Saturday, December 11, 2010

Hope on a Farm in Watts




As he cups the small fruit in his hand, José informs me that it’s a guayaba. “It tastes good,” says the eight-year-old. “Is it tart?” I ask, faintly recalling that guayaba means “guava” in Spanish. He shakes his head yes. I’m pleased that he not only likes the fruit, but that he takes such pride in knowing about it.


José and his four-year-old friend Emily are hanging out at Mudtown Farms in Watts, where the children's grandparents are tending their plots in the community garden. This 2.5-acre parcel is across the street from the notorious Jordan Downs housing project—one of the flashpoints of the Watts riots and home to the Crips in South L.A. It's a gray, drizzly Saturday, and I'm touring the farm with my Food Bloggers Los Angeles group.



The farm was started after the riots in 1965, and today about 12 to 15 farmers pay $8 a month to grow things like cilantro, lettuce, chard and corn. I'd been to Watts a couple of times before—to see the famous Watts Towers, only a few blocks from here—and to go to the Central Avenue Jazz Festival. Central Avenue is a street steeped in history where some of the most celebrated jazz musicians in the 20's-50's played, from Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. But today, Watts is not exactly known for being a thriving artists' enclave.




In addition to the gangs and drug lords, the area is ruled by corporate fast-food pushers, out to get the 'hood hopped up on Happy Meals. With only one major grocery store in a wide area, fresh and nutritious is hard to come by. But you can get a quick fix from a 99-cent burger on any street. It's class warfare between the bottom liners in their corner offices and the bottom dwellers on every corner. The convenience-food and big-agro oligarchs with their processed and genetically modified agendas are pulling the nutritional strings, so it's no wonder this socioeconomic class has such elevated rates of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. In a bold move two years ago, the city put a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles. That was a start, but there are still few alternatives to healthy eating in these parts. When you've been a junk-food junkie your whole life, how do you come clean?


Enter the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC), a service and development organization who bought the land in 2005. The group has teamed up with architect Michael Pinto (above), a Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) professor and founder of Project Food LA. WLCAC and Pinto want to turn the under-utilized farm into a center for education and food sustainability, providing the residents with resources and access to healthy, locally grown food.



Pinto posed the possibilities as a project for his students, and they came up with a myriad of ideas, some of which are being seriously considered. WLCAC would like a professional farmer to oversee the land, and some of the options are to have an on-site kitchen with a chef offering cooking programs, a community-supported agriculture program, a seed library, as well as other avenues of education and support. Whatever they eventually decide on will hopefully bring healthier eating and more independence to the community.




It's hard for me to imagine a diet without fresh fruits and vegetables, but that's the grim reality for some. It's why we need to take matters into our own gardens and our own hands. They say real change starts from the ground up. I hope Mudtown Farms proves them right. Kids like José and Emily deserve a break today. But not at McDonald's.

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12 comments:

  1. Adair, this post is so touching. With this amazing awareness & large undertaking I hope these children can learn about proper nutrition & stuff way beyond fast food. That 2.5 acre parcel is a blessing.xo

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  2. Adair

    This post encompasses my thoughts these past few years: I am so thrilled that there are people out there like this Prof Pinto who are spearheading this move; only with these projects multiplied throughout the nation will inner-city people get help; I just love this.

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  3. This is definitely a great start in the right direction. I was a volunteer teaching writing classes in Watt in the 90's. The teens in my class were constantly hopped up on junk food (only TG) This is progress.

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  4. Wow. Multiply that by many other communities, and maybe we'll get a freight train behind the food issue. Several folks in my local Slow Food convivium are getting some energy behind getting fresh, local food into schools, and to figuring out how to get gardens at schools despite our cold weather during the school year. Alice Waters (Edible Schoolyard) is my hero.

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  5. What a great initiative this is. I love all of Pinto's ideas for getting the students involved. Like you touch on at the beginning of the post, if kids take pride in their knowledge, they'll be more likely to make these healthy changes stick.

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  6. It was fun touring the garden with you and reading your take on it. I can't wait to see how this garden continues to grow and change!!!

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  7. I'm so heartened by this post, Adair. Thanks for the report. Are you familiar with Environmental Charter High School and the Green Ambassadors program? Similar idea, teaching kids that food doesn't come from vending machines but from the earth.

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  8. Adair you have done a wonderful job with this post! I can't wait to see how the project evolves and plan on volunteering where I can.

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  9. This project is spearheaded by WLCAC and they have brought in Prof. Pinto to help. We are very appreciative of his continued support.
    -Watts Resident

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  10. Thanks for covering such an important project. I'm a local Angeleno and love seeing local organizations improving communities like Watts-- the work is SO important.

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  11. Intriguing photos and story. Perhaps Michael could check out La Cocina in San Francisco (http://www.lacocinasf.org/), a very successful effort to promote local food entrepreneurship.

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