Urban vegetable gardens: how to get fresh vegetables and greens for free in Los Angeles

For lettuce leaves in this area of ​​Los Angeles, you do not have to go to the store, you can pick them right from the garden. Ashley Ebel does just that, says "Voice of America".

Photo: Shutterstock

“I always learn new things when I come here,” said Ashley, an Inglewood resident. — This is the place where I enjoy nature and relax. Here you can buy fresh vegetables for free, because for some this is an expensive pleasure. Anyone can come and pick lettuce, tomatoes, whatever they don’t have, and it’s expensive to buy, especially during a pandemic.”

These community gardens in Inglewood are created by a social justice charity. Project manager Nicole Steele talks about this. In total, there are 100 such gardens in the program, and during a pandemic, they help those who find themselves without work, and therefore without a livelihood, as never before.

“In neighborhoods like ours, where people live in low-income communities, often racial minorities, people eat unhealthy foods,” Nicole says. — If you pay attention, there are a lot of fast food restaurants around the parks. People don’t know anything about healthy food, and we want to teach them not just how to eat healthy, but also show them where healthy food comes from, how it grows, and how you can grow it yourself.”

Photo: video frame "Voices of America"

You can grow vegetables with your neighbors and even experience different cultures. True, now the inhabitants of Inglewood do it from a distance, observing quarantine measures.

“They wanted a place where they could plant things, grow things, learn things together,” Nicole says. — We always have greens: peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers. People living near the park bring plant seeds from their countries. For example, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic once planted seeds that he brought from his homeland.”

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According to statistics, in Los Angeles, 800 thousand people periodically do not have enough money to buy food. To somehow help the people affected by the pandemic, the regional authorities have allocated more than $ 2 billion. 5,5 million low-income Californians will soon receive $ 600 from the local budget.

This assistance is one-time, but community gardens, says Nicole, have become a constant source of organic vegetables for residents of the areas where they are located. What you sow with your neighbors is what you eat.

Photo: video frame "Voices of America"

How did “100 vegetable gardens” come about?

Gardening is said to have many health benefits: fresh produce, vitamin D exposure and improved mood are part of it, notes ABC7.

Nicole Steele, program manager at the nonprofit Social Justice Institute, recognizes these benefits, so she came up with the idea for a program called "100 Seeds of Change".

“100 Seeds of Change is an idea to build 100 vegetable gardens in Inglewood and the surrounding area,” Steele said. “It’s the idea that if we could build 100 vegetable gardens, if we could ignite 100 little sparks, then maybe it could ignite a passion for healthy eating and active living in our city.”

Achieved this goal about two years ago by building vegetable gardens in schools, collaborating with homeowners and creating community vegetable gardens, including the Learning Garden at Queen Park in Inglewood.

“When we created Queen Park, we wanted to make sure it was a place where people could come and learn that they could grow their own food,” Nicole said.

Photo: video frame "Voices of America"

“More important than just giving people food is educating people and giving them the experience to understand and learn where food comes from and how it is grown,” said volunteer gardener Vern Nishina.

The Queen Park Teaching Garden invites everyone to come, harvest and take part in maintaining the garden - all for free. The Social Justice Learning Institute provides seeds and plants, and volunteers also donate their produce.

“It probably seems like a small thing, but the garden serves as an example for children and a place for older people to come and just be in nature and with people to talk to,” Steele says.

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Due to COVID, the park and vegetable garden has been closed for some time, but the Queen Park training garden is now reopened and available to the community 24/7. Nicole Steele works in the garden on Tuesday mornings or on some weekend evenings.

The Queen Park Teaching Garden is located at 652 E. Queen St. Inglewood, CA 90301.

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