By Angelo Haynes
Charles Beard, a local man with deep ancestral roots to San Diego, has begun construction of a residential micro farm in southeast San Diego.
Totaling under half an acre, the farm area is nestled in the Jamacha foothills near Encanto, Skyline Hills and Lemon Grove contributing to the steep incline on the property. The farm currently has a variety of fruit trees including a pomegranate, apricot, mulberry, guava and loquat. Future plans include dividing the hill into unique terraces, each containing unique groups of crops. Construction on an irrigation system is already underway, with future plans of integrating a grey water filtration system.
Charles, or “Sibee” as his friends call him, had the idea for creating the micro farm after having a vision while standing on the top of the hill behind his childhood home. The moniker was a childhood nickname granted to him by close friends and is a play on the Spanish word “Si” which is yes in English. The name stuck because Charles would always be down to help someone out or go out to events or functions. Charles’s can-do, open-to-anything attitude is infectious and has already pulled in dozens of local community residents to aid his mission by working volunteer opportunities on his farm.
“As I stood on top of the hill and saw the view for the first time, that’s when the vision first hit me. I had grown up in that house since 10th grade and I had never been up that hill!” Charles exclaimed.
He mentioned that growing up, he had aspirations to do the exact opposite of being earthy, with the goal of working a white-collar job. What Charles referred to as the “normal” societal life track; that is: Graduate from college, work a 9-5 job, then turn the job into a career.
“I had actually never even liked to get dirty or work outside. I didn’t even like to work on cars!” Charles chortled.
Charles graduated from high school in 1997 and it was then that he began studying Electronic Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona, one of the top engineering institutions in the country. But, as it is with so many of us in our youth, his goals and passions would change while pursuing a higher education.
“I ended up switching over to business school, but it just so happened that Pomona has a dope Agricultural program.” He recounted.
While studying in the business program, Charles gained the experience and skills that would build the foundation for the micro farm forming today.
In the past five years Charles began to plant small gardens, often collaborating with an associate he knew in Golden Hill. Charles would trade gardening secrets with anyone he knew while building vegetable beds in his backyard, deepening his bag of farming methods and approaches.
After exploring his backyard space for the first time and seeing the possibilities through the lens of agriculture, his vision grew from small exploratory gardening projects, to a vision he sees as having the ability to bring the community together.
“I just want to give people the tools to discover themselves.” He sagely opined.
Charles comes across as a down-to-earth everyman, whose goal it is to connect his community through the tilling of the earth.
“I’m a cultivator of people” he proudly proclaimed while describing the essence of his vision to me on a crisp San Diego winter morning.
Charles plans on developing this micro-farm into a space to facilitate workshops in breath work, yoga, cooking, workforce development, agricultural education and more.
Charles’ future plans are intricately tied in with his other endeavor, Sibee in the Kitchen, providing a complete farm-to-table dining experience for his customers and guests. Business and the entrepreneurial spirit are traits that run his family and are keystones to his life.
“My family has had roots in Daygo since the 1880’s.” Charles proudly shared. “My third Great Uncle George Ramsay owned the Creole Palace and The Douglas Hotel on Market St. in the 1940’s.”
Charles’ family was an integral part of early San Diego’s Black society, providing critical spaces for the community to congregate. He feels that this micro-farm is a “full circle moment” being fulfilled, generations in the making.
“In a way this micro-farm is here to flip that narrative. The old ways are changing.”
This micro-farm seems loaded with potential, planting the seeds that could grow into a new age renaissance bringing people together from all walks of life.
“My third great uncle George Ramsay and my third great grandfather Alfonso Ramsay, you could say they were sort of the unofficial Black mayors of San Diego,” Sibee proclaimed.
This past December Charles has already hosted an irrigation workshop where he has begun trenching several water lines that will supply the irrigation to future crops on the hill. He plans on continuing with this series with upcoming classes on January10th and 24th in just a few weeks.
Charles also plans on collaborating with his neighbors to increase the size of his farm by cultivating the hillside parcels on the open parcels to the left and right of his property, a bridge he says he’ll cross when he gets there.
The Instagram handle for Charles “Sibee” Beard’s micro-farm is sibeeinthegarden. That is the best place to reach him where anyone interested in volunteering on the farm or organizing a gathering or workshop can DM him to get involved with his movement.
