The Garden, a Film

Today I visited the website for a new publication to our area called Edible Dallas & Fort Worth. When I joined their Facebook group I came across a reference to a film called 'The Garden'. I looked it up and was amazed at what these people did with the land. They came together and took a patch of land and showed what we can all do with a bit of dirt - no matter if it is a fourteen-acre garden or an abandoned lot in our own backyard. This garden community grew enough food to feed their families, friends and most importantly, they grew a community of people that cared about doing something positive with what they had.

Just to have someone come in and say they are taking it away.

What is unfortunate is that this is not a new story. Across the nation people band together and take an abandoned piece of land that no one wants and give it love and attention, and they take pride in what they have accomplished. They have brought back a piece of land from nothing to a piece of land bringing sustenance to their lives and to the lives of their loved ones.

And then, someone sees what they have done and they say they are taking it away.

The love, attention and pride that they give to this abandoned bit of land most often carries over to their own homes in one way or another. And then someone takes notice that the neighborhood might have some value after all.

Just to have someone come in and say they are taking it away.

This film is about a fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles. It is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.

The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers:

Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public?

And the powers-that-be have the same response: “The garden is wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do.”

If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up?