The Growing Club – Sarvodaya Farm, a nonprofit educational farming program in Pomona, CA, produces organically-grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, and pasture raised eggs on an acre that is made up of 3 suburban farm sites. Their $4,996 grant helped them establish four California Native perennial hedgerows.
“We have already noticed an increase in insect and bird diversity on our farm since the planting of our perennial hedgerows. Some of the plants even managed to flower during the extremely hot summer, and the flowers were obviously attractive to local insect populations. At this point, the plants have not established themselves enough to have had a significant impact on pest populations, as they are still small and have had trouble growing through the summer’s heat. We expect that they will grow significantly next spring, after they have had a rainy and cool season to establish themselves. Still, it has been exciting to see the new creatures that have arrived with these plants, including many Monarch butterflies and Swallowtail butterflies.” ~ Rishi Kumar, Farm Manager
