urban farm | Backyard Roots

You’d probably never believe Gary Rosenberg’s garden was on a roof top so I had to prove it with this photo of him climbing up a ladder to it. His Berkeley garden is so densely planted and lush that I was constantly checking my steps to make sure I didn’t walk off the edge. His house didn’t have a backyard and he wanted to make use of his large flat roof top so he began the rooftop garden back in 1994. First, he made sure the foundation was strong enough to support all the weight. Then he then stripped the old roof down to the structural elements and covered them with thick plywood. He topped it with two layers of modified torch-on, a rubber-like surface that is extremely waterproof and durable. But the mechanics of his garden is really not what it’s all about.

“I don’t teach gardening, I teach civil disobedience,” he explained, and there’s nothing that bothers him more than our wasteful consumer society. Almost all the containers, building materials, and even plants have been gleaned. He uses solar power, a composting toilet, and recycles the water used to for his plants into a very rich compost tea that he reuses on his plants. He also allows his plants to live their entire lifespans so he can collect the seed from successful plants so they can naturally adapt to the climate. He doesn’t see weeds as a problem, because they are biomass and natural carbon sinks that he eventually add to the compost. The way Gary sees it, if we could redirect the waste stream, improving society would naturally follow.

Collards are allowed to grow over several seasons, he picks leaves as he needs them.

Gary recycles the roof top runoff in barrels that makes a naturally rich compost tea.

Gary has planted over 20 fruit trees along the sidewalk of his Berkeley home.

Gary’s rooftop garden is barely visible from the street because of his densely planted sidewalk garden that contains over 20 fruit trees.

Ever thought of getting sheep? Mali McGee has loved sheep ever since she helped care for them when she was a kid volunteering at Oakland’s Fairyland. When a doctor advised her to start eating more nutrient dense foods she got a goat and a lamb and has never looked back. Mali keeps two dairy sheep along with three goats in her Alameda backyard and that includes the ram above named Krampus. Her dairy sheep are a cross between East Friesian and Dall and she says they are calmer and easier to keep than goats. Sheep milk is highly nutritious and has more vitamins A, B, and E, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium than cow’s milk. It’s also a much richer, sweeter milk that’s easier to digest and makes great cheese. She got the ram to breed because his mother was outgoing and friendly which is a trait she’d like to continue. Mali also shears her sheep and spins the wool and boils the unusable wool for lanolin oil which is great on dry, chapped skin. She says the lambs are very efficient converters of vegetable matter to protein. She’s grateful to have to lamb that she will eventually slaughter.

I met Mali when I got and assignment to photo her for the East Bay Express. After hanging out with her and then going back to take more photos of her and Krampus I was smitten too. Despite his natural urge to butt, Krampus has a sweet side too and in many of the photos I have to say he looked positively “sheepish”. Check out Mali’s blog: Milk Mama Goat Farm.