Robert Lower, Flying Disc Ranch
Saturday, January 6, 2018, 10:30 am - 11:15 am
Stop by the CUESA Classroom for a cooking demo featuring the seasonal bounty of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and highlighting one of our market seller-farmers.
Robert bought his property—desert land that he cleared, irrigated, and planted with over 1,200 palms—in 1979. Flying Disc Ranch has become a tropical rainforest-type ecosystem, host to a wealth of wildlife. Different varieties of date palm are interplanted with citrus, aloe vera, pomegranates, and figs. Since the Coachella Valley is part of the great Mojave Desert, and dates require moisture, Robert and company create a “green oasis,” with water, compost, mulch and a year-round cover crop of Bermuda grass. Permaculture employs techniques from many farming traditions. Robert calls it “observation, adaptation, and accident.” He describes his ranch as “100% Permaculture.”
All demos take place in the CUESA Classroom (under the white tents in front of the Ferry Building) and are free to the public, with recipes and samples for all.