The Real Dirt: An Organic Grower's Journey and the Values That Inspired It

By Peter Burkard

This book calls for a return to the fundamental American values which our society today seems to desperately need to rediscover: frugal living, resourcefulness, the Golden Rule, and growing one's own food. A memoir is used as the context into which is woven inspirational wisdom, food growing how-to, and marvelous quotes from luminaries the author admires. Dreaming of a simpler but happier life, while longing to leave the world better than you found it? Here is the inspiration to do all of that.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 29, 2009
• ISBN: 9781467051880

Peter Burkard

Peter Burkard felt the call of the back-to-the-land movement in the 1970's and has devoted himself to food growing and living closer to the Earth ever since. In 2009, he will be honored for being the only vendor at the Sarasota Farmers' Market to have been there the entire thirty years of its existence. Besides the decades of market gardening experience, he is formally educated in agriculture, graduating from the University of Florida in 1976. He seeks to spread his values and knowledge so as to help make the human impact on the planetmore peaceful, sustainable, and just.

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© 2009 Peter Burkard. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse         1/15/2009

ISBN: 978-1-4389-4117-2 (sc)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Contents

FORWARD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it’s liberty and interests by the most lasting bands.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Jay, 1785

FORWARD 

I have been Pete’s sidekick for many years--in the most literal sense from the time we stood side-by-side waiting for the school bus to pick us up in front of Carman’s shoe store on St. Armand’s in the mid-1960’s to recent Saturday mornings as I helped him during the early morning rush hours of the Sarasota Downtown Farmer’s Market. With forty-plus years experience as Pete’s friend, I am writing to assure the reader that a funnier, more faithful-to-his-values man would be hard to find. Pete will sell no product unless it is perfect, or nearly so, and will ask not one penny more for something than it is worth. He’s unshakeable when it comes to his core belief in what is right and what is wrong, but there is so much more to him than that.

There was another Peter (Maurin) who attempted to stage a Green Revolution in the 1930’s and 40’s--his goal was to enable the many poor of that time to live on farms where they could work, raise their own food, take pride in that work and have some dignity. He wanted to take those hundreds off the city breadlines and get them back to an agrarian way of life. His friend Dorothy Day wrote these words about him, and they apply to Mr. Burkard as well: When people come into contact with Peter...they change, they awaken, they begin to see, things become as new...They admit the truth he possesses and lives by, and though they themselves fail to go the whole way, their faces are turned at least toward the light. I have a good friend who is fond of saying everything we do teaches, and so it is with Pete. He lives out his beliefs, and we would do well to follow his example and likewise turn toward the light.

As I read and helped to edit this book, my only regret was that Pete didn’t confess more: his passion for Laurel and Hardy, as well as The Simpsons, Mr. Bean, and anything slapstick; his ability to recite, verbatim, the side-achingly hilarious Elizabethan prose of 1601 by Mark Twain (check it out if you’re not familiar with it, you’ll thank me). I have witnessed him holding and nuzzling his chickens, and with my own eyes saw him kiss a papaya. Pete is passionate and loyal and brilliant and hardworking and fair and if the world could only fashion itself to follow his path, it would be a just and wonderful world for everyone. And now, with this book, he proves that he’s a helluva writer to boot. Enjoy the ride, and welcome to Planet Pete!

Susan Suey Jacobs

Sarasota, Florida

October, 2008

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

--Thanks to my wife Diane for her patience with my even higher than normal level of clutter while writing this book, as well as my bogarting the computer during that time. Thanks also to Diane for her marvelous culinary job with the things I grow, making our meals way better than I had when I was growing just as much and living alone.

--Thanks to Sue Jacobs for her superb editing and constant encouragement. Thanks also to Sue, husband Del, and their whole family for setting an unsurpassable example of friendship and giving...it’s hard to keep up with you guys!

--Thanks to my back cover blurb writers, especially Michael Abelman, who as a veteran author/farmer was so helpful and encouraging.

--Thanks to my nephew Eric Burkard for his invaluable computer help.

--Thanks to my whole family for being so supportive, helpful, and loving for all my years.

A huge thanks to my thousands upon thousands of customers over the last 35 years, not just for supporting me but also for the respect and high value you show for small organic farmers through that support. We and our society need each other.

PREFACE 

In a society that is increasingly drifting away from knowledge of and participation in the natural foundations of our existence, what leads someone to row against the current and willingly, indeed passionately, plunge themselves into those rhythms of the soil, the seasons, rebirth and decay, windfalls and crop failures, to pursue a much simpler form of wealth that few of their countrymen can grasp or relate to anymore? What powerful force leads such a person to reject their culture’s version of what goals to pursue or how to be happy? And, once they’ve done so, what happens and how do they achieve their aberrant dreams? Is there happiness without an endless stream of thoughtless consumption? How is our health--mental, physical, and spiritual-- tied to the soil and what we can nurture from it? How is a nation’s health tied to that soil and the earth’s ability to sustain us?

This is the story of a life seemingly out of place in modern-day America, of a baby boomer who felt the call of the 70’s back-to-the-land movement and acted on it, never to sell out those values. It is the story of a simple but quite functional niche, carved out of a combination of sheer imagination and solid convictions about what was not acceptable. The chronological life story is interspersed with essays on a wide array of critical issues of the day, from climate change to human conflict to the loss of farmland, and even to the meaning of life. Another wonderful addition are the numerous well-chosen, thought-provoking quotes from luminaries past and present whom the author admires.

The author has been at the forefront of the now-burgeoning local and organic food movements for over three decades. He has provided a significant share of his family’s food intake from small pieces of rural, suburban, and urbanized American land and loved doing it. He possesses the knowledge and conviction that places him above fad and fashion, pursuing his food-providing craft and love of the earth regardless of what the society around him may think of his atypical lifestyle. While local food and farmers’ markets are all the rage now, the author’s life has revolved around such things for over thirty-five years.

In fact, this is not an overtly odd lifestyle. Other than the clearly more agrarian, productive purpose of his landscape, there is nothing glaringly counter-culture apparent at first glance. One aim of this book is to show that growing one’s own food or otherwise establishing a closer bond with our life-support system is something anyone can do and be glad they did. As our culture comes to grips with its unsustainability, folks are hungry for ways to do their part to turn that around. They merely need to be inspired to make those changes and will come to quickly realize that they are healthier and happier for doing so. The environmental and health benefits flow seamlessly as one move towards greater self-sufficiency, less waste, greater resourcefulness, less consumption, and healthier, tastier ways of eating. This lifestyle even has its own healthy outdoor exercise program built-in. It simply never feels like sacrifice; quite the contrary.

This is not a how-to book, though it contains bits of how-to information based on lengthy experience. It is not a complete biography, though it contains considerable information about the author‘s life. And it is not purely philosophical, yet does focus often on such themes. The aim is to provide a happy balance of the three, so as to best interest, inform, and inspire the reader.

INTRODUCTION 

The market gardener stumbles out of bed at 3 am on Saturday. The weekly market day is here, as it has routinely come around since the late 1970‘s. Way back then, there was a bit more excitement, drawn out of a combination of newness, more social hunger, and the optimistic anticipation that comes from building a successful business of one’s own at a young age. Now, the middle-aged grower still looks to the future but the optimism is a bit jaded by decades of disgust at the real world, the current world in turmoil, humanity’s foibles, and the unavoidable results of aging. Still, he loves life and clings to a seemingly innate optimism, with a love for his food growing craft and how an eager public receives that food.

After some rudely refreshing cold water in the face, it is time to go outside and finish packing the market vehicle. A customary gaze skyward yields a hoped-for positive verdict on the morning’s weather, though changes, good or bad, can come quickly. There will be a crucial five hour window of time during which the market is open and a week’s income needs to be raised. Over the years, countless bad weather Saturdays have soured that prospect, while even more great weather days have brought delight. The loss of needed income on the bad days is matched in discomfort by the act of having to stay open, rain or shine or frigid cold or nasty, gusting winds.

Once the van is packed, there’s an early breakfast over some serious reading on global affairs and it is time to head for market. In the early years, the grower resided thirteen miles east of town in Old Miakka. The drive to market took about thirty minutes but was many times lengthened by some last minute harvesting on the way at land being sharecropped. There was less to set up at those early markets and customers were often already there waiting when the goodies arrived. Later, there were many years when Friday nights were spent in town, at his mother’s place or with a girlfriend, so as to be closer to market and also to have a little social time. Then, in 1990, the current farm was purchased, in more of a suburban setting, yet still agriculturally-zoned. This is where he still lives, just fifteen minutes from the downtown Sarasota market.

To be open for customers at 7:00, now it is necessary to get there and start setting up by about 5:00. The business has expanded considerably from those simple early days. Now there is the skeleton of tent, banner, tables, and tablecloths to set up. Then each item of merchandise is carried from the van to its customary spot, with more variety than there once was, plus a greater quantity of each item. Signage for each item follows, most being re-used from past weeks but usually a few new ones also needed. Quality and clarity of display is crucial to sales. Out come the various necessities of doing business, such as scale, bags, and cash box. If the man is lucky, there may be time to chat a little with neighboring vendors, especially those that are of a like mind.

It is the Saturday following the first honey harvest of the year, in early April. Our market gardener is also a beekeeper and has numerous customers eagerly anticipating the return of the local honey, currently a light, buttery-flavored spring wildflower. There used to be a spring orange blossom honey harvest right from this same location but removal of citrus groves for houses in the 90’s put an end to that. It takes far more than a few backyard trees to produce a honey crop of any one thing.

In addition to the burgeoning local food movement generally, there is an added attraction to locally-sourced honey. Many consumers of it swear that it is the only thing short of expensive pharmaceuticals with side effects that alleviates their allergy problems. Local honey, especially if unfiltered, will contain small amounts of local pollen and it seems to be these small, desensitizing doses that do the trick.

The market set-up is a solo task and always has been. Surrounding the man are vendors who work as a couple or family or may have a whole crew of employees or interns to share the workload. But if you can handle it yourself, why pay someone else and reduce profits? He feels for the homeless who often offer to help for a few bucks but knows that he could do it faster and better alone than having to explain it to someone else.

Once customers start rolling in, help is a must, however, except for the off-season summer months. (Yes, here in west-central Florida, summer is actually off-season, for both the number of customers and for most vegetables.) Over the years, family and friends have pitched in for the busiest hours to help reduce the many customers’ waiting time in line. By consistently offering top quality, fair prices and nothing but organic and locally grown over the many years, the business has a sizeable following that will be all that two people can handle through much of the morning.

Not being the most outgoing person, he’s glad to have products of such quality that they almost sell themselves. In addition to the local organic produce, this includes some of his own surplus fruits and veggies, his own honey, other regional honeys, his own herb plants, cut flowers, and micro-greens. He feels more at home between rows of crops, gathering his hens’ eggs, or working with honeybees than in a crowd of his own species.

Suppliers may drift in shortly before or after the 7 am starting time. Being committed to local produce only, the business started many years ago to seek out any possible sources, including backyard growers. From also being a grower himself, the man knows that this is who deserves the bigger share of the proceeds and has thus offered a generous formula for dividing that up.

One mainstay supplier is Ms. Susie Keyser, who started out with small flower posies she grew and arranged, along with fabric catnip toys. She still brings both and does a fabulous job on them. She branched out into sunflower sprouts and micro-greens a couple years ago which have been a huge success. This is her primary income and she claims quite believably that she can’t imagine where she’d be without it. It is pleasing to see gratitude on both sides of human exchange.

Our merchant also considers exotic local fare a valuable way to distinguish his stand from any other, by offering such seasonal treats as passion fruit, star fruit, canistels, chocolate pudding fruit, papayas, macadamia nuts, homegrown bananas, figs, muscadine grapes, jaboticabas, and blueberries. In the citrus family, he’s carried ugli fruits, sweet lemons, sweet limes, ‘Mercott’ honey tangerines, honeybells, pomelos, kumquats, calamondins, key limes, ‘Meyer’ lemons, mandarines, and blood oranges. As a long time member and past president of the Sarasota Fruit and Nut Society (yes, its actual name!), he maintains contacts with such growers, while always seeking out more. Even the more common tropical treats like mangos and avocados come in outrageously delicious varieties that put to shame the typical fruits found in supermarkets. These specialty treats are one of the things that the man loves being known for.

Papayas are one fruit that are a genetic roll of the dice when one plants seeds, the typical propagation method. The parent fruit gives some clues to the nature of the offspring but no guarantees. Our gardener has saved seeds from the best eating papayas for decades and thereby come up with what could be called his own varieties, with names like Pink Pointy, Orange Football, Medium Belize, or Ecuadorian Solo. One recent one was nicknamed Pete’s Pumpkin for its similarity to a pumpkin in size and shape.

Ok, that was a good hint...the man is myself. Three decades of farmer’s market vending and being a market gardener for even longer seem to qualify me for writing a book of this sort. There aren’t too many who can make the same claim. Yet I consider my field one in which we can always keep learning. In fact, the amount we do know is but a pittance of what we don’t know. In addition, there are always new varieties, new research findings, new trends, and just a desire for growing something new for variety’s sake.

Americans have grown so separated from their food sources that there seems to be a powerful need, as well as a hunger, to remake that connection. I’ve long been an advocate for this now fashionable trend, including encouraging everyone physically able to grow at least a little of their own food. These are some of the things this book is about. While telling my own story, I hope to inspire others by pointing to a better path for humanity.

CHAPTER ONE  

Love At First Sight

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If I had influence over the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder, so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of our later years, the alienation from the sources of our strength.

Rachel Carson

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

John Muir

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.

Edward Abbey

Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.

Edward Abbey

I am like a bee searching the livelong day for the sweets of nature.

Henry David Thoreau

Santa Barbara, California, Spring, 1962, Saturday morning.

The eight year old boy springs out of bed well before dawn. He excitedly throws on his hiking clothes, grabs the sandwich and full canteen readied by his mother the night before, hooks on his pedometer and heads out into the world. He walks through the quiet darkness, past the one block of upper middle class Santa Barbara suburban homes that separate him from the fragrant, dew-dripping eucalyptus woods at the top of the hill. From there, he passes by the property of the odd hermit Mr. Harrower, a man who sleeps in an old black sedan, lacks electricity or running water, and has aging booze bottles for décor. Yet the old man seems to live, in a weird sense, a sort of Spartan dream life, with a million dollar view of Santa Barbara and the distant Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands to boot.

From the edge of Harrower’s property, the boy backtracks towards the city to meet a friend coming up the hill from his house farther below. There are stone steps that were cut into the hillside long ago to make this a more direct, albeit steep, climb. The boys, of course, had no means of contact, with cell phones barely an inventor’s dream and not daring to call another household by regular phone at that hour. There was simply an agreed-upon meeting time and place and it worked.

From there, they retrace a bit of the first boy’s steps, through Franceschi Park, and continue on past a few more darkened houses, first up, then down the hill a mile or so to the Santa Barbara reservoir, and then off into the real destination, the coast range of mountains. By then, the day is dawning softly.

Mountains, glorious mountains, with trails immersing a boy into a heavenly mix of nature, independence, and physical challenge! Rattlesnake Canyon Trail is the boy’s favorite, with a seasonally flowing creek alongside, an abundance of twists and turns through a variety of landscapes, and eventually emptying out onto the mountain road itself, over halfway to the 4000 foot summit. Early spring brings the absolute pinnacle of natural beauty to the southern and central California coast range. The lengthening days and winter rains have bestowed upon this semi-desert landscape a profusion of colorful wildflowers, re-born creeks bubbling with a fascinating array of fauna and pure refreshing drinkable water. This is a world to be cherished, away from human follies, with only the sights and sounds of nature to be enveloped in. Indeed, even seeing another hiker is rare.

The trip home often was more direct, down the steep mountain road itself, where the boy eventually knew what was around every twist and turn. At one point stood an oddity surely magnetic for most any boy of that era, a shooting range, littered with bullet casings like shells on a beach and the occasional prize of a bullet still intact. Most were small 22-caliber casings, with the rare bigger ones being extra-prized, especially if intact. Occasionally, a car or truck would cruise past as the boys hiked down the road but never stopped, as kids out wandering many miles from civilization was a perfectly normal thing to see.

Views of the city, the Pacific Ocean, and the Channel Islands were stellar, except when