Nearly two decades ago, Jason Eugene Boarde was a professional dancer with the Cleveland Ballet, but he left the North Coast to find his adventures. After a stint in New York, he settled in California and into a career with a global consulting agency, which went south when the Great Recession descended.

That's when Boarde took to the earth. He started cultivating produce on his property; a modest beginning that bloomed into so much more.

"We had such a surplus," recalls Boarde, "that we started donating to local charities. There was such a need."

Boarde dove into organic gardening, urban farming, environmental education and food policy. At the peak of his production efforts, he and the volunteer base he'd amassed oversaw more than six acres of urban farmland in the Los Angeles basin, the produce from which went to the area's underserved.

"We would take over vacant lots," Boarde says, "whatever little piece of land we could find to grow food for the needy."

Then in 2011, family issues brought Boarde back to Cleveland, where he enrolled in Cleveland State University to study urban and regional planning. Last fall, Boarde moved into a home at 2972 Yorkshire Road in Cleveland Heights. In a few short months, he's transformed the space into a glittering agricultural and cultural jewel.

Burnt Toast Farms is one part living florist, one part urban garden, one part community center and one part cultural studio, all of which fits on a scant quarter-acre-lot.

"This is not a market garden," explains Boarde. "This is basically a space for learning and connecting with community and coming to heal and find yourself."

Sunflowers, giant azaleas and night scented stalk are some of the cut flowers Boarde is experimenting with, while edibles include cabbage, onion, dill, carrot and beets among others.

"We only do heritage and organic seeds," says Boarde. "All of our seeds come from Seed Savers Exchange," which explains what kept him busy during the long winter: cultivating all those seedlings in his basement and sunroom.

Whether he's nurturing seedlings or Swiss chard, Boarde follows a bioorganic method of agriculture.

"You're really working with the earth and the soil and are cognizant of natural systems and bioorganisms," he says, adding that he eschews traditional garden chemicals.

Boarde's growing space includes traditional beds as well as vertical gutter gardens, which are ordinary roof gutters mounted on a vertical wall and then used as planters. His goal is to eventually have every square inch of his property in production.

Fertility, however, isn't limited to things that sprout from the soil at Burnt Toast Farms.

"People who live in the city not only appreciate and love food, they also love art, literature, creativity and culture," says Boarde, so the question arose: why not be a space that blends all of these things?

To that end, Burnt Toast's event page is burgeoning with an array of offerings, including Tango lessons, a bioorganic classroom and a woodworking studio, among others. There's also a brunch series and plans for a "Bon Vivant" dinner series as well as a catering venture. Visiting artists will include the likes of local photographer Peter Larson, animator Dustin Grella and artist Melissa Daubert.

Although he's only been part of the neighborhood since last September, Boarde reports that he's taking root with area residents.

"I'm really happy that people like what we're doing here," he says. "I just have this big grin on my face."