THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408190273
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 165 lines
They live in the city along with more than 100,000 other residents. But in their back yards, they've managed to plot out a little bit of country.
Each time they work that patch of earth, they tap into the spirit of the farmer, living in sync with the seasons and taking pride in the part they play in the earth's miracle.
And when it's harvest time along with their crops, they preserve a special part of our fading past - the farmer's tradition of sharing the bounty.
Laurie Baefsky, Andrew Racz and Marvin ``Bud'' Moore are just three of those backyard gardeners.
They don't know each other. But their names were called in when the Currents asked for generous gardeners who do the work and then share the rewards.
At the height of her collard harvest last year, Laurie Baefsky figures she supplied a third of the Virginia Symphony with the leafy fall vegetable.
``That's part of the fun of it - the sharing of the fruits,'' said Baefsky, a 31-year-old flutist with the symphony.
But like most urban farmers, neighbors are typically the beneficiaries of Baefsky's hours in the garden.
Baefsky began reading books on organic gardening and learning as she went along after she rented a house in Westhaven where the landlord had established several garden plots.
``Everything was in full bloom,'' she said. The gardens are actually what drew Baefsky and her fiance, Joel Martin, to the house.
From the front, the house looks a lot like an English cottage where almost every spare inch of yard has been used to grow something.
Baefsky picked her landlord's crop of summer vegetables those first weeks, and at the end of the summer season, she dug up the plot and put in a winter crop.
That's when learning and experimenting began.
``I guess I looked at what would grow well in this area and what I like to eat,'' she said.
She's seen a definite reduction in her food bills, but then she's a vegetarian so she's growing most of what she needs, including the herbs to season her dishes.
Garlic hangs on her screened porch and behind the porch a salsa bed is filled with hot chilis and Mexican variety tomatoes.
``We had strawberries for weeks,'' she said. ``June was peaches, July was blueberries. Now we have figs coming out of our ears.''
She's learned how to pickle and can and how to make preserves.
``The more I garden, the more I understand the whole rhythm of the season, and the more I want to eat what's in season,'' she said.
And Baefsky, who is something of a newcomer to the ranks of backyard gardeners, is just now discovering the benefits beyond fresh fruits and vegetables.
``It's wonderful to go out and get all your aggressions out on the weeds instead of humanity,'' she said. ``Sometimes I think about whatever's ailing me in life.
``More often than not I just try not to think. . . I just take in being outside in a beautiful space.''
The flutist is on leave from the symphony and preparing to go to graduate school in Michigan. But she loves her gardens so much she has subleased the house so she can come back to it in a year.
Andrew Racz, who lives in Churchland's Belvedere, likes to put together a colorful assortment of tomatoes, cucumbers and squash for friends and neighbors.
``I just like to see things grow and I always plant more than I need,'' said Racz, who retired nine years ago from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
Lenice Marsh, the neighbor who called to name Racz as her favorite gardener, says he has a whole route of people he takes his vegetables to including five or six on their block.
``He drives his car and he says `Special delivery,' '' Marsh said. ``I think it's just his outgoing nature. He's a down-to-earth man and . . . it's from his heart.''
All of her neighbors are great, Marsh said, but Racz is ``rather outstanding'' and well-known in the neighborhood not just during tomato season, but all through the year.
Two years ago when Marsh's husband died, Racz just took it upon himself to come over and cut the grass for her. He does that for anyone who gets sick and can't get out too, she said.
Marsh wishes he'd distribute some of his energy along with those bags of vegetables.
``You know all this humidity we've had . . . and he keeps up his yard beautifully,'' she said. ``He's always out cleaning his gutters, cleaning his porch.''
Racz concedes he has a special calling when it comes to fresh air chores.
``I like to keep a nice lawn and a nice garden,'' he said. ``I spend a lot of time out in the yard, probably at least an hour a day anyway.
``Sometimes I like to cut my grass twice a week.''
But working in his garden reminds him a lot of his home in Ohio, said Racz, who came to the area as a Marine in 1950.
``I like to watch things grow, and I like to harvest the crop and share it with somebody else.
``As long as I'm able to do it, I'm going to keep right on.''
Marvin ``Bud'' Moore doesn't even like tomatoes. But he grows plenty of the large, juicy Better Boy variety because they're the ones that please his friends and family.
``Most of it I give to the older people around here,'' said Moore, who lives on Race Street in Westhaven.
The folks on Moore's list don't have to wait for tomato season though. The 73-year-old retired shipyard firefighter has something going in his garden almost all year round.
Moore started the garden years ago when he was still working in the fire department.
``I had four days off at a time, so I had plenty of time,'' he said. ``When I wasn't fishing, I was in the garden.''
He put a lot of thought into his urban oasis, laying out one plot about 45 feet long and 30 feet wide on one side of the back yard and about a one-yard strip down the length of the back yard on the other side.
That leaves him plenty of yard for his swing and lawn chairs, as well as fruit trees and an arbor for grape vines.
``People say, `You can't find a blade of grass in Bud Moore's garden' and you can't,'' he said. ``Everything is neat and clean.
``I looked one day and two ladies were standing there,'' he said. ``They said `Do you mind telling us what you do to get such a pretty garden?'
``It's like a little baby,'' Moore said. ``You've got to feed it and you've got to give it plenty to drink. So that's my secret really.''
And while Moore keeps his garden healthy, his garden keeps him healthy as well.
The last time he went for a physical the doctor asked him what he had been doing with himself. Just fishing and gardening, Moore told him.
``He said, `Keep doing it and come back and see me in 12 months.' ''
Health isn't something that Moore takes for granted.
It's been 51 years, but the World War II veteran has never forgotten how close he came to death on a snowy mountain in Italy where he was fighting with Darby's Rangers.
He stepped on a mine and was shot in both legs. The last thing he remembers is a buddy putting a coat over him and tying a belt around his leg to stop the bleeding.
He was unconcious for hours until he heard soldiers picking up the dead and someone saying ``Here's one that's not dead.''
Moore weighed 120 pounds when he was sent back home and he worked in an ABC store for six years before he could go back to a job at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
After 30 years as a firefighter, one of his legs collapsed while he was on the job, and he retired on permanent disability.
But Moore still manages to work in his garden an hour or two every day but the very coldest.
When Moore's out in his garden, he thinks about a lot of things, but mostly he thinks how blessed he is to be there. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by Mark Mitchell
Marvin ``Bud'' Moore displays vegetables pulled from his garden. The
73-year-old retired shipyard firefighter usually works an hour or
two a day in his backyard garden.[color cover photo]
Marvin ``Bud'' Moore grows large, juicy tomatoes for family and
friends.
At the height of her collard harvest last year, Laurie Baefsky
figures she supplied a third of the Virginia Symphony with the leafy
fall vegetable. ``That's part of the fun of it - the sharing of the
fruits,'' says Baefsky, a 31-year-old flutist with the symphony.
A vegetarian, Baefsky is growing most of what she needs, including
the herbs to season her dishes.
I always plant more than I need,'' says Andrew Racz, who lives in
Churchland. Working in his garden reminds him a lot of his home in
Ohio. ``I like to watch things grow, and I like to harvest the crop
and share it with somebody else. As long as I'm able to do it, I'm
going to keep right on.''
by CNB