Dreams propel us to step out in faith and strive toward a goal. At twenty-two, Baldassare Forestiere left Sicily and came to America with dreams of being a citrus grower. He earned money working as a digger in the Boston subway. But the east coast is cold, and he sought warmth in California, intending to invest his savings in Orange County. Unfortunately, even in 1905, the property was too expensive. Baldassare heard about the rich farmland of the Central Valley and headed north where he bought eighty acres in Fresno. His shovel hit hardpan (sedimentary rock) less than a foot below surface.
What do you do when your dream hits a rock wall? Give up and walk away? Complain to God and grow bitter? Not Baldassare! He went to work digging irrigation ditches for local farmers. It was hard work, especially in San Joaquin Valley summer heat which sometimes hits 115 degrees. Baldassare remembered the cooler subway back in Boston and decided to dig himself an underground home on his useless land.
With pick, shovel, and wheelbarrow, he dug out a living space. He’d seen the Roman architecture in Sicily and used the hardpan to build archways and walls. A devout Catholic, he created an underground chapel garden with a three-square cornered planter with three orange trees (three representing the Trinity). Later, he grafted a tree that bore seven types of citrus fruit. His expanding underground house was in the shape of a cross.
Baldassare liked people and began planning an underground resort where people could escape the horrendous heat and relax within the cool earthen walls with rooms lit by skylights and planters with citrus trees. He dug courtyards and planted more trees, a date palm, grapevines, lemon, grapefruit, and kumquat trees. What did Baldassare Forestiere do with all that dirt from all this digging? He wheeled it up and added topsoil to his land.
Baldassare Forestiere may have lacked a formal education, but he was a visionary. He recycled materials to reinforce mortar, built a fireplace to warm stone for radiant heat through the winter, employed solar energy to heat bathwater. He conserved water by adding a lip around skylights so rainwater poured into the planters and catch basins. He dug an underground pond for fish and even built an aquarium! When the citrus trees bore fruit, he harvested from the tops of the trees. With the money he earned by selling to local markets, he bought better land and planted a walnut orchard that earned enough so he could quit digging ditches for a living and devote full-time to expanding his underground wonderland.
Baldassare’s original dream was simple: become a successful citrus farmer. He had no idea God had a much bigger plan and had gifted him with creative genius. Baldassare Forestiere did become a citrus grower and so much more.
The next time you run into hardpan, don’t walk away. Your dream may just be too small. Let God show you His plan and guide your steps. We each have an amazing, God-planned purpose.
Take a look at Baldassare and his Forestiere Underground Gardens: www.undergroundgardens.com.