Front-lawn farming

Palmer man transforms suburban lawn into cropland

August 9, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Michael Kircher's everyday life pushes the limits of 21st-century suburban living.

At age 55, he lives with his wife, Phyllis, on a tiny city lot in downtown Palmer, where he continues to develop what has become a 20-year experiment in microfarming.

"You come home from a hard day's work and you're out puttering in the garden - it just relaxes you tremendously," Kircher said while studying the apples in his front yard. "Being able to pick an apple off your own tree and eat it, you can't quantify or qualify it."

What started as a simple desire to grow a few fruits and vegetables has since evolved into a lifestyle.

The couple's entire city parcel amounts to no more than one fifth of an acre, and while their land area is fixed, its agricultural, artistic and social possibilities continually expand.

Last week, Kircher meandered through his neighborhood oasis, giving a full tour of seven different types of apple trees and two types of cherry trees, as well as raspberry and blackberry bushes. Countless decorative flowers and exotic grasses highlighted areas of his front and back yards, which also contained an herb garden, vegetable rows, a chicken coop, greenhouse and underground root cellar.

Pipes, solar panels and various specialized containers evidence other ongoing projects that test the suburban benefits of wind- and solar-generated electricity, natural fertilizers and landscape techniques.

Kircher's obvious passion is his yard, but he helps pay the bills working at Lowe's in Wasilla. His experiments, however, require various roles as landscape artist, experimental scientist and microfarmer.

Surrounded on all sides by typical-looking neighborhood homes, traditional grass lawns and city streets, Kircher's northern Eden reflects a starkly different view of the land and its seemingly endless uses.

City farming, a growing trend

Kircher's vision, however, extends far beyond the borders of his own yard. He hopes to see the day when millions of suburbanites willingly transform sprawling lawns into small-scale livestock and vegetable operations, so they, too, can pick fresh fruit and collect chicken eggs from their own small piece of land.

It may sound far-fetched to some, but the microfarming ranks are growing.

In Chicago, thousands of inner-city residents are transforming once-vacant lots into thriving vegetable rows and greenhouses. Chicago's city hall, in fact, is one of many buildings that now grows vegetables from rooftop gardens.

Other cities across the country are turning urban and suburban landscapes into food-producing acreage. Canada has a national office of urban agriculture and millions of recently formed Internet sites champion the benefits of farming within city limits.

Home grown and chemical free

Kircher, who holds degrees in geology and adult education, said microfarming is especially important as traditional farmland loses ground to commercial and residential developments.

As a member of Palmer's planning and zoning commission, Kircher said losing local farmland is troubling because it removes people from the source of their food. On a large-scale level, he fears the U.S. is becoming ever more dependent on foreign food.

"I've always been concerned that our farmland is disappearing nationally," he said. "I don't think we can stop the loss of farmland as long as people want to buy cheap food from other countries, but we're becoming dependent on that. The labor is cheap in other countries and the transportation costs aren't that high but at some point we are going to look around and say, 'Wait a minute, our country isn't producing any food.'"

Kircher hopes to change that trend and said those who grow their produce usually use far fewer chemicals and pesticides, which translates into more nutritious food.

In a fast-paced world, however, it can be difficult to find time to tend gardens, orchards and small livestock. Kircher, himself, works a day job and only grows what his time, space and inclination permits.

"Microfarming is producing a bunch of your food on the smallest property as possible," he explained. "We're not trying to grow all the food we eat - just some of it."

Through his farming, Kircher said he hopes to inspire a few others to follow suit.

In 2000 he wrote a book filled with techniques and ideas for how to live off the land, no matter how small the lot.

"Microfarming at High Latitudes," Kircher's thin, spiral-bound volume, explains how to raise city livestock, generate solar electricity and turn lawns into fertile cropland. His overall vision, though, is to create energy-efficient ecosystems that can support themselves, with each project helping sustain the others.

Creating the perfect system

Kircher's old plant stocks, household garbage and table scraps go into compost piles for next year's growing season. His two chickens, Agnes and Amy, produce half a dozen eggs a week while also patrolling the garden for harmful bugs and slugs. Their natural waste and egg shells then fertilize the soil.

"Everything here does double or triple duty," Kircher said.

A smooth-running system is not the whole picture. The artistic element is also crucial to nearly every aspect of Kircher's work. From arbors and rose gardens to outdoor sitting rooms and water fountains, the goal is to combine utility with art.

"We're trying to beautify Palmer," he explained. "We are always talking about how to make Palmer look better."

This year he constructed a rose arbor in the front yard, planted more perennial flowers and upgraded a decorative fence.

"Structure and art form - it all integrates," he said. "I like to sit and visit in the garden. You sit with friends and everyone enjoys it."

Only time will tell if Kircher's microfarming techniques will catch on with the neighbors, but in the meantime he plans to share a few apples with some of them this fall as he continues perfecting his hand-crafted ecosystem.

Kircher is now working to develop miniature water fountains, in hopes that falling water will help drown out traffic sounds.

"Sometimes you can knock 20 percent off traffic noise," he said. "We're just getting started here after 20 years."

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.