“Victory” Garden

20 years ago Rodney King was beaten in Los Angeles. When the police officers caught on tape beating him were acquitted, one of the worst riots in LA history erupted, leaving deep scars of social turmoil and property destruction in its wake. But sometimes the struggle itself is a victory, as this tumult birthed the South Central Farm. Begun on an area of vacant, blighted land at 42nd and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles, the farm was a 14 acre resident-run community garden that was started to give the community something positive to focus on after the riots. And the garden did just that and more, as it was both the largest community garden in the U.S. and a veritable oasis in the heart of LA.

The South Central Farm had citrus, banana and guava trees, and practically every vegetablethat can be grown organically under the California sun. About 350 families grew food there for their own consumption, and there were rules against selling the produce grown in the garden. But in 2004, when the garden was 12 years old, they were served an eviction notice that transformed the gardeners into advocates for local and organic food and catapulted the garden to the forefront of the urban agriculture movement.

Between 2004 and 2006, members of the South Central Farm tried everything to stop the demolition of the garden. They formed the South Central Farmer’s Cooperative, hired a lawyer, spoke constantly before city council and even raised enough money to buy the land (an offer that was sadly refused). Rep. Dennis Kucinich visited the garden and actress Daryl Hannah was one of many that camped out in the garden as a physical barrier against demolition. But to no avail. In 2006, the garden (fruit trees and all) was bulldozed in front of the gardeners. Today the land still sits vacant.

Too often, however, the story of the South Central Farmers stops there. But remember, sometimes the struggle itself is a victory, and in the case of the South Central Farmers, they were able to turn a terrible situation into an opportunity. In essence, because of the struggle to preserve the South Central Farm, the growers were able to make the jump from growing food for their own consumption to being organic farmers at the helm of an incredibly successful grower’s cooperative that sells at seven weekly farmer’s markets and has been voted best produce. The only catch now is that the land they were invited to grow on is near Bakersfield, about 2.5 hours Northeast of Los Angeles, but it works for them because of the collaborative structure of their grower’s cooperative.

To me, the South Central Farmers are an inspiration, and I will always be thankful for having had the opportunity in 2009 and 2010 to help them sell their amazing organic produce at the Watts Healthy Farmers Market in LA. Too often they’re discussed as a cautionary tale about the possible difficulties of sustaining community gardens or other agriculture projects in cities, when they should be celebrated for their resilience and ability to convert the loss of their land into an opportunity for both activism and local food entrepreneurship.

I see the same resilience and ability to turn food scarcity into food abundance in many of the urban farmers in Detroit, Flint, Ypsi and even Toledo. In fact, one of the reasons why I think that growers in Southeast Michigan and the greater Rustbelt region are at the forefront of the local food movement is this ability to turn blight into broccoli, stigma into strawberries and vacant land into love. For me, this is what urban agriculture is about: empowering people, rejuvenating communities and reviving local economies – with the added bonus of better access to healthier food! So go visit some of our fabulous local urban farms this summer! Growing Hope’s annual

Ypsilanti garden tour, the Tour de Fresh, is coming up on Saturday, July 21, while the Detroit Agriculture Network’s 15th annual tour of Detroit gardens is in August and Edible Flint’s 4th annual tour of Flint gardens is Thursday, August 9 from 4:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. starting at the Flint Farmers Market.

For more information about the South Central Farmers, check out the 2009 film “The Garden” and visit southcentralfarmers.com.