How to eat the landscape:
the Sunflower Project
By Will Yaeger

The Spring Equinox is that time of the year when nature puts on her Sunday best and transforms this planet into the lush gardens depicted in Monet's world of many colors and Whistler's sun-drenched golden wheat fields gently swaying in the warm spring breezes. This is the time for planting crops and gardens, and of combining them in an especially unique way.

The Sunflower Project is creating a culture where edible, organic landscaping is the preferred usage of land in urban/suburban areas. It specifically encompasses taking the same resources that go into lawn care and transferring these resources into gardening edible foods. I live in Venice California and practice Permaculture. So far I have planted 16 fruit trees on a city lot in Venice and have converted the front yard into a vegetable/herb/flower garden. No organic material leaves the yard as it is all composted. There are: corn, sunflowers, tomatoes, zucchini, tomatillos, radishes, onions, leeks, mustard greens, rosemary, cilantro, sage, lemon balm, sorrel, mint, curry, oregano, and marjoram, to list but a few of the veggies/herbs and a host of flowers I've planted right on Venice Boulevard. The neighbors love the yard and I am always giving away herbs and veggies.

There are economic consequences to converting to an edible, organic landscape. Import-substitution is the term for the activity. This usually applies to nations, but can also be used for regions as well. By producing much of my own food, I am not buying as much from the grocery store as I have substituted my own produce for what was being imported from the Central Valley and Mexico. Thus, for every dollar I have not spent at the grocery store I have a dollar that I can spend in other ways. And I am eating healthier food that is locally grown. The only input imported is the water. But, instead of using the water for the 'perfect mono-cultured lawn,' there is a wide diversity of flora that allows for a diversity of fauna. The pineapple sage attracts humming birds with its red flowers, as one example. 
The squirrels got really fat off the sunflowers last year, they tore through them, but somehow I did not mind. There are always birds, butterflies and all sorts of insects in the yard, as there are no pesticides to harm them. 

Yes, the aphids and snails can be a problem at times, but in learning integrated pest management, and by having a diversity of flora I don't have the infestations that mono cropping allows. Further, since I am always out weeding, shoveling and engaging in physical activity, my own physical health is better. My psychological health is improved by the exercise, the sense of connection to the land and the positive interactions with my neighbors.

The Sunflower Project is the promotion of edible, organic landscaping. It is done by example and by promotion. Here in the Oakwood neighborhood of Venice, a neighborhood that has traditional problems, and was the only place where blacks could live in Venice due to racial deed restrictions, we have a local church-run thrift store which is now taking the seedlings I grow and making them available to the community. The Sunflower Project takes its name from the sunflower, which is the Green Party's symbol because it grows fast and has many seeds producing a wide variety of beneficial uses.

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