The Farm and the City

Michael Taylor probably feels like he’s been a farmer in the city all of his life.

He sells his fare to the Pasadena farmers’ market, held every Saturday morning at Victory Park.

“I sell my proceeds that I grow from my home,” he told Pasadena Now, in a recent chat.

“It all started,” said Taylor, “when I started growing in my own small garden at home growing up in Pasadena, and then when bought my I my own home, I started transforming the backyard into a vegetable garden, and that meant basically taking out these things that didn’t produce fruit, and directly moving them out of my backyard and that’s what I’ve been doing for about the past 20 years. The home I grow up in is usually around a block from the one that I bought.”

And the idea of urban farmers in Los Angeles is far from a new idea, says Taylor.

“California is a huge agricultural state, and more and more people are getting into just want to grow of their own soon.

Taylor continued, “When I first moved down here about 25 years ago, there were already some established fruit trees, and I just cannot take having any grass, or any hedges anything that didn’t produce. My role is to plant, and now my backyard is pretty much completely a garden.”

Like any working farm, the seasons bring their own varieties of crops, says Taylor.

“In the spring,” he explained, “my biggest items are all kinds of lettuces, probably 25 different varieties of lettuces. That is still my big crop. But I also grow a lot of greens. I grow cantaloupes, and I grow mustard greens. I grow pretty much just a little bit of everything, if I find it interesting or colorful or different or fun to grow.

“Because I am a small farmer I really can’t compete with the big guys,” he continued, “and the only way that I can really make myself stand out is by trying to grow something that is different from what we normally grow.

“In the summertime,” he said, “I primarily focus on tomatoes. There are probably maybe about 300 crops right now all around in my front yard and backyard. My backyard is pretty much tomato farm right now.”

Taylor also specializes in what are called “heirloom” tomatoes. He explained, “People are really fascinated with them, because of the varieties available, and it also has a lot of health uses and a lot of flavor.”

Twenty years ago, when he first began selling to the markets, Taylor said, “There were not as many varieties of tomatoes in the market, as there are right now.

“Everybody thought that a tomato should be red,” he said. “So when I started bringing in yellow, purple, yellow and chocolate-colored ones, with real weird names, like ‘banana legs’ and stuff like that, they were fun to grow, but people didn’t get it. They were still comfortable with the red tomatoes.”

These days, customers are more interested in trying different varieties, says Taylor.

“That is the whole thing about the Farmer’s Market, and that is that people are more inclined to try and stuff that is different, you know?” he said.

Taylor also sells his local and unique vegetables to local restaurants.

He has been working for a number of years with The Kitchen in Pasadena, as well as Bettina, a large food company outlet.

Taylor sells a variety of edible flowers to the Kitchen as well, but there are some orders he can’t handle.

I talked to some people at a Pasadena restaurant about growing for them, and I said, ‘ I can grow these tomatoes for you, and they said, ‘Okay, I want 500 pounds!,” he laughed.

As if that wasn’t enough, Taylor also grows chili peppers as well.

“I don’t know how but I grow some of the world’s hottest and rarest chili peppers,” he said.

So, take your pick. Cool lettuces and sweet, juicy tomatoes, or a little fire with your lunch or dinner. Michael Taylor will grow it. Right in the city.