Origins of our garden

In 2005, LACAN conducted a large assessment and survey of Skid Row’s food sources and health. The study found that 87 percent of residents face crisis-level food insecurity. Put simply, healthy food is inaccessible. As a food desert, the only stores within a several mile radius are small “mom and pop” establishments that carry liquor and non-perishable items such as chips, ramen noodles, and canned goods that contain high levels of sodium, preservatives and unhealthy artificial ingredients. Travelling far from home, transporting groceries, and affording fresh food is often unrealistic, and respondents reported often having to choose between eating decently and paying their rent. One third of respondents referenced discrimination as a major barrier to food security, often being forced by stores to show money before entering. Another major source of food is the collection of rescue missions that, offering temporary aid, often fall short. In affordable housing accommodations, residents are often barred from owning appliances, often making storage and preparation of food grounds for eviction. In all, food insecurity in the neighborhood is a fundamental impediment to maintaining health, employment, and housing.

Intentions and plans to begin a garden began long before empirical evidence was collected that proved its necessity. However, urban gardens require land, which, given the recent redevelopment of downtown, is scarce and very expensive.

After surveying the area, LACAN gained permission to begin a rooftop garden high above Main Street.

So we had finally found a plot of land for our garden. What next? We wanted to start a garden that reversed the standard treatment of residents as inferior “clients.” We wanted our gardeners to have ownership over the garden’s daily functioning and its seasonal harvests.

“Team Food” (a subcommittee within LACAN meeting biweekly to organize the community around food/health policy, nutrition, and physical exercise) drew up a proposal whereby resident members could learn how to manage the garden themselves from planting to harvesting. The idea was to establish a core of expert gardeners that could teach others and eventually establish other gardens in the neighborhood.

We contacted the Master Gardener program run by the University of California. The Master Gardener program, conducted throughout the United States and Canada, is a two-part educational effort, in which avid gardeners are provided many hours of intense home horticulture training, and in return they "pay back" local university extension agents through volunteerism. Master Gardeners assist with garden lectures, exhibits, demonstrations, school and community gardening, phone diagnostic service, research, and many other projects. See http://camastergardeners.ucdavis.edu/

We were put in contact with Maggie Lobl, a Master Gardener here in Los Angeles. Maggie volunteered to meet with Team Food twice a month to hold gardening workshops as we developed our garden and our gardeners.