Thank you, Malibu Times and Paul Sisolak for highlighting the Malibu Ag Society and growing local food. I need to explain Sisolak’s quote of mine: “It’s really hard to grow regular plants… without using pesticides…growing our own food can be…monstrous.”
Not true. It is easy to grow wild edibles and indigenous plants. It is more difficult to grow hybridized culinary varieties organically unless you know information that Malibu Agricultural Society is trying to share.
We don’t need pesticides! Gardening is not about killing everything and growing a plant in sterile soil. However, when we observe seasonal pests, we can then use scientifically and experientially derived techniques to help the plant develop its own resistance to disease.
Sharing our methods of composting/soil building, companion planting, and protecting our topsoil allows us to easily eliminate toxic pesticides and herbicides, which not only harm beneficial soil constituents, but beneficial insects, animals, birds and people. Plus, when our soil is rich and fertile, our plants are healthy and vibrant, and in turn we are healthy.
This is such an important point right now because the spraying of pesticides is devastating the world’s bee population. (33% of managed bees were lost last year.) Neurotoxins found in common “organic” and non-organic pesticides/herbicides are killing the bees. Without bees, over 140 staple food plants requiring pollination will cease to exist. I hope Caltrans will stop spraying herbicides on our roadsides, and neighbors will want to use more sustainable, organic methods to help themselves and the environment.
Malibu is an abundant resource of forward-thinking talent, substantial homesteads and an ideal Mediterranean climate for growing fresh, nutritionally superior whole foods for our families. We can all create these gardens! And through this food, we connect with each other, our immediate eco-system, local plants, and the essence of our (healthy) soil.
June Louks