44 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} like her mother and two aunts, who had grown up on a farm without electricity or running water. Although they already knew some basics, they wanted to learn more. With its mission “to extend research-based knowledge and information on home horticulture, pest management and sustainable landscape practices,” the University of California program provided that opportunity. Lisa remembers being given hand-pruners as a little kid. Told to deadhead roses, she quickly became adept at cutting away withered blooms. “My mother always had a vegetable garden, always had way too much of something such as beets and tomatoes and shared it,” she smiles. And indeed, sharing endures as one of the main motivaground to nourish the microbes in the soil. Planting cover crops and not tilling helps keep carbon in the soil. Lisa continues her own education by attending seminars with various soils experts, and credits fellow Master Gardener Terry Lyngso, president of Lyngso Garden Materials, for being an innovative leader. They studied together when Lisa retook the program in the Bay Area. Lisa and her sister, Kathleen, also a Master Gardener, regularly teach classes at Lyngso and talk to groups about soil health and best practices. When their mother was battling cancer in 2007, Lisa relocated to the Woodside property with her husband, Bruce Carlsmith, and their two young children. The family stayed for 10 years and got the farm going, selling produce at a stand on Cañada Road. Half of the proceeds went tors for Lisa’s gardening passion. Each week, her team of gardeners harvests the farm’s produce and drops it off at local food banks including St. Francis Center in Redwood City and San Mateo’s Samaritan House. Most of Mission Farm’s gardeners are Master Gardeners, and “all are converts” to Lisa’s way of doing things. “It’s a community,” she says. “Everyone shows up with smiles on our faces. We enjoy each other so much and love what we’re doing.” They often experiment with different approaches like using twine in one row and cages in the next to see which way supports plants better. They grow everything organically from seeds, utilize no fertilizers and compost three times a year. Instead of pulling weeds, they chop them off at the base and drop them on the ABOVE: Lisa Putnam (far left) with her team of Master Gardeners and community volunteers.
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