To Burbank's Sebastopol Farm, It's So Much More Than Just a Parking Lot...

Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Farm in Sebastopol (where the famed horticulturalist and plant breeder, Luther Burbank, carried out his thousands of experiments over some 50 years between the late 1800s and early 1920s) used to be one of the best-kept secrets of the area but, word is getting out...

It began with a small grant from the Rotary Club in concert with the fabrication expertise of the "shop guys" working for the County that created roadsigns that were placed on all of the main thoroughfares into Sebastopol providing directions to visitors to reach the Farm and, now -- thanks to the donation of labor and equipment by the Northern California Engineering Contractors Association (based in Santa Rosa CA) and materials by Stony Point and Blue Rock Quarry (in nearby towns) -- there will be a place for Farm-goers to park their cars once they arrive there.

To most people, a parking lot is nothing special but, to those of us who have labored long and hard to see Burbank's Farm take its place among the crown jewels of Northern California tourism, it will play a large part in being the means to that end.

The Farm is a very special piece of ground that has a long history of being a "labor of love". It's a place that, for some reason, seems to attract people to it who are ready to give their all to see it preserved and improved. Some people say it's the 'magic' of the "Plant Wizard", Luther Burbank, still conjuring up miracles after all these years and I wouldn't dream of arguing with them.

Once considered an unreachable dream, construction of the new parking lot to serve Farm volunteers, docents and visitors is now underway and due to be completed soon.

As President of the Western Sonoma County Historical Society of Sebastopol (the umbrella non-profit organization responsible for the administration and maintenance of the Farm) and active Farm volunteer for over 15 years, I can tell you that -- with only one paid, part-time staff member -- the Farm owes its continued existence to a small core group of dedicated volunteers, some of whom have been there since the beginning restoration efforts back in mid-1970s.

The new parking lot will also provide a much-needed space for tour buses to be able to pull off the one-lane drive in the Burbank Heights and Orchards low-cost housing development where the Farm is located and thus avoid the problem of double-parking and blocking of through traffic as has been the case in the past.

It's truly a miracle and something all of us volunteers have wished for the Farm for a long time. To us, it's so much more than just a parking lot.

The ECA is donating all of the labor, the cost of the equipment while the two quarries are donating all the rock and asphalt to do the complete job. They have even taken over the construction of the "rainwater redistribution" cisterns which will capture rainwater as it runs off the parking lot and then reapply it, via a system of leach lines, to the fruit and nut trees and other plants on the property.

Their efforts have been augmented by surveyors who are donating their labor to constantly monitor the grading and the placement of the various "features" of the lot (birms, landscaping areas, disabled parking, etc.) and even representatives from the bank that does most of the contractors' bond and loan work have been busy -- bringing out coffee, doughnuts, sandwiches, water, etc. for the workers.

Yesterday, after the Historical Society board meeting that I presided over, I went out to the site of the new parking lot and took a few photos of them running a tiller over and over the ground in an attempt to dry out the sandy loamy soil from the dampness of the recent rains before they lay the plastic cloth down over it which will be the last step before laying the asphalt:

The original surveying of the site and the plan for the parking lot were donated by some Historical Society members -- two of which are architects. Here is a "3-D" graphic of the parking lot that I created utilizing the original blueprint plan and actual photos I took of the site before construction commenced:

There are high-density, low-cost condos directly across the street from the site and those "birms" you see along the front of the lot which will be planted with "Washington hawthorn"  trees will make it so that the lot isn't as much of an eyesore to those residents who have views overlooking it.

This "mere parking lot" has been -- from beginning to end -- a cooperative venture between the Historical Society, the Burbank Heights & Orchards Housing Development, the City of Sebastopol CA and the Northern California Engineering Contractors Association. I think it's an excellent example of what can be accomplished when various factions of a community work together to create improvements within the community.

Over the past couple of years, I have posted various photo-essays on the Farm here on Gather. If you're interested in finding out more about it, here are some of those URLs:

The Architecture of Winter at Burbank's Farm:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977534150&nav=MyGather

The Annual Farm Volunteer Potluck:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977531904&nav=MyGather

Autumn -- The Virginia Persimmon Trees at Burbank's Farm:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977478806&nav=MyGather

The Augurs of Autumn at Burbank's Farm:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977459685&nav=MyGather

Burbank's Shasta Daisies:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977372417

The "High Tea" at Burbank's Farm:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977343324

Summer -- Burbank's Farm:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977338148

Spring -- Burbank's Farm:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977311510&nav=Namespace

Burbank's Gold Ridge Farm in Sebastopol CA is open to visitors 7 days per week for self-guided tours or by appointment for docent-guided tours, year-round. See the Western Sonoma County Historical Society website at http://www.wschs-grf.pon.net  for all of the latest info on Burbank's Farm and the West County Museum in downtown Sebastopol. For information on the Northern California Engineering Contractors Association visit http://www.nceca.org.