Birgitt Evans has been growing, harvesting and putting up her own food since she was a child with a 6 x 6′ veggie garden in her parents’ backyard. In college she joined with back-to-the-lander neighbors to create an edible oasis in a neighbor’s backyard and has maintained large edible gardens at all of her homes since. In 1999, she trained as a Master Gardener and began sharing her knowledge, teaching classes and advising gardeners on edible and drought tolerant gardening, envisioning and creating two “outstanding plant lists” to help gardeners select California natives and Mediterranean plants for their gardens. In 2010, she attended the first meeting of what was to become Alameda Backyard Growers and has helped shepherd the organization ever since. She was also a creator and co-owner of the urban farming store, Pollinate Farm & Garden from 2013 – 2017. Her urban farm was featured in Backyard Roots: Lessons on Living Local from 35 Urban Farmers by Lori Eanes.
Birgitt has taught classes for many organizations, designed vegetable gardens and coached gardeners on more productive methods of growing veggies. Most recently, she has created and taught the vegetable gardening module of the Master Gardener Training Class and co-created and taught a series of classes and workshops on fruit tree selection, care and pruning for Alameda Backyard Growers. She believes in focusing on the soil to encourage healthy plant growth and in adding ornamental plants to create a complete ecosystem in which pests are managed naturally by other organisms.
