Edendale Farm is nestled in a hilly suburb west of Silverlake Reservior. It occupies an acre of land, half of which is employed in permacultural design. I came for a week to this little L.A. gem through WWOOF to work, eat, and learn, parking my van along the street in front. It worked wonderfully in the quiet neighborhood, and I could leave my door open during the day for my curious cat to wander through the landscaped front yards.
Edendale is less a farm than a general permaculture site. David Kahn, the man who runs the farm, envisions Edendale as a model for what everyone should do, and cites the UN figure that the world needs to increase food production by 70%. Although some criticize this discourse of scarcity as causing false fear (thereby allowing corporations to engage in unethical practices under the guise of alleviating scarcity), David has a point. People– even in L.A.– should do their best to fill their space efficiently, growing whatever food they can in whatever soil they have, engaging with resources directly at their homes, and creating space that is conducive to community formation.
The way in which David has accomplished this is through composting toilets, a rainwater catchment system, a soon-to-be pond with fish that can be harvested for food, chickens, pigeons, swales, and an outdoor theatre and kitchen (also in the making). The garden aspect was a bit M.I.A. when I visited in December. The place is certainly a work-in-progress but has tons of potential, and David’s vision is a beautiful one– one that involves not only food, water, and energy production, but also community fostering, learning, and events.
David has eggs up the yin-yang from his 25 chickens (email him to purchase them!). The pigeons can be harvested for their meat. The composting toilets are porta-potties that were originally painted by artists for the Coachella Music Festival. Pee and poo are kept separate. Human urine, when diluted, can be applied directly to the soil, while humanure must be composted for a year or more before being used to amend the soil.
While I was staying there as a volunteer, I dug a lot of swales, which are essentially ditches that are filled with organic matter in order to catch rainwater runoff, keeping the water in the soil for the plants to use, and preventing erosion. I also helped David put up a fence in the front of the property. Instead of concrete, we made a clay sludge to stabilize the posts. My favorite project of the week, however, was creating the front pathway with pavers. Another volunteer, Jenny, and I created a checkerboard pattern, and filled in the empty spaces with broken pieces of old pavers.
Edendale was the original name of the area from Echo Park to the eastern edge of Silverlake until the 1940′s. According to David, there used to be a farm in Edendale, where a Mexican immigrant lived. He had been exiled from Mexico for questioning the dictatorship, but continued to write and engage in activism from his home in Los Angeles. David was influenced by this history in naming the urban garden.
He is concerned with creating an “alternative nation,” with its own economic system– alternative ways to own property, and produce and consume food and other goods. He sees the revamping of the system as occurring from the ground up, in small-scale steps that slowly create another system parallel to the one currently in dominance. Edendale farm is just one of those steps in the long, winding staircase.
Visit www.edendalefarm.com for more info.
