Today i visited the South Central Farm for my 2nd time, this time in daylight and with my 2 kids. My son ran through the mazes of gardens, and we stopped and talked with several amazing campesina/os who showed us their lots, talked to us about the many uses of various flowers they use for soup, or fruit they use as potato / yam, etc.

My 5 year old had plenty of company with little kids running around, playing in the garden lots and in between, etc.

And, the central aisle of the garden is where a somewhat of a 'tiangis' takes place, well--where you can buy fresh fruitas / legumbres, or where you can also choose from a variety of choices between agquas frescas, plantanos fritas, tacos, rolled ride in front of you huaraches, pupusas--and more.

I saw kids in the middle of South Central LA--a territory overwhelmed with poverty, violence, wharehouses and pavement, etc.---who had a safe place to be where they can learn the practices and traditions that have been passed down for generations; how to tend to land, make use of the earth's resources, while also finding refuge in vine covered walkways and green covered earth.

I also got to listen to a group of campesina/os talk about their struggle, about how the time is now, that this issue in this time is "bioling", how important it is to have a space for "green oasis" amongst "deserts of cements". And, a mujer / campesina spoke of how important it is to respect our land, our earth, and how much of a difference in made in each of us being there--in our support, and in how much of a difference to its to everyone's moral, and to their spirits.

They also spoke of the various ways to join the struggle--writing to Villarigosa, go stand w/ the campesina/os on Wed.'s and Fri.'s as they demonstrate in front of LA City Hall, etc.

Now, here we live in a society filled w/ White dominated voices who seem to constantly be complaining about all these supposed inhamities against the Mexican, Indigenous, and various groups of people of color. Yet--we see a picture of people---OVER 350 FAMILIES,

DOING FOR THEMSELVES on land that was rightfully given to them following the LA Riots of '92.

And--this, the bureacrats and lawmakers find to be--what? a disgrace? The citycouncil member whose district this resides in who advocates clearly against the removal of the garden, HAS YET TO EVEN STEP FOOT on the farm, WHILE, as the beautiful companera today spoke of--people all the way from GERMANY have made it a point to visit this farm, and speak to them perfect spanish while their own local politicians cannot speak of that which they have do not even know.

350 famlies--self-sustaining, feeding, growing, living, and propspering as a result of a handful of acres of land that was previously filled w/ trash and essentially used as an informal dump.

350 families, and more I"m sure accumuulatively thru the years, have TRANSFORMED this land to PRODUCTIVE, SELF-SUSTAINING, CLEAN-AIR PRODUCING,,,,"tierra".

And I , though I do not live in south central L.A., nor do I personally rely on this farm to feed my famly as so many actually do,,,I am utterly grabbed by this struggle with certainty and clarity of how much bigger this struggle is,

brown skinned, indigenous rooted people, tending to land, reviving if not living in culture and tradition, teaching their young to do the same, reclaming land from the dead and now living sustainabily off of the land,
are now fighting for more than this piece of land, but in fact, also as a companera said this morning,
for thier right TO BE, and/or to be RECOGNIZED as equal [at the least "equal"] human beings and people.

This is a struggle for a people much bigger than these 350 families [I am making a personal extrapolation and not spkng on behalf of anyone else]
This is about 500 years of RESISTANCE for LAND, DIGNITY, y libertal to simply "be", to live as self determined.

Today, myself and several others signed up to be put on the "phone tree" for hte anticipated attempts by the LA Sherriffs to forcibly remove the farmers, at which point ALL WHO CARE ABOUT THIS FARM, THESE FAMILIES AND THIER LAND,
will be called upon to JOIN with this farmers and stand as either civil disoberyers or observers of the acts.

I plan to be there, and so do my kids, and I couldn't think of a more honorable day to be able to be apart of than the day when what will easily be THOUSANDS will take that ultimate STAND to say--ENOUGH, this land is ours, AQUI ESTAMOS, Y NO NOS VAMOS!!!
[ WE ARE HERE, AND WE ARE NOT GOING!]

Great story!!!

It reminded me of how in my area, the big thing is summer vegetables. JAs like to garden, and grow "cultural" things like, well, things they don't sell at store. It's cool. We sometimes grew greens too, but now you get that at the store. It's just a taste of the South. (This year, though, there's not really much. Maybe next year.)

I see gardens here and there, especially ones tended by Vietnamese people, growing unusual stuff that, to them, is the taste of the old country. There are stories of people, I think Koreans, picking at the lotus roots at Echo Park, because that's a delicacy. That's kind of "ghetto", but hey, what are you going to do when there's all that lotus root there, for free!

Gourmands in the SF Bay Area have their special vacant lots with wild fennel. So it's not just the immigrants who want free vegetables.

I bet Italians did this big time too. Back in the day, broccoli and zucchini must have been "exotic."

These days, a tomato that tastes like a tomato is exotic.

The stereotype of South Central is that it's African American, though, they've been a minorty there for a while. It got me to thinking, though, about the African influences in the American diet. It's something we forget, that a lot of the techniques of agriculture were brought here by Africans. Rice, for example, isn't cultivated widely in Europe, but it's common in Africa. The South is a rice-eating culture. That is an African influence.

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23877&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Here's a key excerpt:

Why is there such ignorance and denial of this African presence in U.S. culture? Because in spite of all of the accurate information that has been available for decades, schools and the media portray Africa as a continent characterized by severe problems rather than tremendous wealth and resources, that has folklore rather than culture, and that certainly could not have contributed to the civilization of the United States.

This denial of Africa as part of the foundation of U.S. society is especially true concerning intellectual and technological matters., The “Carolina” rice served with the okra gumbo, which might be more appropriately termed Senegambian rice, is an excellent example.

The rice grown in South Carolina and other parts of the Americas is Oryza glaberrima, different from the Asian Oryza sativa. This West African rice and the complex system of knowledge involved in growing it and making it edible were brought by Africans, but they have not been given credit. As shown in Judith Carney’s recent book, Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas Portuguese mariners were credited with introducing rice culture to Africa—not explaining how sailors taught planters to plant, and ignoring Portuguese writings about their amazement at discovering complex rice production technology in the Senegambia.

Thus, Europeans assumed undue credit for African intellectual and technological achievements, despite evidence to the contrary. Europeans from temperate zones did not have the skills and knowledge required for such endeavors as rice cultivation, particularly in the sub-tropical climate of the southern United States. African origins can also be found for other elements of foundational technologies, such as the animal husbandry popularized in U.S. cowboy films.

"Rice and Okra Power!"

an oasis in a sea of concrete. Who needs another warehouse?

A view from the air

Maybe they *should* be given the opportunity to buy the land. While they are poor, it's not impossible to raise $5 mil from 350 families. Also, there might be some grant money available as a matching fund. All it takes is some long term vision.

That's 14k per household. If they're paying $700 in rent, that's 20 months of rent. Spread out over the 10+ years they've already been there, that would be around $120 per month. Over thirty years, that's around $40 per month... before any interest.

The city could force the owner off, and arrange to make a "loan" to a long-term foundation for 120 years, charge households $10 per month, and during this time, it could remain a farm. At the end of this period, the foundation would own the land, and any funds collected could be used to found more farms.