Will salvage for food

Jim Resourceful

When I want to get rid of stuff I don't need and I want to get rid of it fast, I put it on Craigslist in the free section. It's always landscaping stuff. Broken concrete, flagstone, empty pots, discarded odds and ends, and soil.

I gave Jim several cubic yards of great garden soil. In turn he asked me to drop by and I got a tour of a remarkable garden that he and his girlfriend Julia created over concrete slabs and old juniper beds in north Oakland. They salvaged everything and only paid money for truck rental, seeds and plants.

Jim just finished a masters in biology from UC Berkeley and got a fellowship to do his masters in library information science. I'm envious of his involvement and commitment to the garden.


The front yard was all juniper which they tore out and brought in wood they salvaged from construction sites to build the boxes for the front vegetable garden. One time Jim literally pulled wood off a truck going to the dump. This planter has a lot of basil and the neighbors are welcome to help themselves.

Zucchini plants spill over the edge of boxes made from salvaged wood and the soil I put on Craigslist.

Oh the zucchini that gets away...

The other side of the front yard has native wildflowers to aid our native pollinators. Jim is leaving open ground for them as they are ground dwelling bees. We spoke for a while about Professor Gordon Frankie, his research on native pollinators and his bee friendly gardens.

California lupine.

Step stones salvaged from Craigslist. A neighbor had her tree cut down, Jim talked to the tree trimmers and took home the wood chips in a cart attached to the back of his bicycle.

Jim and Julia are big on grains and beans. He said they each had 22+ jars between them when they moved into the apartment. Though technically not a grain, but similar to grain is quinoa, which they grow in their front garden. It's not enough to keep their cupboard stocked, they grow it for the pretty flowers that will turn purple as the plant matures. Not only is quinoa high in protein, but the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids.

Salvaged box with pretty flowers for the entry of the apartment.

The back yard is all cement, but the plants are gaining ground.

All plants are from starts that came from local growers or seeds. Here Jim mentioned Food Justice . Food Justice is communities exercising their right to grow, sell and eat healthy food. Healthy food is fresh, nutritious, affordable, culturally-appropriate and grown locally with care for the well-being of the land, workers and animals. People practicing food justice leads to a strong local food system, self-reliant communities and a healthy environment.

Almost all of the seeds in the garden are purchased from Botanical Interests Inc providing better quality seed and more informational tools to help and inspire gardeners. Check out there seed packets, each one is a booklet of information.

Recycled recycling containers make good vegetable growing boxes.

A found wooden box houses Botanical Interests seeds and more of the free soil.

Clean and discarded buckets become homes for tomato plants growing in free dirt.

This organic gourd is from Phat Beets Produce. Phat Beets Produce was started in North Oakland in 2007 as a guerilla produce stand in a North Oakland park. They now facilitate two certified, clinic based farmers’ markets, one youth led school farm stand and community nutrition hub, and a youth market garden in partnership with a local hospital obesity prevention program.
BTTR (pronounced Better) Ventures is turning used coffee grounds into gourmet mushrooms and in the process diverting waste from landfills, providing sustainable local food and new urban employment. Once BTTR Ventures harvests their shroons they give away the mushroom compost. Jim is right there scooping it up and bringing it home. He says the vegetables jump in growth after an application.


I had to ask what a little conifer was doing amidst all these veggies. Jim explained that it is their holiday tree, it only grows a couple of inches a year and is reusable.

The adjoining neighbors back yard is not in the best of conditions. Bit of an eye sore. Jim salvaged bamboo culms from a neighboring yard and is growing a edible screen of beans.


Though this garden seems to be non stop action I saw obvious chill out spaces and Jim munched on various veggies during our tour. He and Julia have accomplished a lot and spent little. Look out concrete jungle.