In just a few years, it should be possible for Sebastopol residents to grab a piece of fruit or harvest a handful of herbs when they stop by the downtown library.
A stroll around the building and City Hall next door will yield a short lesson in the area's horticultural history — from the native plants present when only Pomo Indians called the place home, to experimental crops popularized by Luther Burbank, to mutually beneficial plant communities utilized in modern-day permaculture.
The landscaping and interpretive signage will offer tips on efficient water use and the kind of regenerative planting that mimics what nature would do if left alone.
That's the vision behind an imaginative new landscaping project underway through a public-private partnership designed to engage the community, educate the public and recognize local agrarian traditions.
"It's really nicely reflecting and communicating the history of place," said Ryan Johnston, who is supervising the work through a nonprofit called Daily Acts. "It roots (visitors) and connects them more deeply to the place they live."
The project, dubbed Our Front Yard: Sebastopol's Living History Garden, is being completed in two phases, the second of which is contingent on more than $25,000 in sponsorships and contributions still being sought.
The City Council has budgeted $25,000 to cover Phase I and hopes to be able to tackle Phase II in the fall.
As planned, the completed design will include four areas, each devoted to a time in history, including plants and grasses native to the region, such as gooseberry, elderberry and dogwood; orchard crops and vines reflecting agrarian roots put down by early settlers; hybridized fruits and flowers that resulted from Burbank's experiments; and multi-functional planting that emphasizes water and energy conservation and the principles of permaculture, officials said.
The library at Bodega Avenue and North High Street already is deemed the most visited place in town, so, "it's a really good venue to educate people, because they're already hanging out," said Erik Ohlsen, the owner of Permaculture Artisans, a local landscaping firm that donated the design.
"In the end, the whole landscape is going to be a model of ecological landscaping," Ohlsen said. "It will provide food for the community, and it will be a haven for wildlife."
The concept grew out of a committee created by Councilwoman Sarah Glade-Gurney and Mayor Robert Jacob, who developed a mission that resulted in a merging of living history and edible landscaping.
Glade-Gurney said the redesign was spurred by an interior remodel of the library in 2012 and subsequent renovation at City Hall, completed this year.
The day the library reopened, she recalled, a local citizen told her, "I think we should do something about the landscaping, too."
In an age of tight budgets, the endeavor is dependent on community labor and the sense of ownership that inspired about 75 people to participate in an inaugural work day in March, said Johnston, whose agency has helped create numerous public gardens in its effort to promote community, sustainable practices and re-purposing of public lands for food production.
Citizen crews cleared loads of ivy and other vegetation, laid cardboard sheeting and 60 cubic yards of mulch and compost to convert lawn areas and prepare the overall site for planting, Johnston said.
Seventeen fruit trees were planted that day: fig, persimmon, pear, pomegranate, plum, apple and others. Two pear trees will be espaliered against the library's east-facing walls.
"This is the first time we've done an edible living history project, or a living history project, and that is something that people can really get a hold on and get excited about," Johnston said.
Volunteers are needed again this Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m., to put several hundred more plants in the ground, creating an understory in what he and Ohlsen call "food forests."
They may include berries, pineapple guava, lemon balm, lavenders and a host of plants that both nurture pollinators, like bees, and repel insect pests, like aphids.
"We're always choosing plants that have more than one use," Ohlsen said.
More information and a link to volunteer is available at www.ourfrontyard.org.
(You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.)
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