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Urban Gardeners
"The garden runs parallel to the railroad tracks, and it practically jumps out at you on the corner of 41st as you’re driving down the gray industrial blocks of South Alameda."
By Esperanza Barajas
South Central is one of the most developed and least-green areas in Los Angeles County. Gray concrete stretches for miles and trucks ramble and belch up and down Alameda Blvd. from the ports into downtown. One green treasure graces the neighborhood, the South Central Community Garden, run by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Esperanza Barajas of Youth Radio L.A. took her mother for a visit to the garden instead of the supermarket to go shopping for produce.
My mom loves gardens and green spaces and growing fresh vegetables.
MAMÁ (on tape)
Oh sí, por aquí hay...
ESPE
But this part of Los Angeles -where we live- is mostly industrial. There aren’t really any green spaces to speak of nearby. Even though this city is surrounded by mountain ranges and national and state parks, the L.A. basin has less park space per person than almost any other city in the country.
So when my mom and I shop for groceries in the South Central community garden, she goes crazy.
MAMÁ (on tape)
Oooh, que hermosos!
ESPE
That’s her inspecting the chayotes- I guess they’re like little squash- and she’s gushing over the other vegetables and fruits the neighborhood farmers grow in their little plots at the garden.
¿Qué son?
MAMÁ (on tape)
Guayavas. Mirá el señor, las hojitas para hacer tamales. ¿Señor, para que quieres las hojitas?
SEÑOR (on tape)
Para hacer los tamales.
ESPE
Most of the farmers here are older men and women from Mexico and Central America. They grow guayava, corn, beans, and just about anything you can think of. For my mom, this is one of the few places where she feels connected to the earth like she does back in her village in Michoacán. The gardeners till their plots here for the same reason. Here’s don Teodoro...
TEODORO (on tape)
Estamos como si estuvieramos allá en el pueblo, trabajando, se distrae uno. Tu sientes como en el rancho no como aquí. Está mejor acá que en una factoria.
ESPE
He says being here is like being in his village instead of in the city. It gives him something to do, and it’s better than being in a factory. Lot of little kids hang out here, too. The garden runs parallel to the railroad tracks, and it practically jumps out at you on the corner of 41st as you’re driving down the gray industrial blocks of South Alameda. It’s vast- 14 acres. The garden doesn’t only give don Teodoro and the other 300 some gardeners something to do at six in the morning...Teodoro says it smells like the countryside...
TEODORO (on tape)
En la mañana cuando uno llega, hasta huele a campo, bonito. En la mañana abren a las seís. Aunque se gana uno poco, aquí casi viene uno sacando lo por lo que se come, nada más.
ESPE
And he says the land provides enough fruits and vegetables that he doesn’t have to buy them...which is a good thing, because around here you have to travel far to find a supermarket.
RUFINA (on tape)
En las cartas no hacen falta ponerse numero de lote compañeros. Nombre, apellido, dirección, la ciudad donde viven, el estado de California...
ESPE
This is Rufina Juarez explaining to the gardeners how to fill out a petition to the city council. She’s part of the committee organizing to save the gardeners from eviction and the garden from becoming an industrial park. Technically, the city owns the property, but they seized it from a developer over a decade ago, and now he’s fighting in court to get it back. It’s been just over a year since the gardeners received orders to abandon the property.
RUFINA (on tape)
Buenos días Raza! Eso! Y bien venidos al Segundo año de resistencia de los campesinos del Sur Centro...
ESPE
Recently, Rufina and the gardeners organized a party to celebrate the fact that they are still here.
Rufina and the gardeners have managed to make a case the garden should be kept in the public’s interest. They are currently fighting the expropriation in court.
RUFINA (on tape)
If we look at the statistics for the past five years, you can see that the crime rates have dropped...
ESPE
Even mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa is listening to these urban farmers, celebrating with them, and promising to help the farmers out.
VILLARAIGOSA (on tape)
You said, look what a great place to be able to grow food and put food on our tables. And so I came here to say, I support your cause, I believe in you, I know how important it is to protect what is the largest community garden in any big city in the nation.
ESPE
Villaraigosa gets off the stage, eats a banana, hugs some kids, and leaves.
Kids and abuelitos alike spend a lot of time here. The community garden is a hands-on learning ground for youth like Josue.
JOSUE (on tape)
It teaches me about the fruits and vegetables that I don’t know about and that I eat.
ESPE
Ultimate it’s all about food. At the end of the garden anniversary party, my mother grabs another opportunity to do her vegetable shopping on the spot. We leave with a trunk full of fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmers. I still have ants in my trunk a week later.
-That story was produced by Youth Radio's International Desk in association with National Geographic.
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