Downtown Tempe is planting the seeds of local urban gardening, bringing the trend to the Mill Avenue District.The sustainable urban garden program kicks off this weekend and aims to establish a moveable community garden, complete with a farmers market on the weekend that will offer fresh produce to local chefs and residents.
Participants will begin the planting process Saturday on a quarter-acre of land on Fifth Street, north of the City Hall garage in Tempe.
Caffe Boa owner Jay Wisniewski is spearheading the project, along with the restaurant’s head chef Payton Curry and other local businesses.
“We are passionate about it as a restaurant (at Caffe Boa),” Wisniewski said. “We are the face of it.”
Local homeowners and gardening enthusiasts are encouraged to get involved in the program and take advantage of the land provided. Other organizations like ASU can also participate and use a plot on the land, Wisniewski said.
“What we are planting initially is the cornerstone of the garden as you walk in,” he said.
Wisniewski and Curry said they hope to create one or two full dishes at Caffe Boa made of 100 percent urban-grown produce, with the profits going back to the Tempe garden.
“It’s a true sustainable event,” Wisniewski said.
Joey Reyes, a sustainability junior with an emphasis in urban dynamics, said it is good for people to get out and be active instead of being passive about supporting “green” movements.
“I think the project will be great,” he said. “It fits Tempe pretty well because it’s an eclectic little town.”
Using organically grown food is also more conscientious, Wisniewski said, not to mention that it simply tastes better.
“It is harder to create a dish with fewer ingredients than to mask it with sauces and design,” he said. “It’s harder for a chef to translate what the ingredients are directly.”
With the urban garden, Caffe Boa hopes to transition back to simple, straightforward food.
Right now, Caffe Boa uses 60 to 75 percent organic produce from local farms and markets, said Demtri Chenin, a waiter at Caffe Boa.
Chenin is one of many employees volunteering this weekend to create the urban garden.
“People really love organic [food], so hopefully this will attract more and more people,” Chenin said.
Kris Spector, a sustainability junior, is studying renewable energies and said he’s interested in working in “green” development.
“ASU doesn’t really have a farmers market, so it would be really great to buy organic fruits and vegetables,” he said.
The project kicks off this Saturday and Sunday, with volunteers working from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wisniewski said the whole project is about leading by example and pulling other chefs and restaurants into sustainable practices.
“We just wanted it to be a true community garden, for everyone to give their little and take their little and enjoy it,” he said.
Reach the reporter at amoswalt@asu.edu
