Morro Bay families take going green to the extreme as part of national competition

Posted: Apr 15, 2011 5:47 PM by Danielle Lerner
Updated: Apr 15, 2011 9:00 PM

For the next five months, eight Morro Bay families will be putting their farming skills to the test, right in their own backyards.

The group is one of ten teams nationwide chosen to compete in Sunset Magazine's "One-Block Feast Contest."

The winning team will be featured in the magazine and gets $500, but some team members say they have already won.

From birds and other animals, to produce, spices and even seafood, preps for Sunset Magazine's "One-Block Feast Contest" are well underway in the Morro Bay Beach Tract neighborhood.

"The goat will be living in [the kids] playhouse, they've committed to giving it up for the summer," said Abby Diodati, who lives in Morro Bay.

"We're going to make our sea salt, we're going to paddle board out and try to catch fish," said David Burton, another Morro Bay team member. "How far can we sustain ourselves on these small plots around the house?"

David Burton is just one member of Team Beach Tractors. These eight families have until September 15 to grow a summer garden, raise animals and throw a block party eating as much food as possible from what they have grown, raised and made. Many team members are making the competition a family affair.

"For me, it's wonderful to try to pull the kids in," said Amy Burton. "I know that when we go to the grocery store and we fill up our grocery carts with packaged food and we don't really think about where our foods come from, and this is going to be a really neat experience for all of us."

It is a lot of teamwork and hard work.

"We're coming out on a daily basis and removing snails at night with our flashlights and picking off little bugs with our fingers," said Amy Burton.

However it is nothing a little TLC cannot cure.

"Every day we're continuing to win because our friendships are growing, our plants are growing, our experiences with our kids are growing," said Diodati.

The Morro Bay group is going up against nine other neighborhoods, six from California, two from Washington and one from Colorado.

Along with rearing a goat for dairy products and raising chickens for meat and eggs, the team will also brew its own lemon ginger beer.

The teams have until September 15 to throw their big summer feast. If you would like to know more about the challenge and the teams competing, just head to the Newslinks section of ksby.com.