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LIVERMORE — Brenda Kusler may not look like the typical farmer — there are no dust-covered working boots, plaid shirts or wide-brimmed hats in sight.
Instead, her long hair is loose down her back. She wears jeans, a T-shirt and flip-flops, her feet and hands covered in a healthy dusting of soil — the same soil that she walks through nearly every day, a smile on her face as she teaches her volunteers the basics about planting, growing and harvesting produce.
“You guys rock!” she exclaimed to a group of volunteers as she made her rounds one morning as they were pulling up kale and chard.
Kusler is the executive director of Fertile Groundworks, a Livermore nonprofit that grows some 20,000 pounds of food per year on less than an acre of land. Located behind the Asbury United Methodist Church, which leases them the land, the garden is fueled by volunteers who come four times a week to not only grow but also harvest the produce that is mostly given away to a food kitchen and food pantry.
A majority of their produce goes to Open Heart Kitchen, which serves hot meals to those in need seven days a week. The term “farm to table” couldn’t get any closer: Standing in the garden, one can see the commercial kitchen entrance and the church where meals are served three times a week.
Fertile Groundwork’s mission is to “teach, grow and give,” so not only are they growing food for local soup kitchens but also teaching its volunteers basic gardening and farming skills.
On a sunny morning in Livermore, Kusler waved over volunteers from Bank of the West, pointing out different aphids (little bugs that eat the crops) found on kale and chard bunches they were harvesting.
When the garden was getting started, workers tried spraying with a natural oil to get rid of the pests. But then they learned that leaving the ladybugs to do their job, eating the aphids, worked quite well. Kusler found a ladybug caterpillar this morning and explained to the volunteers just how vital they are.
“I use to squish them because they’re so ugly and I thought, ‘Well, that can’t be good for my backyard.’ But no! These guys eat 10 times their body weight,” she said.
Fertile Groundworks has received funding this year from Share the Spirit, an annual holiday campaign that serves disadvantaged residents in the East Bay. Donations helped support 49 nonprofit agencies in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The organization plans to use the grant to help purchase irrigation supplies, trees and seeds to expand the garden and orchard, and help support teaching gardens. The goal is to double the yearly production.
Kusler, a retired Stanford University researcher, became executive director of the garden last year. She started out as a once-a-week volunteer about six years ago because she wanted to learn more about gardening but then began helping them write grants and organizing their volunteer base.
She said what excites her is getting volunteers who want to learn more about how food is grown and help the environment heal. Immigrants who may have come from an agricultural background also bring their children with them to the garden.
“Their American-born kids have no idea where the food comes from. They want to show them, ‘This is hard work. You should appreciate where your food is coming from,’ ” she said.
What started with a handful of volunteers once a week has turned into more than 1,400 per year, giving more than 8,000 hours to keep the crops growing and harvested.
Ruth Hawley has volunteered since the garden was first started in 2010, when church leaders and people from the congregation decided that something needed to be done with the roughly 11 acres of land behind the Methodist church. The pastor at the time had the idea to grow food for Open Heart Kitchen. They began planting in mid-2011, with about six beds.
Hawley, who was planting peas and carrot seeds on a fall day, said the garden has grown bigger ever since. Today, the garden has 78 beds, with plans for more expansions.
She volunteers once a week, mostly because her own garden is too small to grow much.
“So this is where I can come get gardening, get outside, work up a sweat. I love pulling weeds,” she said with a smile.
Through her years of volunteering, Hawley had an interesting take on the best crop that the nonprofit grows.
“Our best crop is rocks,” she said, laughing. “They just keep coming up!”
Besides Open Heart Kitchen, Fertile Groundworks also gives its produce to the Tri-Valley Haven food pantry in Livermore. Groundworks has a “U-Pick” twice a week to sell produce to the public and a yearly plant sale. All funds go right back into the organization to keep the garden going.
Just like the way they discovered by trial and error that ladybugs can keep pests in check, the gardeners also experiment with food varieties.
Kusler rattled off names of regal-sounding squash they grow — Marina di Chioggia, Buttercup, Lady Godiva and Sibley Peak. They found that larger squash not only keep for longer periods of time but are also preferred by Open Heart for their size and efficiency in the kitchen.
In addition to producing everything organically and sustainably, the workers also make their own compost. The food kitchen saves their scraps and gives them back to Fertile Groundworks to be composted. Local horse owners give them horse manure, which can be vital to healthy soil and plant growth.
“So it’s small, local and a really kind of tight circle,” Kusler said.
Share the Spirit
The Share the Spirit holiday campaign, sponsored by the Bay Area News Group, funds nonprofit holiday and outreach programs in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
To make a tax-deductible contribution, clip the coupon accompanying this story or go to www.sharethespiriteastbay.org/donate. Readers with questions, and individuals or businesses interested in making large contributions, may contact the Share the Spirit program at 925-472-5760 or sharethespirit@crisis-center.org.
