The people could be a metaphor for the soil. Or the soil could be a metaphor for the people.
The farmers are predominantly bipolar, schizophrenic, severely depressed. The land is a dusty four acres of sandy dirt, once home to abandoned machinery. A promise of good things to come isn’t the first thing that comes to mind—not for the people, not for the soil.
But the good is there on this sun-baked bit of earth near the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s substation, and it’s more than a promise. Committed workers—recommended to the program from Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services—find a steady, paying job at the farm, where they participate in horticultural therapy through growing and selling crops. The ground itself benefits from their toil. As they nurture the soil back to health, it yields a regular bounty of life. Amid the purple cabbage and droning bees, marginalized members of society are restoring the land—and finding their own restoration in the process.
“Everybody here wants to be here,” said Growing Grounds program manager Ariela Gottschalk.
She estimated that about a fifth of the workers are homeless citizens in search of an immediate source of income. All of the growers basically have a desire to work, but need help to do so. As they plant and pick, Gottschalk explained, they learn job skills, such as showing up to work on time and dressing appropriately for the task. Supervisors help them set and reach developmental milestones. Life flourishes.
The literal fruits of the growers’ labors are as colorful as they are tasty. In one narrow section, red-leaf lettuce butts up against romaine leaves, basil plants, and lisianthus flowers. Another row boasts Asian melons, lemon cucumbers, and butternut squash, all hugging the ground within feet of each other.
Growing Grounds Farm celebrated its diverse harvest with a festival and barbecue on Sept. 26, and Transitions Mental Health Associate Director Frank Ricceri said at the event that he’d just learned the farm would be able to continue operating on the land—a future that had been in question—thanks to the county. Now, the whole community can look forward to harvests to come.
INFOBOX: Eat your vegetables
The Growing Grounds Farm Stand is located at 812 W. Foster Road at the corner of Foster and California in Santa Maria, near the sheriff’s station. The stand is open on Thursdays from noon to 6 p.m. For more information—or to donate to the program—call 928-4509 or visit www.t-mha.org.
Contact Executive Editor Ryan Miller at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 2-9, 2008.