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L.A. Green Grounds: Growing Healthy Neighborhoods

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Category: Community News
Published on Thursday, 14 August 2014 15:07
Written by Carla Pineda
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and in the case of L.A. Green Grounds (LAGG), a group serving South Los Angeles, one man’s dirt patch is an entire neighborhood’s delicious produce garden. This is exactly what LAGG is all about - transforming empty yards into edible gardens, particularly in areas where fresh, affordable food is scarce.

The all-volunteer group was established in 2010 by  Florence Nishida, Vanessa Vobis and Ron Finley (who has moved on to pursue The Ron Finlay Project).  By the end of 2013, the group had installed a total of 27 edible gardens.

LAGG encourages growing your own food, maximizing the use of open space, and overall wellness for the South Los Angeles region. The group also educates the community on all issues related to hunger, poverty, and the environment, including advocating at all civic levels.
AUGwcc1wwebThe garden at World City Center Preschool falls outside of L.A. Green Grounds’ traditional projects but its execution and outcome is aligned with the group’s goals. Although this preschool is different than the typical garden install, LAGG helped install a full edible garden, dug by a team of volunteers, that will serve the neighborhood. The garden will be host to cooking classes and gardening classes for students and the community.
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According to Rebecca Bernard, co-founder of the school,

“If the [kids] see a strawberry that’s ripe, they pick it. They go home and teach their parents… they’ll tell them ‘That watermelon isn’t ripe yet.’”

As the last dig-in of the season, co-founder Florence Nishida planned the garden with the same strategic vision used for larger projects, taking the size and purpose into consideration. The result had fun elements, such as Native American crops and a bean teepee, along with a mud hole/kitchen where the kids can whip up mud pies.augwcc3 


Bernard, a garden enthusiast herself, heard about the project through a friend. She loved the idea of a grassroots organization that fosters community integration and not only educates neighbors about the financial and health benefits of growing your own food, but also yields an alternative to processed foods. She believes South Los Angeles is ready and hungry for healthy food choices.

“We live in a food desert. It's terrible that large corporations like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, which provide organic produce, don’t come into our neighborhoods,” she said.

Rebecca keeps up  a very active garden and claims her garden is worth every minute she spends on it. Flush with greens and seasonal goodies, her winter garden did so well that she hardly spent money on groceries at all.

“As a mother of two children under six years old, I don’t want them to eat bad food,” Bernard said.

Augwcc4web2LAGG ended its fourth consecutive season with seven edible gardens, including three workday events at Crenshaw High School. During its summer hiatus, the group keeps busy with community outreach to find candidate gardens and volunteers for the September 2014-June 2015 season. If you’re interested in transforming your front yard into a bountiful garden, they bring the tools, seedlings, fruit trees, native plants, and their neighborly, friendly smiles to make it happen. They also do follow ups to check in with their garden hosts and teach them how to harvest and maintain their urban gardens.

For more information, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">.

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Established in August of 2008 by writer, artist Dianne V. Lawrence, The Neighborhood News covers the events, people, history, politics and historic architecture of communities throughout the Mid-City and West Adams area in Los Angeles Council District 10.

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