Beyond Sidewalks Hellstrip Polycultures Frank Raymond Cetera TWAS GROWING UP in a rural former coal- ‘mining village in southwest Pennsylvania (four streets and population of 220 in 2010), there were no strips between the road and the sidewalk. Infact, there were no sidewalks, except for one or two. “The land our home was built on sloped right down to the : Hein Nt aly eying spn wm “planting right up tothe roadway? I would guess not becovse | | remember lots of nearby locations where trees were growing right alongside the road edges. The Township came around on ‘occasion and cut back anything intruding into the travel right-of way. en I settled in Syracuse buck in the fall of 2005, sidewalks were no longer a new thing to me. I'd lived in the turban cores of small towns like Latrobe, Greensburg, and Slippery Rock. Atal those locations, I had sidewalks outside oe there wasn’t a planting strip ( ‘or because I was only’ temporarily located at the site, I never was concerned about the use of space commonly planting strip (road-srip-sidewalk-lot), technically called the right-of-way, and colloquially popularized as in would provide on different tunity arises 2, as my permacultural progressions became Ji dives n Syracuse (curently a one-ifh- den, a single lot kitchen garden, a backyard at the Syracuse Real Food Coop, and a nity garden growing annuals for the immediate ‘perennial nursery attached), we had an ly for a grant from DISHES (Dining In, Enliven Syracuse). When we couldn't r site similar to our relationship with the DA 191, Feb. 2014), we settled on an (ood, and potentially controversial Site preparation: weeds are slashed, and cardboard mulch laid inplace. right-of-way, at the comer of the mixed= edge: the Oswego tin the Near Westside just outside use lot at 790 West Fayett Downtown Syracuse. DISHES “is an annual event that brings together the ‘Syracuse community to share a delicious locally sourced ‘meal, listen to one another's suggestions for community-based innovative projects, and vote on the idea that has the most potential,” A micro-grant is then awarded to the participant's favorite project, with the award money coming from ticket and donation sales. In our case, we were part ofa summer-long, traveling DISHES “On The Road” session, where the projects “were displayed at various events and neighborhood festivals, and cookies were given away for $I donation votes. By the end of the summer, we had raised $500 to grow food on the grassy ‘edge between concrete and pavement. Action ensues ‘Our process thereafter was neither simple nor quick. First, the vision for this planting was to use plants that are native to the homelands of the people in the neighborhood. In this wa the garden would provide education on different cultures’ food ‘raditions and heritages, while supplying ingredients for ethnic recipes. proceeded to design a suryey to distribute in the neighborhood. The survey questions were based upon my ‘permaculture design experience, and the types of information T ould eventually need to create this polyculture layout. The survey introduction read as follows: “The Alchemical Nursery is designing a permaculture forest ‘garden based on polyculture principles (a grouping of plants that UFE ONTHE EDGE + AUGUST 2015 150a eee | ‘work together for mutual benefit) on the comer of West Fayette ‘and Oswego Streets in the Near Westside. Thanks to a DISHES ‘grant, the food produced on these polycultures will be available ‘to anyone to frecly harvest, and will demonstrate concepts such as natural landscaping, biodiversity, water conservation, food ‘production, ecological design, and permaculture. We ask you to assist us in determining the types of fruits and vegetables for the ‘which will end up planted on the site, by answering the awing survey. Thank you for your time.” The survey questions read: ME: LOCATION ‘country are you originally from? you identify with a particular region, city, or district of that 1p POLYCULTURE ‘meetings; as well as promoted through online including Facebook, email, and list-servs. ‘The Near West Side (NWS) is an edge community in and of itself, just at la okway hellstrip polyculture location. Geographically on the edge of the on the scale than the rs swly booming downtown of Syracuse ge of pulling itself out of decades af socio economic struggle, and on the edge of many cultural intersections as indicated by the responses to the first survey question identifying countries of o | and identity—Puerto Rico, Belize, Cul | City, San Sebastian, Belize City, Aguada, Agu: Monterrey, the Northeast US, and Dandriga (formerly Stanoreek, in Belize) Respondents, not surprisingly, ranked food as the number one product desired, Perhaps a bit surprisingly, medicinal uses ranked second, followed by culinary, fun, fiber, fuel, and fertilizer. Food description respo contained many common items such as tomatoes, cilantzo, lettuce, cor, chili peppers, apples, banana: potatoes, cucumbers, various greens, garlic, squash, and ‘along with some less common items of interest such as pige eas, cassava, and jcama, Many code enforcement issues are addressed only after a neighbor’s complaint... Tee it high and let it grow! ‘When [first moved into the neighborhood, not yet liv “there, but renovating. a house purchased from the ity for ‘T decided to let my front lawn (hidden behind a hedge) an ‘ight-of-way strip both grow out and naturalize for a coup! of reasons. One, I didn’t want the mowing maintenane two, I wanted to eventually create an edible yield from t space. First, would learn what is growing naturally at th site through observation—and I came up with a total of 1 useful species—plantain, goosefoot, dandelion, rose of sharon (lowers), cleavers, Japanese knotweed, clover, wild garlic, burdock, mugwort, dead nettle, stinging neitle, and purslane. didn’t understand, and when I retumed after a lone weeker ‘my lawn had been mowed for me, and a fine for the servi been properly delivered.iii mn rescinded. As a thank free registration in the nine- n Ecological Design course that Alchemical Nursery was teaching in partnership with the Finger ‘Lakes Permaculture Institute that coming winter in Syracuse. ‘Alas, no one responded to my offer Back to the main feature. There are a few issues at play here. First, it appears that code inspectors create a hard edge between themselves and the properties they inspect. Many ode enforcement issues are addressed only after a neighbor's Teventually got the code viol you, [offered the Codes departmer week Community Training rd The edge of the road is an interesting place for many people. ‘complaint—in other words, they aren't enforced unless a ‘neighbor files an actual complaint or report. This is no doubt ‘because the Codes office does not have enough resources to ppatrol all of the properties in the city for every single violation, Are similar landscapes reported at different rates and dealt with in different ways in a more well-to-do neighborhood versus a strugeling one? Talso have had two friends in my neighborhood get code violations for ‘growing wildflowers in their right-of-way strips. Do I believe for one second that these code violations would have been issued if the properties were located in the university neighborhood versus the __ ub core lack and Latin dominated neighborhood? This is one jas Tikely exists in our racial and class 2895 www.PermacultureDesignMagazine.com to change perceptions of the integrated within residential and public land separated on individual lots or the current popular commut Sitting on the curb but never on the fence The edge of the road is an interesting place for many people ‘They sit on the stoops and stand on the curbs. They have opinions. They watch their neighbors and the strangers who walk down their streets. They are pessimistic to your success due to the dang kids. It is necessary to take certain regulations {nto account such as sight lines for vehicles on corners. And ‘you can’t hide what you're doing like you can with the small ‘chicken coop in your backyard ‘And those challenges are reflected in the alteration and slow progress of our design: cies for this polyculture ‘compliment, and provide seasoning and Latino and Caribbean dishes such as pasteles, ajiaco, congri, and others. Since fruit is often left out of Criollo meals, except for plantain, apple and currant are included here as the overstory ‘and understory to provide a source of fruit for crea as pasteles filling or as part of fruit salad topping or fruit salsa for rice and beans. The sunchokes ereate a screen between the roadway and planting to reduce potential movement onto the roadway during harvesting, while providing an edible tuber Dise tutorial shows tested systems fora small farm or backyard, including: + Water Sources «Rabbits & Poultry + Orchards & Perennials + Vegetable Gardens Dog Partners = Home Butehering Includes 110° DVD & bonus CP-ROM with over 60 supporting documents 60669 Sunnyvale, CA 94088 LIFE ON THE EDGE + AUGUST 2015 "7