Right off the busy intersection of Home and Euclid Avenues in City Heights is City Farmers Nursery. If you aren’t looking for it, you might miss it, but it has been a part of the community for over 50 years.
Bill Tall, better known as "Farmer Bill" to the community, passed away a little over two years ago, but his legacy lives on through the nursery and the area's newest honorary street, Farmer Bill Drive at the intersection next to the nursery.
Oak Park Resident Vicki Church first met Farmer Bill in the 80s after she saw Farmer Bill make a house call to her neighbor.
“Every time I come to the nursery here, or other people would come, it’s a little bit of joy,” Church said. “I mean there’s the scenes, the sites, the scents. He made it a wonderful playland for kids.”
Church says she is a customer for life and says Farmer Bill deserves the honorary street sign.
“Bill didn’t ask for much in his name, He was humble about that,” Church said. "He was so kind to so many different groups when they would host things at the house, Just overwhelming it’s there. I bet he’s got a tear in the corner of his eye.”
Farmer Bill’s son Sam is now the co-owner of the nursery.
“Every time I drive by (the sign), I kind of glance up and I think I’m always surprised. It’s weird seeing your dad’s name up there,” Tall said. “He used the nursery just to be able to connect to people. We had people that sent in cards that said, ‘Without meeting Farmer Bill, I don’t think I’d be here.' He was more than just Farmer Bill, he meant a lot to a lot of people.”
According to Sam, his dad made an impact in the community through his help with school gardens and other ways than just donating money.
“He was such a big fan of, if you need trees, you need soil, you want us to come out and talk about plant material or bugs to kids, that’s where we love to help out,” Tall said. “City Farmers is here so kids can come and see what chickens look like, what a goat milking co-op is, what we do when all of our apples are falling off the tree. All these different types of things, where our waste goes, what are good bugs and bad bugs. They don’t get a lot of that in the city and there’s not a lot of free opportunities.”
According to Church, the nursery has a variety of plants that can thrive and survive in the areas around the nursery.
“What they do carry are the essential things that we need for our community, our homes, our yards, things of that sort. He stayed away from the heavy duty chemicals and pesticides, loved that,” Church said.
Church said Farmer Bill had an influence that stretched well beyond City Heights.
“This was real living. It wasn’t like people were trying to get something to make their home look like the lifestyle of the rich and famous,” Church continued, “It was the real people of City Heights. The real people of Oak Park. The real people of San Diego.”
