Backyard gardens become income generators in lean times

Cam Slocum digs holes to plant tomatoes on his backyard farm. Photo by Katie Falkenberg / For The Times.

Green-thumb entrepreneurs turn a grocery list of items they can grow, hunt or collect themselves into extra cash

By P.J. Huffstutter
Los Angeles Times
May 21, 2010

Excerpt:

Locking up his station wagon, the one with the scratched paint and unpaid bills covering the floor mats, Cam Slocum crossed the parking lot and stepped into the kitchen of the swanky French restaurant Mélissein Santa Monica.

A cook set down his knife and walked over to greet the stranger. Slocum held out a Ziploc bag filled with lettuce.

“Hi,” said Slocum, 50, his deep voice straining to be heard. “I grow Italian mache in my backyard. It’s really good, only $8 a pound. Would you like to buy some?”

A few feet away, chef de cuisine Ken Takayama glanced curiously at the lanky stranger in jeans and a worn plaid shirt. He’s heard this sort of pitch before.

“Every day, every week, it’s something new,” Takayama said. “You name it, they have it.”

Since the economy took a dive three years ago, Takayama and others say they’ve seen more and more people showing up unannounced at restaurants, local markets and small retailers, looking to sell what they’ve foraged or grown in their backyards.

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