Since moving into the Los Angles half-way house two years ago, residents of the Rainbow Apartments have been devising a plan to start their own urban garden. After a few trials and errors, the novice gardeners have now succeeded in creating a 34-foot-long plot bursting with strawberries, tomatoes, basil and other herbs and vegetables, which grow vertically against their cinder block building.
In addition to providing them with fresh, nutritious food, the residents have found that the garden has given them a way to connect with each other and build a supportive community. As Cara Mia DiMassa of the Los Angeles Times reports:
Many residents were surprised by the way gardening united them, in an area where it sometimes seems best to mind your own business and keep to yourself.
"It brings us together as a group, kind of like therapy, to see something growing and flourishing," Jannie Burrows said.
"We're trying to feed our bodies with better nutrients," Lance Shaw said. "But more than anything, we like getting together."
The Rainbow Apartment's gardening group has now teamed up with U.S. nonprofit group Urban Farming to help them continue their efforts through their Food Chain project. This national program helps impoverished community members start their own gardens so they can grow their own healthy, affordable food.
As density and population increase in the years to come, it will be ideas and programs like this that could help us model future systems -- systems that will provide ways for everyone to have access to good, nutritional food, and maybe even provide ways to take part in their production.
Photo credit: Allen J. Schaben of the Los Angeles Times
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(Posted by Sarah Kuck in Food and Farming at 4:01 PM)
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