that they
have, while it's small and quaint,

for a city it's actually a lot
of green space

and there's a real opportunity
to really build out a farm

right within five minutes
of downtown Atlanta

In the two and a half years or
so that we've lived in this house,

we've only been in our
backyard a couple of times

It's mostly Hank's running area

[Jamie] Hey, buddy

There's a lot of bamboo back there
that we don't really know what to do with

We also are having problems
with some of the water that pools

in the back area of our patio

We are complete newbies when
it comes to gardening and farming

We really want to be able
to utilize the space

for something more than just
something that looks nice

I know when I was younger and I
would go to my abuelita's house,

we would have fresh food
all the time

You're always welcomed with food

and I'm really excited to sort
of keep that tradition going

- Hey
- Hey

How are you guys doing? Let's take
a look at the property and the bamboo

- Yeah
- Awesome

- Come on, Hank
- You guys lead me up

[Jamila] The biggest
challenge with their yard

is going to be removing a lot of
the invasives that they currently have

It's like wisteria,
blackberry, privet

And making sure that it won't
intrude and affect the garden

and the farm that
we're building for them now

[Jamie] It started as, you know, two
or three of them a couple years ago

and it's grown into dozens now

[Carla] And it's not something
that we really enjoy

because it's taking over
our yard so much

The way it sort of like expands is
it sends rhizomes under the ground

They stay pretty shallow and it
expands that way through the soil

and then it'll come up further
and further up in your yard

The rhizome will travel as far
as the bamboo is tall

[Carla] We really never go back here,
so I just didn't realize how much it was

That's how much it was like preventing
you from even enjoying your backyard

Right - And the feel we want
to create is tall and expansive

and, you know,
a nice green screen,

you know, because it does provide
that break from just a regular fence

So your eyesight will just be
like this really pretty bamboo

- Nice
- So this is what we want

- Yeah. Yeah, for sure
- You know

[Jamila] What we want to strike a
balance with here is, how we can coexist?

How both, the bamboo
can be here and your garden

without having to look at it
as an eyesore?

So let's take a look
at these plans

For your yard it's about creating
balance between the bamboo,

the upper garden
and the retaining wall

We'll manage the bamboo
so it stays in the back area

and carve out a path through
it for Hank to run

We're actually going to push
it back some,

so you gain a little bit more
usable yard space

We'll clear out
all of this overgrowth

and then build five garden
boxes of varying heights and sizes

that will fill with tons of fall
crops and root vegetables

Then on the other side of the yard
we'll designate an area for your fire pit

which will be perfect
for family gatherings

Plus we'll expand your garden by
bringing life to your concrete wall

We'll attach ten slatted wood panels
that will fill with planters and pots

I'm calling this your herb
and salad wall

and I'm excited to create growing
space in a completely unexpected way

And lastly, we'll solve
your water problem

by installing rain barrels
underneath the downspouts

[Jamie]
I love it. I'm so excited

[Jamila] I have a friend
that has a bamboo farm

and he's found some really
interesting ways to manage it

Actually, it's really beautiful

And so, I want to take
you guys out there

- Perfect
- That sounds great

- Hey, Jamila. How you doing?
- Hey! Good morning, Jim How are you?

We're working on their backyard and
they've got like this patch of bamboo

and it just looks overwhelming

And I was like, I've got
the perfect person for you

- So yeah, we're here...
- You guys are fortunate to have this one helping you out

- Yes. Thank you
- Don't we know

And we were also planning
a fire pit for you guys

That's so cool - So, this is
something else that he does

that's really beautiful

- Yeah
- It's awesome

-Super, super cool -Right?
So yeah, let's see that one

- That's a 30-inch deep
- Okay

[Jamila] The fire pit is definitely
going to serve as a connection point

for the two of them, but also for
their family and their neighbors

Okay, so there's that one

It's a nice size,
so people can gather

and it just makes the backyard so much more
usable and something that you can enjoy

I think I like this one the most

Well, why don't we think about that
while we go check out some bamboo

[birds chirping]

- [Carla] It's so pretty - [Jamila]
- It just feels like a cathedral

This is a crazy amount of bamboo

This is crazy...
this is insane, right?

But this looks like the bamboo
you guys have in your backyard

- Jim, what kind of bamboo is this?
- This is henon bamboo

It's a fast growing bamboo - Yeah, which
I think is the experience you guys have had

Definitely. Yeah, we've seen
it grow like from a little sprout

and then two days later
it's half as tall as this

[Jamila] So we're staying in this
tunnel but we have this beautiful path

[Carla] I really like that
there is like a path like this

If we had something like this in our yard
where it's like that area is just bamboo,

but then we have the rest of the
area for our garden that would be great

You can use just manual labor

and cut the shoots like I've done
here to maintain this trail right here

in spring when it wants to sh**t

You're just looking in the springtime
making sure your shoots are not coming out

You take care of that, it sounds
like less maintenance to me

That's right. It is - I'm
just trying to sell bamboo

- I love bamboo, so...
- Especially, if it's out in the yard where you're mowing,

the alternative is you can try
putting a deep barrier in the ground

and it's real tricky
because some bamboos,

the roots run deeper than they
do with shallow bamboos

[Jamila] So we got to
make sure That's an option

we go deep enough
and put that barrier in

The main concern was
it just not encroaching

and I think it'll really work to do
the trench, put the liner in there

So I'm going to need my landscaper,
Rod to bring in the big machinery

The hardest thing that we've overcome
is actually getting into the space

because we're seven foot
off the ground, we're elevated,

so there's no real way to get
material from the street up

but luckily we have, you know,
worked out a deal with the neighbor

that we were able to use the
backyard and come in from the back

Yay!

[Jamila] We got the trench
digger in through the back fence

Now, we've just got to replace the
attachment on there so we can get to work

There you go

[drill machine whirring]

I'm here at the Blacks

I brought in the rain barrels
and the fire bowl

and I can't wait to see what
progress Rod has made on the site

- Everything looks amazing
- We've been busy

Y'all have been busy
I see the vision playing out

I see the garden, you know,
the future fire pit area

- Farmer J's happy. Okay, so
- Alright, good

What are we doing a dry fit?
Let's see

Yeah, I'm doing a dry fit
and rolling out a little bit

and making sure the hole
is deep enough

- You want to help me fit it?
- Yeah, yeah. Let's do it I came ready to work

[Rod] I probably need to dig
down another three or four inches

And that'll keep the rhizomes
back that way

All right, well that looks
great. I'm excited

[Jamila] We're putting
stone around the fire pit area

and lining the yard with azaleas

because they make a great border
and they'll fill the yard with color

While the crew is working
on that,

Jamie and I are going to build
these planter boxes

starting with the shortest,
since it'll be the easiest to build

In this garden design we have
different heights of boxes

So this is the shortest
height that we have

- So this one is six inches
- Cool

You can plant really shallow
rooted crops,

so that'll be things like
lettuce and spinach

You can even do radishes because
they stay pretty, you know, shallow

So are we trying to limit to things that are
only going to grow in the soil we put in,

or will they actually grow down
into this dirt underneath as well?

I'm glad you asked that

because while I normally build

so that the soil is connected
to the... the bare earth,

because you guys had all those
really like tough weeds with deep roots,

if we don't line this

and you put the soil in,

all of that
will just come right through

- So in this situation...
- Not trying to grow weeds

Yeah, you're not trying
to grow...

so in this situation,
we're going to line it - Cool

Yeah, so this is looking
really good

We got a good production going

[Jamie] All right,
that's the last one

Great job. Excellent
I love it

Yay

It was really fun to get my hands
on today to do a little bit of carpentry

Once they leave, I will still be able to
kind of maintain everything they've done

and keep it going long term,

which kind of takes a lot
of the stress we had away from

what it's going to be like in a
year, two years, which is great

Okay. Next,

we are going to transform
this gray wall

into a beautiful living wall

We love cooking It would be really
great to just come out of our kitchen

- and just grab some herbs
- Yeah

We've got this plastic and we
have to line these boxes

And the reason I'm doing that is because
we ended up using pressure treated wood

and I just want to make sure that
you all are not consuming anything

where the treatment of the
wood is leaching into your soil

So a good solution for that

- is to just line the inside of the boxes...
- [Carla] Okay

...and we'll just staple gum
that in

- So it's lightly...
- Staple it down. There you go

So what are some things you
guys are interested in growing?

What do you think
about cilantro?

We're in fall here in Georgia,
it's a great time to plant cilantro

We can also plant mint,
parsley, dill

Oh, okay

- And then you'll fold down the sides and just kind of...
- In the middle?

...tuck it in there
in the middle. Yeah

Just use your knife, or you can
do scissors and just cut the slit

- Real simple, right?
- Yeah

This concrete actually is going to like
absorb some of the heat from the sun

and it's going to radiate back
on the plant

So you're kind of creating what
they call like a heat island effect,

which is something that
happens in cities

You get kind of like two more
degrees higher temperatures,

so you can grow a little bit
more

So it's going to help everything
just to stay like a little bit lusher

and grow a little bit faster

So, now that we finished the boxes, we
finished lining them, now the fun part, right?

Yeah - You get to
place it on the wall

You guys get to play around with
design and add your own personal touches

So you want to grab some boxes?

Yeah, let's kind of
visualize - Be our box model

So, I actually really like
the idea of having two,

two, and then one, but
like in the middle - Yep

Jamie and Carla have been
amazing They're so hands on

They have a lot of their own
ideas,

so it's just been really
a collaborative process

It's just, you know, striking a
beautiful balance between nature

and what we want and, you
know, finding that harmony

So it's a beautiful project and I'm so
happy for what we're going to create

We're going to solve that water
problems you guys we're having

which is like puddling
on this patio when it rains

Yeah - And we're
going to use a rain barrel

- to solve that issue, okay?
- Nice

Just an even better bonus is you get
free water to water your garden boxes

and actually plants work and
they love rain water so much better

than like regular tap water

They grow like twice as fast

because tap water has chlorine
in it and the rain water doesn't

Got these rain barrels

and because the rain barrels are
low and we're going up on this wall,

we have to do a pump
So take that off

- Yeah, nice
- That's your mesh

And so, you know, every now
and then some maintenance will be

just to go in and pull
leaves off - [Carla] Yeah

[Jamila] If you let debris get
in, you can mess up the pump

Let's get the hose

Connect that to the pump
right there

Just going to screw that in

Drop that in the bottom there

We had all this water coming
in through the spouts anyway,

like, you might
as well use it - Yeah

You might as well capture it
and use it

[Jamila] We're installing
two 60 gallon rain barrels

which will easily fill up
after a big rain,

so the Blacks will have more than
enough water for all their new plants

- Perfect. Alright
- Nice

- You know, like that's it
- How nice

It's actually not that
complicated

- All right, are you ready to test your pump?
- Yeah. Let's do it

Okay. So we've added
some water to the rain barrel

You've got the other end
of the hose?

Oh, wow!

- Oh, hey! Yay!
- We've got water, guys

[Jamila] Yay!

So whenever you get a nice
big rain, it'll fill up

That's super exciting I didn't
even know that this stuff existed

Now we're going to have to do the
same thing to the other down spout

Sounds great

[Jamila] I think for the Blacks

this project is going to be something
that they can put their imprint on

They have this project that, you know, they're
going to be sharing for many years to come

with themselves
and also with their family

So it's a beautiful connection

[birds chirping indistinctly]

- [Jamila] Hey, Tito
- Hey, lady! What's up?

Come check out this bamboo trellis I've
been working on - I know. It looks really good

- You want to help me finish it off?
- I will

Okay, so where can I jump in?

Why don't you watch
me for a second - Okay

And I'll show you how to do
this crazy knot

[Jamila] Today, Tito's helping
me build the trellis for the Blacks

and then we're also going to go
over and get all the plants in the ground

And then we're going to
go behind, crisscross - Okay

Then we're going to go behind,
crisscross

We're doing this
for the Black's backyard

They have like this bamboo that's
encroaching from the neighbor's yard

and they were really
just feeling overwhelmed

and didn't like it, and really were
like, "How can we get rid of it?"

We figured out a solution for
how to kind of like keep it at bay

Okay - And then, I'm
trying to just like show them

bamboo is just like really useful
and it helps improve air quality

Okay. Now, I can't talk and
tie at the same time. Okay

-That's a learned skill -That is...
there you go Right, multi-tasking

Crisscross Yeah, let
me see how it's looking

- That's really nice
- There we go

- Yeah
- Teamwork

Absolutely. Thank you

So today, is my favorite day
of the project

It's planting day

I am so excited to get this
stuff in the ground for the Blacks

This is fall in Georgia

We're planting a lot of kale,
collards, cauliflower,

broccoli, carrots

All the fall things that are going to
do really great for the next two months

and then also over winter

and they'll still be able
to harvest it in early spring

- Okay, Tito. You ready?
- I am ready

This is a great time to plant
onions in Georgia

How will they know when
they're ready like for a bulb onion?

So, you'll actually see the bulbs
sticking up out of the ground,

but it does take a really long
time to grow an onion

Those green tops are green,
then they start turning yellow

and they'll naturally die back
in the field

and the onion is like,
"We're done. We're ready."

So, it's going to like wilt and
kind of turn brownish and fall over?

That's when, you know, it's time
to go pull an onion out of the ground

[Jamila] The upper garden,
we're doing all the hardier things

that need a little bit more
time and a lot more space

And the vertical garden,

I'm really excited about

what they're going to be able to just
kind of like walk out of their kitchen

and get right away

So, we've got our herb wall,
cilantro and dill and parsley

and some of their favorite
things

Both upper garden and lower garden
will be harvested, now and some later

Over here, I thought a great
idea would be more herbs

and then we'll also seed
some carrots

- This is quite a few plants
- Yeah

This is how you divide
your plants

Right, you can see each
cluster is like multiple... exactly

- Just kind of break it open
- Don't tear but just...

Yeah, no. You can tear

and then if you want to try
you can break these into like two

Yeah

We can do two right there and then
we'll plant the carrots in the middle

The reason we do the carrots in
this box because it's nice and deep

Carrots like nice loose
deep soil

So, since carrots are small,
I'll just use my finger

and we're going to do them
about four inches apart

So carrots, one seed one carrot

Now, are all the seeds
going to sprout?

- How good a parent to the carrots are y'all going to be?
- As good as it gets

Y'all going to water them
every day?

- You're going to check and make sure they come out?
- Sing to them

See how tiny they are

- I can't even see the seeds
- It's like you can barely see it

Like, when I say sprinkle...
And so, you just feather...

- Yeah, like...
- Like that?

- Yep
- Look at it go

- Look at it...
- Bye carrots

And when you pull these carrots out,
guess what you can do in the springtime?

More carrots - Plant
another round of carrots

It's definitely incredible what
planting a few seeds can do

- Hey, Tito
- Hello

- Is that bamboo?
- This is bamboo

- [Carla] Oh, my gosh!
- [Jamila] It looks a little different

than the bamboo you
guys have here - Mm-hmm

Right - Remember the
bamboo that you hated

and you wanted to get rid of

We tamed it,
we made it beautiful

and now it's like, here's how
you can apply it in your garden

and something functional Things that
you can grow up on here, string beans

Early spring, put those beans in
and they'll just grow up this trellis

In the summertime,
you can put cucumbers

- I love it
- It's so cool

[Jamila] You guys wanted a
garden, we got you a garden

Another really important element
of gardening is actually composting

Composting is a way to use up your
vegetable scraps and all those things,

so that you can kind of create your
own amendments back into the soil

This is where you would layer
all of your materials

So as you can see, we have
kind of like two different colors

You always want a little bit of
brown, a little bit of green, right?

Brown could be newspaper,
leaves,

you can put in
your banana peels,

all your trimmings from like prepping
your veggies and stuff like that

Essentially, you just want
to build like a layer cake - Cool

Throw your brown things in here

Throw the green on top - Every
few months you'll go and just turn it

This is really great

I'm like... I've always wanted
to do our own composting,

but we just never thought that
we could, love it

You're set up for success
I love it

[Carla] I think
it's special for me

because having this be something

that we can actually
do together,

like, grow something
as a family,

maybe with a family

and just be able to cultivate
and grow

and sustain ourselves
is just really so cool

and something so important

And I think that in the long
term we're going to be able to see

some really great results
from it

The green and then these
are some new babies...

The vertical garden is just
visually beautiful

It's taken seven feet of height

and turning it into like
green lush space

-Mmm -Oh, man!
That smells so good

[Jamila] And then to know that
there's actually things on the wall

that they can use
in their kitchen

We've got oregano and cil...
dill I know. I know you love dill

[Jamila]
They're a young couple

They're excited about life

and that's just going to
represent that growth on the wall

and growth
for their future family

So yeah, that's Italian oregano
and then this is Greek oregano

Greek oregano is a little bit
more light

The dill and the cilantro,
it smells amazing

Oh, my God! I love cilantro

Okay, I'm just eating off
the wall

Don't mind me,
just being a little rabbit

- Last one! Oh, my God!
- There you go, buddy

[Jamila] All the things
you have learned

Final thing,
plants need sunshine,

they need dirt
and then they need...

- Water
- ...water

- Oh, look at that!
- There you go

It's so good

[Jamila] The amazing
thing about the garden wall

is that it's going to bring
so much life and vibrancy

It's creating like a real
oasis, not just for the family,

but actually for the environment
and the wildlife around

This new space I see it as an extension
of what we already have in our home

and, you know, I'm really excited
about being able to welcome our family

and being able to have food
for them

It's just so much more
than just like a farm

It's so much more

[Jamila] I'm just really
proud of how it turned out

They've got seating
They've got place to relax

and chill with their family
at the fire pit

And then, now the bamboo is a
feature instead of an eyesore

And now that the barrier is in,

we know that the bamboo won't
encroach into their garden

Balance is the key
to everything, you know

Like, what we do?
What we feel? What we eat?

All of those things require
awareness

and through this awareness,
you know, we can grow

That's what it's all about

Finding balance in life and
balance is the key to happiness