Veronique at L.A. Now points us to this cool story and photo gallery about a retired Hollywood Hills economist who perfected a “no-dig” landscape. Pat Marfisi grows a bounty of backyard vegetables using lasagna-like layers of alfalfa hay, bone and blood meal and compost — and hardly any water. And yes, there’s even a California book hook in there, too.

From the LA Times story by Lisa Boone:

The retired Marfisi came upon the method while working as a volunteer farmhand Down Under, where the technique has been used since the 1977 paperback, “Esther Deans’ Gardening Book: Growing Without Digging,” promoted it as a solution to poor soil, rampant weeds, water shortages and costly food.

“Today, L.A. faces a lot of the same issues,” Marfisi says. “In addition, we have global warming from pollution, and home gardening is a significant way to reduce transportation cost and related pollution.”

He points out that noted food and science writer Michael Pollan, author of the recent “In Defense of Food,” estimates that the distance traveled by food to the plate of an average American is 1,500 miles. “This number is 150 feet for most home gardeners,” Marfisi says. “That is a huge reduction in transport cost and pollution.”

Marfisi became a WWOOFer at age 60 — he joined World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, an international cultural exchange program that provides organic farmers free labor in return for providing workers with food and lodging.