Best of Show in Professional category at VC Fair. Abstract Humanoid for sale – $5,000. Photo credit: Kennith “Kenny” Milton.
Kenny Milton’s exquisite carvings will be on display
by David Goldstein
Kenny Milton says the “culture” of inmates at his workplace “isn’t always healthy.” His hobby, on the other hand, has taken him to a place of joy and community.
He is a maintenance worker at the Ventura County Jail, but every chance he gets, he pulls out a chainsaw, chisel, grinder, and paint, and he creates and paints wooden sculptures, often starting with a large tree stump. Milton’s work includes a 20-foot sculpture carved from a palm stump in Ventura, on the corner of Foothill Road and Seton Hall Avenue, and a large eagle in Ojai, near the corner of Ojai Avenue and Bryant Street. His “Abstract Humanoid” carving won Best of Show in the Professional category at the Ventura County Fair last month and will soon be on display, along with three 12-foot chickens, at an event he called “maybe the healthiest place I have ever been, and one of the happiest too.”
Milton was referring to the National Heirloom Exposition, a three-day festival with more than 150 vendors and exhibitors, 5 stages of speakers and entertainment, a farmers’ market and a food court with free samples. Promoted as “the world’s largest pure food fair,” the expo is coming back to the Ventura County Fairgrounds for a second year, 9 AM to 9 PM daily from Tuesday, September 10, to Thursday, September 12.
Last year, Milton and about 10,000 others enjoyed sampling unusual varieties of fruits and vegetables, marveled at a giant squash tower, learned about gardening and farming, and brought home seeds. Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company is the primary sponsor and organizer of the event, and the company will sell seeds in both Vendors’ Halls, but one of the biggest attractions last year, and scheduled again this year, seems to be in direct competition with the company’s sales. A seed exchange offers participants heirloom varieties of free seeds.
“The culture of seed swap,” said Milton, “Is what it’s all about.”
Event organizer Eric Werbalowsky, a Ventura-based eco-business consultant, agreed the seed swap is the heart of the gathering and further explained, saying, “This is not like a commercial event or an insider’s group; newbies are especially welcomed.” Experienced gardeners put seeds in labeled envelopes, place them in the share area, and anyone can come and take some. This “giving without expectation” is “radical outside of families or close-knit communities,” he continued, “and the benevolence of it leads people to ask, ‘What can I do to help?’” Werbalowsky told beneficiaries last year to plant the seeds, grow and eat the crops, and bring back the resulting seeds for this year’s exchange.
Seeds are key to the value of heirloom varieties. Most commercially available seeds are hybrids, producing new seeds with unpredictable results and requiring purchase of new seeds every year. Heirloom varieties, in contrast, “breed true,” said Werbalowsky, producing seeds that will grow the same plant type again. “Heirlooms can be kept and handed down generation-to-generation, so they become holders of the culture, signifying how people come together,” he said.
A local speakers’ stage at the event is coordinated by Jan Dietrick and Ron Whitehurst, owners of Rincon-Vitova Insectaries, which grows beneficial insects for agricultural pest control. They will also staff a volunteer welcome committee booth in the Expo Hall. On September 11, from 11 to 11:30 am, I will speak about food rescue – the process of collecting good food before it is discarded and providing it to hungry people, while composting the food that cannot be rescued.
Compost will also be the focus of presentations on another stage, near the poultry show area, and Ventura County composting companies Agromin and Peach Hill Soils will distribute free sample bags of soil products.
Michele Lopez, President of the Ojai Community Farmers’ Market organized a miniature version of her regular market for this event. Reminiscent of Iron Chef competitions, chefs will make delicious dishes using fresh, locally grown organic ingredients available from on-site vendors.
Attendees on the final evening should bring a wagon; produce and displays, including some of Milton’s art, will be sold at bargain prices. Kenny can be reached at [email protected]
David Goldstein, Environmental Resource Analyst with the Ventura County Public Works Agency, may be reached at (805) 658-4312 or [email protected]
