Support Ron Finley’s garden / planting of edibles on parkways
Posted in Events, Gardens, Q & A by Vanessa Vobis - Aug 19, 2011
Last year, Green Grounds continued our dedication to locally-produced edibles in South Los Angeles with our second ever Dig-In (off Exposition Blvd). We came together to help Ron Finley transform the street-side planter area outside his home from weeds and dirt into a lush edible garden. Since the Dig-In, the parking strip has become a well talked-about garden where it is not uncommon to see local residents gathering to discuss gardening, food, and the neighborhood. Below are before-and-after photos from the last year.
Ron was recently cited by the City of Los Angeles Dept of Public Works for the garden on violations related to Los Angeles Municipal Code 56.08. We at Green Grounds disagree with the interpretation of the ordinance and support Ron’s assertation that the garden is well kept, safe, and within the dimensions of the guidelines. Beyond the compliance, we think the garden is an asset to the neighborhood. Please help us in supporting this garden by signing the petition at change.org.
Please sign the petition at: http://www.change.org/petitions/city-of-los-angeles-dept-of-public-works-support-ron-finleys-garden-planting-of-edibles-on-parkways
In addition, if you have any personal experience or thoughts to share about the uses of home gardening or urban farming in the LA are, please add them to the comments. Your comments help put the garden and the needs it serves in context. Thanks!
October 2010
|
October 2010
|
November 2010
|
November 2010
|
December 2010
|
December 2010
|
December 2010
|
February 2011
|
March 2011
|
March 2011
|
August 2011
|
August 2011
|
Ron Finley’s parkway garden has been a boon to his immediate neighborhood: providing food to neighbors, attracting positive attention from pedestrians and drivers, who are finding tips to planting vegetables in combination with herbs and flowers in an attractive mix, and brightening up that corner. With its high visibility from the Metro Rail’s new Expo line, the parkway garden is a wonderful DEMONSTRATION GARDEN which can inspire and encourage other residents of Los Angeles to plant more vegetables, to provide healthy, fresh food a few steps from the kitchen. We’d like to see more PARKWAY and FRONT YARD edible gardens! Replace high water-consuming lawns or even a part of the lawn with plantings that give back – not one which has to be mown every 2 weeks, and trimmings thrown away, a wasteful practice.
[...] between Ron Finley, LA Green Grounds, and the city, the hearing on Ron’s parkway garden (mentioned in a previous post) has been postponed indefinitely, a sign from the city that it has been accepted into the [...]
We have form time to time extra and overgrown veggies. we donate to the Crenshaw community gardens and would enjoy participating. tommy
We have a post up about redesigning the garden for the new ear. Ron Finley’s case among others ring true for people thinking that gardening and edible landscaping cannot be pretty and is a nuisance. The opposite is true:
http://farmscapegardens.com/blog/183
[...] Ron Finely, founder of LA Green Grounds, is doing his part by replacing “food deserts”- areas with limited access to fresh, affordable and nutritious foods, and creating “food forests”- community gardens in the most unlikely places. It’s no secret that food brings people together, but there is nothing more intimate than an entire community coming together and sharing a communal meal of fresh vegetables and fruits on the property where it was grown. [...]
Hi … my name is Chuck Silverman and I am the Coordinating Producer of The Suzanne Show, and new variety/talk show hosted by Suzanne Somers airing this fall on Lifetime Television.
Suzanne learned of Ron Finley’s mission and would be interested in learning more and possibly featuring him in a segment of the show during its exciting inaugural season.
I’m happy to answer any questions you may have, and will look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Best regards,
CS
Chuck Silverman
Coordinating Producer
950 Peninsula Corporate Circle
Suite #1008
Boca Raton, FL 33487
Main: 561-293-3741 (ext. 312)
Direct: 561-293-3738
Fax: 561-293-3742
csilverman@suzannetv.com
http://www.suzannetv.com
Produced by Pompano Springs, LLC
NOTICE: This E-mail message is the property of Pompano Springs, LLC (“Company”) The contents of this message and any or all attachments are confidential and protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, please forward a copy to csilverman@suzannetv.com and delete the message and its attachments from your computer. The Company reserves the right to amend statements made herein in the event of a mistake. Unless expressly stated herein to the contrary, only agreements in writing signed by an authorized officer of the Company may be enforced against it. Thank you.
I’m interested in volunteering and creating a garden. Please, provide any information. Thank you, Gail
Hi! I’m a teacher at Animo Locke 1 College Preparatory Academy (previously Locke High School) in Watts. We have a nice area which could be used as a garden. I’ve often thought about it as I drive into work, but with teachers’ busy schedules, it seems like a daunting task. But, with community help and that of an organization it would be so awesome to open the space up to connect our high school to our community. I welcome any suggestions that any of you might have.
Ron Finley is opening a can of food justice woop a$$. What a simple question, why should there be hungry people in Los Angeles? We have the seed, the sunshine, the technology to harvest water, and certainly a FARMY of unemployed, or underemployed human beings. LEGALIZE intelligence, good citizenship, resourcefulness, etc, etc. Go get it Ron!
i had an idea how about planting or rather replanting small groves and orchards at under utilized parks, hiking trails, as well as the parkways.
Ron! Love what you are doing man! Perfect! I wanna do that over here in ORange NJ. There is a lot around the corner from me, used to be a house , it burned down 20 years ago and the lot has been fallow since. There is a tree in the backyard, what used to be the yard. I got permission from the owner to go ahead and plant. I want to do a permaculture garden, but my question to you is, what do I do about the soil? Do I put more on top, do raised beds or just not worry and plant away? I have a lot of seeds and am ready to go!
i love whay your all are doing i have to join in on the hard work with my shovle in hand. I am a woman from memephis, tn and we had a garden in the front and the back yard. so thank you for making me smile god is real and so is a garden
Hi there. I just learned about you. Food Matters sent me your TED Talks video and I want to help. I am a health coach and the message you are sending out is right up my alley. Please let me know if I can help somehow. I don’t have money to send but I have some time and am willing to get dirty.
Cheers!
Maria
I was so inspired to hear about you, this organization, the beauty that has blessed your community! I want to know if there are programs in place through this organization that teach. I don’t live in LA, but would be so honored to come and learn how to create something for my home, children and community. I’ll keep this brief and hope to hear form you soon. I thank you deeply for the work you do, for spreading your message, for letting your voice be heard, your food be shared and your heart be so beautiful!
Blessings
Shalom Cook
This is really interesting. This makes me want to change my community. I go to school in Huntington Park. It is the most obese city in the entire state of California with half of the children overweight (according to the research). I think it’s time we change our habits.
Hi,
Thank you for expressing interest in the work that LA Green Grounds do. We want to strongly encourage you to start building front yard gardens in Huntington Park. If possible, come to one of our Dig-Ins and talk to our coordinators to find out first hand how we organize the event.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know.
All the best!
The LA Green Grounds Team
Hello,
I recently watched Brand X on FX and Ron Finley was a guest on the show. i have a worm casting biz and i love his idea! why not use city lawns and transform them into edible organic GMO free gardens! the inner city has limited space and is saturated with fast food! no wonder! seems like the govt is trying to do population control, control what we eat, and put these obstacles up rather than help tear them down! Mr Finley is a breath of fresh air. i firmly believe that we all should have our own gardens. gardening reduces stress promotes healthy lifestyles, is a great form of excercise and meditation for us all!! I want to join forces Mr. Ron Finley! please contact me.
For the life of me I can’t figure out why someone would complain about people planting a garden on the sidewalk? I mean, what could be wrong with that to such an extent that someone would complain? It wasn’t trash, or crack bags, drug needles or doggie doo – it was tomatoes, lettuce, flowers, and other edibles. Who would complain about that? I guess they would rather see ugly, do nothing grass. But I think their complaining backfired and bought Ron and his group a lot of great publicity and gave a lot of other people the idea to do the same thing. So in that sense, their complaining did just the opposite of what they hoped it would do.