Green Neighbors YOUNG URBAN FARMERS OPERATE A FARM STAND IN THEIR DRIVEWAY
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sually when people buy a house, they look for a certain number of bedrooms, or an updated kitchen, or an open floor plan. Not Morgan Daily and Kyle Hagerty. When the couple moved from Pacific Grove to Sacramento so Hagerty could take a job with Metro Fire, they weren’t just looking for a place to live—they were looking for a lot with plenty of outdoor space. “We were looking for a yard more than a house,” says Daily, who with Hagerty, her boyfriend of four and a half years, runs East Sac Farms, an urban farmstead based in the backyard of the 56th Street home they moved into in 2014. With a 5,800-square-foot lot (only one-fifth of which is house), the East Sac couple found the perfect setting to plant their biggest garden yet. “Kyle and I share an interest in sustainable living,” says Daily, who is starting as a junior at UC Davis this fall to study sustainable agriculture and food systems. “He inspired me to build my first garden right after we met.” Hagerty had grown up with a green thumb thanks to his mother, who introduced him to a love of gardening early on—a love that’s continued to blossom over his 31 years. Though he holds down a full-time job as a firefighter, he and Daily dedicate a significant amount of time to their
jL By Jessica Laskey
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their Instagram, @urbanfarmstead. It’s a stunning panoply of photos that features well-composed shots of produce, the photogenic Hagerty and Daily romping in the garden, the quaint chalkboard listing “Today’s Bounty,” a few shots of the farmstead suppers they’ve hosted in their backyard for family and friends, as well as some candid shots of their adorable border collie-Lab mix, Burdock. But when neighbors showed enthusiasm for their concept, the pair decided to spread the word on Nextdoor.com, a website that fields alerts and events for 10 neighborhoods in Sacramento. “At first we weren’t sure if we wanted to share it with everyone,” Daily admits. “But then it started to get so much attention. It was not really something we expected. We haven’t expected any of this, actually. It’s been very exciting.” Urban farms have been gaining in popularity and permanence. Last year,
Morgan Daily and Kyle Hagerty
urban farm, which produces an abundance of seasonal goodies that the community-minded couple give away every other Tuesday. You read that right: They give it all away. “Our main goal is to inspire people to grow their own food or to buy responsibly and support local farmers,” says Daily, who explains that their open hours are designed
to not interfere with other area farmers markets, so they don’t compete with those who rely on the markets for their living. “You can also reduce waste by offering the excess from your own garden to trade.” When the urban farm first started up last year, Daily and Hagerty advertised it only through