Two cups of uncooked rice DOES NOT equal 2 cups of cooked rice.

Guess how I figured this out?

Huny wanted stuffed bell peppers. Well, I've never cooked this before, so I looked up a recipie and it said it needed 2 cups of cooked rice. Sure. No problem. So, I took two cups of uncooked rice and cooked it. I figured that if you take 2 cups of uncooked you will get 2 cups of cooked. No, not really.

I ended up with mountains of cooked rice. Good grief.

I took the cups of cooked rice I needed and wondered, what am I going to do with the rest? I ended up making some Atole de Arroz (Spanish Rice Pudding or Rice with Milk). Yum. Haven't had that in a while. How to make this? I put the rice back into the pot with just enough water to cover. Added cinnamon and sugar to taste and then added milk. I just let this simmer to let the flavors blend. and Voila! It is done. This was my evening snack before bed. But, since I had all this rice and Huny doesn't like it, I'll be eating a lot of Atole to Arroz.

By the way - the stuffed bell peppers? Huny liked them and they are on the menu. He gave me a two-thumbs up. I have to admit that I wasn't all that crazy about them. They were okay, just not my thing. I figure they'll be on the menu with the first Spring bell pepper harvest and then the fall harvest. That's enough for me.

Rain and more rain.

Well, as ususal, we either have no rain or we have a bunch of rain. Right now we have a bunch of rain. The ground is soggy and makes squishy noises as you walk on it. I'm thinking that snow shoes would probably work to keep your weight distributed on the ground because otherwise you sink into it up to your knees, or almost anyway.

Aside from that, I love the rain! I love the grey skies and the sound of the rain on the ground. I have my windows open so that I can hear the wind going through the leaves and pushing the rain every which way. A while back I wanted to move to the Northwest because of their rainy weather, but ended up in the Northeast. Bummer. Well, now I'm back home and here to stay and I'm okay with that. One day though I hope to take an extended vacation to the Northwest.

In the meantime, our seeds that we planted seem to be taking the rain in stride. The radishes are coming up. I noticed that the carrots are sprouting as well. I didn't check the other side of the yard because it's tooooo squishy over there so I don't know how that is doing. I have lettuce seeds over there.

The flower garden is loving the cooler weather and have bloomed like crazy. I planted some surprise morning glory seeds in the spring and told Huny, just wait this will be covered in blue blooms. Well, they are pink.

We have a baby! I've been watching the parsley to see if we would get a caterpillar and we did! Here she is, and she is just about an inch long. I am a little concerned because I haven't seen her since the rain started. I don't know anything about caterpillars, so I'm hoping that she's just tucked in someplace that I can't see.

The end of Summer.

Hello to all of you! It has certainly been a busy summer for me here at home and about. We have done a lot of work on the house this summer and not so much on the garden. But now that Fall is here that is about to change.

When we came back from our Florida vacation it was so hot there was not much we could do outside. The peppers, though, kept on producing and are still producing. I have Sweet Banana Peppers and Cayennes coming from everywhere. I've given away quite a bit of it and still have tons more coming on the plants. I'm about to get peppered out.

Our cucumber plant just fizzled but we never got around to pulling it out and now we have one cucumber on it that we need to harvest today. After that we will be pulling it out for sure. Next year we'll find another place for the cucumbers.

We have a ton of bumblebees that are loving the yard. In the front planter we have some obedient plant and a salvia that a friend gave me that they just love. It's fun to watch them make their rounds from flower to flower in the front and then they head to the side planter and from there to the vege garden and then back to the obedient plant to start all over again. Huny and I get a kick out of watching the pollen sacks get bigger and bigger on their hind legs.

I've started a hummingbird and butterfly garden and as I sat in the shade for a bit of a rest, I listened to the leaves of the mulberry tree next door. There is a different sound to the rustle of the leaves at this time of year. It is almost like a lazy rustle with the leaves a little heavier than in the spring. Every now and then you'll hear the fall of a leaf as makes its way to the ground.

It is quite enjoyable to listen to the trees, watching the hummingbirds at the feeders and seeing the butterflies drinking from my garden. Yesterday, a black swallowtail found my parsley and laid some eggs. I rushed to find my camera, but she didn't come back. As soon as I see some babies, I'll take some pictures.

In the front yard by the street is another garden we built around all the city stuff that we all have in our yards. In it is a coral colored salvia and a fuchsia pink phlox. While I was watering the cucumber yesterday, I noticed a hummingbird feeding off of the salvia then he would sit on a bit of fencing I have there as support for the phlox. He did that several times before he flew off.

Well, now that I'm done with vacations and house stuff, it's time to get back to the garden. I'll be harvesting more of the peppers today. I'll be getting some compost for the hummingbird and butterfly garden and for the vege garden where I need to get some seeds in the ground.

OMG! The strawberries are taking over the world! I don't know what I'm going to do about that yet. I moved some under the rose bush, but there are several yet to move. Strawberry Hill?

Well, I'd better get a move on. Day's a wastin'!

I really had the best of intentions...

But, the smell just made me do it!



A little while back, well a bit more than a while, but anyway, I bought Cinnamon Sopapilla Dessert from Homemade Gourmet. YUM.



I pulled it out today and reckoned I'd fix it for Huny. Oh my gosh. For you fellow don't know-how-to-cook-people this is the easiest thing to fix for a dessert. And it smells soooo gooood.



And that is why this has a BIG hole in the corner. I was going to wait for Huny to wake up and we could have a piece with coffee...but noooooo! Before you knew it I tore off the the covering and was munching away.



OMG it was sooo gooood.

Feisty Hummingbirds

A while back I got a hummingbird feeder from Freecycle and have enjoyed my little visitors ever since. I try to keep it filled with sugar water but occasionally I don't get to it until the water is gone. Yesterday was one of those times.

I was working at the computer and kept hearing a trilling sound. In the back of my mind I knew that it was the hummingbird but didn't pay much attention. The trill got louder and each time it got a bit more insistent.

Well, it was Mr. Hummingbird letting me know that his feeder was empty and he was not shy about letting me know about it and that He Was NOT Happy. Plus, it's his local pick up spot for a couple of female hummingbirds that hang around. Can't entice the ladies if there's no food for them.

So, I got up to look and noticed that the feeder was empty and while I was at the door he flew up to the feeder and noticing that it was still empty, turned to the door and trilled at me.

Okay, okay! Sheesh. I took the feeder down, filled it (have to make more sugar water today) and put it back up. I stopped getting trilled at, he got his drink and his ladies are visiting again. All is well.

A little bit of a rain storm for you....

The Cantaloupe that took over the world!

Good Grief! I had an idea of how much it would grow but my goodness! It's taking over the world! We put it in the corner of the bed that had the onions (you remember how big those got don't you) and look what happened. It's overtaking the strawberry cage and slowly creeping into the cayenne peppers.




Say Hi to Johnny. He's in there somewhere....














Like most of us in this part of Texas we're low on rain and the heat has been just terrible. When we got back from Florida I very rarely ventured outside and when I did it was hard to even breathe it was so hot. I really don't know how people in the really hot parts of the country do it. Our highest temp in Denton was 107. TOOOOOO hot. But that is over and we're in the stretch now to Fall and I can hardly wait. ***

Here are some pics of my flowers in the garden.











For my latest cooking adventures from the garden, I made some pico de gallo with my cayennes. I sliced them up and deseeded them. I sliced up some onions, lemon basil, (going to grow more of this next year), lemon juice, salt and pepper, and of course, tomatoes (I still have some coming on). I took a batch of this to a friend's bbq and they liked it. We had the last of the batch a few days ago here at home. Yum.

I made some Lemon Blueberry Muffins with some leftover blueberries, But I was not happy with the way they came out. I followed the recipie exactly and they were not exactly yuk, but not yum either. The batter looked too dry to me so I added a bit more of milk and it still could've used just a little bit more. Plus, they were not sweet enough - more sugar? I don't know. But they are okay toasted and with some butter. I had one just now. Will I make these again with the extra milk and sugar? I don't know. Very disappointed with how these came out.

Made some chicken salad with seedless red grapes. Huny like it and it is now on the menu. From the garden I added some sweet banana peppers (these are still going like crazy too).

Huny has had grill duty so I've not had to cook as often - yoohoo!

Summer Vacation

We just got back from our summer vacation to Destin, FL. My FIL's 70th birthday is this year and to celebrate my MIL rented a house a couple of blocks from the beach. All of the kids came down with their families so we had a very full house. We spent our days at the beach and at the pool. And eating. So. Much. Food. I took all the veges that were ready to be harvested. We had onions, bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, chives, cayennes, jalapenos and tomatoes.

One morning BIL Greg fixed egg omelets. Huny made his world famous pork chops with a sauce made with dill, olive oil and dijon mustard. One night we had Mexican and cooked up some beef and chicken fajitas with all the fixin's, a pot of beans and some guacamole. Oh! And I fixed some cream-cheese stuffed jalapenos. (LOVE those things.)

My MIL made a macaroni salad that was wonderful. She is such a great cook. I tried fixing it at home on Saturday for our 4th of July dinner. It came out pretty good and was simple to make. The only thing I did different was use sweet banana peppers. Next time I will use both bell and sweet banana peppers. She didn't really have a recipe that she used, she just kind of threw it together.

Macaroni Salad

Small bag of macaroni, cooked.
Miracle Whip
Salt and Pepper
Chopped carrots
Chopped bell pepper
Chopped onion
Hard-Boiled eggs
Vinegar

As she said, mix it to taste and that is what I did. For the vinegar you don't need very much - maybe a teaspoon or just a bit more. Again, to taste.

We did local restaurant eating too of course! Excellent food!

I came home with a bit of a burn and tons of seashells from the seashore. I'm fixing up some jars with some sand (that I brought back with me) and some of the shells for souveniers for my friends and family. To save money I'm using some small canning jars that I found on the curb one day (someone was throwing away several boxes of these - jeesh).

Harvest Suppers

Some of you know that I am not a cook. I would much rather be outside digging in the dirt. But, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. And fixing supper for Huny is one of those things even though I did make a full disclosure before we got married that I DID NOT COOK. I'm still trying to figure out how I got the bum end of this deal.

So, now that I have this garden and have all these vegetables growing, I'm trying to figure out what to do with it all. Salad's are wonderful and yummy, but I've got to do something different with some of it. I pulled out my ton's of recipe books (funny thing to have for a girl that doesn't cook) and tried to make sense of it all. I ended up making a partial Chicken Cacciatore. Partial because at the time I didn't have any tomatoes ready to come off the vine.

Partial Chicken Cacciatore (cooked in a crock-pot)

1 medium onion, sliced

4 stalks of celery, sliced

5 leg and thigh chicken pieces

2 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup white wine

Place sliced onions and celery in bottom of crock-pot. Add chicken pieces, minced garlic, salt, pepper, herbs and white wine. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours.

I served this with fried chunky potatoes cooked with rosemary and some sliced sweet banana peppers.

The last couple of nights Huny has wanted omelets.

Huny's Omelet

2 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

dash of milk

chives, cut

1 sweet banana pepper, seeded and sliced

1/4 cup bell pepper, seeded and sliced

1/4 cup onion, sliced

grated cheese (I used Marble Jack)

Saute, peppers and onion. Remove from pan. Mix eggs, salt, pepper and milk and add chives to taste. Pour into hot pan and cook until it's almost cooked all the way through. Place peppers and part of the cheese on one half of eggs and fold over the other part of the eggs. Allow to cook and then flip to cook other side. Place the rest of the cheese and more chives on top. Cover and let cheese melt. Serve.

Yesterday I added some of the chicken from the Partial Chicken Cacciatore.

Except for the eggs, chicken, celery, garlic, salt and pepper, wine and cheese, everything came from the garden. So satisfying.

My harvest from last night:

Sadness! My zucchini growing so beautifully and looking so healthy died! I don't know what happened to it, so I gave it a proper burial in the trash bin. May it compost in peace.

A Walk in the Wilds of Denton...

Down the street is an empty field that has wild blackberries in it. One morning I decided to go pick some. I walked down the street with my harvesting bucket and with my head filled with visions of blackberry cobbler, blackberry jam, blackberry pie.

After braving the thorns (ouch!) and fighting the birds for that one ripe berry, I came home with....

1/4 cup of berries.

Sigh.

Today's Harvest

I went for my morning walk and came home to see what was ready to pick for today's salad. Well, there are a few tomatoes, but they are not quite ready. I've eaten all the ripe cherry tomatoes, save one from today. Huny has given up on having some of those for the salad. I just can't help it! I love them!

Mom likes to tell a story of a time when I was a baby girl and got lost. They searched up and down for me and finally found me sitting in the middle of the tomato patch eating cherry tomatoes. Wish I could remember that. I'm sure it was pure heaven.

Our Sweet Banana Peppers are going crazy though! I picked one for the salad and the other two to slice and deseed and serve with some ranch dressing for an appetizer. There are still quite a few on the plants for tomorrow. These are just two and one hiding in background, but there at least five more on these two plants.

I still have lettuce going. I planted these from seed so that is whey they are still here but it is starting to get hot out so I don't know how much longer they'll be around.

I also got some chives and and a green top from the Walking Red Onion. It may not seem like much but this is good for Huny and me for our dinner tonight. I'll just add some feta cheese, olives, sunflower seeds and dressing and I suppose I ought to split that one little cherry tomato with him.

Piggly Wiggly, Down Home, Down the Street

Well, only for a few more days and then Piggly Wiggly is gone for good.

When I was a little girl I lived in El Paso, Texas. Across the street a ways was the local Piggly Wiggly and that is where we shopped for the necessities. For me it was chocolate candy, but for mom it was milk and eggs.

When we moved from El Paso, I never thought of it again until I met Huny and started visiting him in Denton. The directions he gave me that first time were to take a left where Piggly Wiggly is on the corner. Huh? I'll be durned - there it was - a Piggly Wiggly on the corner.

After I moved to Denton, the Pig was the place to stop for that one thing I needed for supper that night, milk for the morning cereal, or to do some grocery shopping. Even though the prices were kind of high on some things, I shopped there as much as possible because I have always been a big supporter of the local mom and pops. I always hit the vege aisle first because they would take their "day-old" veges and bag them up for $1.00! I saved a lot of money doing that and I got some good stuff too. Pigs carried a lot of local vendors in the store so that was even better. The regular employees had been there forever - some over 30 years - and slowly we got to know each other and they became somewhat of an extended family.

A few weeks ago I noticed that some things were going away - the magazines, books. The canned coffees were not being replenished - things like that. Slowly I started to hear rumors that the store was in trouble. Last week there were signs all over the place of 30% off - STORE CLOSING!

SADNESS!!

It all having to do with a bankruptcy. A local buyer was looking to buy, but that fell through.

So now, another neighborhood store is closing. I'll have to go to the big box chain grocery stores where I won't know the cashier and the cashier will be too busy to get to know me. I may have more of a variety, but at what cost? It just doesn't seem worth it to me.

I'll miss this icon of another time, the local neighborhood grocery store.

Onion Harvest

My garden is a work in progress and is an every day learning experience for me. I've been keeping an eye on my onions and figured that surely they should be ready to come out soon. The tops had toppled over and some of the onions were up on the ground. This is my very first onion crop so I had no clue on when they should be ready. Well, I found out that once the tops do topple over (and mine were all on the ground) that is the time to harvest. Look at what I got! My very first onion harvest ever!

The basket is full of onions! Some are the size of a softball!

Being new to the harvest part of gardening, I rigged up this drying screen with Huny's compost screen. I ended up with 28 onions.

Did I mention that I don't like onions? I like onion flavor, but I do not like to bite into an onion. I'm trying to learn to like them, but it is something I need to keep working on.

I cook with onions all the time, but always leave them in large enough pieces so that I can see them in my food.

Here's a recipe that you might like if you're into onions:

1 small to medium onion, sliced

1 cucumber, sliced

1/4 c (or to taste) of Italian Dressing

salt and pepper to taste

herb of choice (I used Marjoram.)

Mix all together and let set in the refrigerator for an hour. Serve as a side salad with your evening meal or with some crackers for a light lunch.

It's Friday night and...

I'm making Strawberry Jam! I am one wild, and crazy lady!

A few weeks ago I went to The Bailey’s Berry Patch to learn how to can, preserve, pickle, dry and freeze fresh fruit and vegetables.

The day was filled with learning, cooking and tasting. I learned how to freeze my fruits and vegetables the right and safe way. I learned how to dry fruits and make my own roll ups and I learned how to make jams.

I tasted fresh made salsa and watched it being canned with the boiling waterbath method. The salsa was excellent. I got to bring a pint of it home and enjoyed it with chips, guacamole and fajitas.

I haven't attempted the waterbath yet, but I have made jam.

My huny loves to eat blackberry anything. Do you know how much a small jar of blackberry jam costs? Jeez!

Although the initial cost was high because I had to buy the freezer jars, in the end the total cost was much lower than buying blackberry jam in the store, and even less than buying organic blackberry jam in the local organic grocery store. I spent about $4.00 for the jars, $1.50 for the fruit pectin, and $1.50 for 5 fresh blackberry tubs.

For the strawberry jam I made tonight, all I had to buy was the strawberries, which ended up at $1.50 a quart for 3 quarts (although I used 2 1/4) for the four cups the recipe calls for and $1.50 for the fruit pectin.

I ended up with 6-8oz jars of blackberry jam and 5-8oz jars of strawberry jam.

We are eating blackberry jam on toast, ice cream, bagels with cream cheese and in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I can hardly wait to have the strawberries on bagels. Yum!

Learning how to use what I grow to provide for my family gives me a feeling of goodness in my heart. I'm glad that I can borrow the Earth to grow foods that my family loves and will eat. I am being patient with myself and with the garden and am learning as I go. Every step of this journey in the garden has been a wonderful adventure for me. I encourage you to take a step, no matter how small, to get in the dirt and grow something good for your soul. If it's a vegetable, sit and enjoy the taste of what you grew in your garden. If it's a flower, sit and enjoy the beauty and bloom and enjoy the simple pleasure of watching birds and butterflies enjoy it as well.

Before you know it, you'll be making your own jam and enjoying it with your morning bagel and cup of coffee.

Rain!

Rain, rain!

This picture and below is the west side of the house.

This is the backyard. The far corner is where we have pumpkins growing.

The little garden up against the fence is where we have the zucchni.

Against the side is where we have peppers, onions, strawberries and lettuce.

We have had so much rain lately and even though it makes for a soggy yard the rain is appreciated. In a few weeks we will be checking the sky for clouds and hoping for rain. Unfortunately, sometimes once the rain stops in the spring, we don’t see it for a long, long time. I’m not going to complain, but in the meantime we get small lakes in the yard.

This is the east side of the backyard. That's the compost pile in the back corner. The bed next to that is where we have tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans.

All of this standing water started after homes were developed behind our yard. We will be working on something this summer in order to get this water to drain, but we're not sure what yet.

So far though, the plants have been taking all this water and standing water in stride and are coming along just fine!

Kentucky Derby

I have to admit I am not much into sports. I can sit and watch and have fun, but I really have no idea what is going on. I even had a Super Bowl party with a bunch of girlfriends and not a one of us knew what was going on (kinda - we're not complete dodo birds). But we hollered and whooped and had a good ole time and that is still one of the best parties I ever had. I remember one of the teams was the Seattle Seahawks. I don't think they won.

And then my Huny walked into my life. The man is a sports junkie. If I let him he would watch sports channels all day, every day.

Now I sit and watch every sport there is on TV. I am now hooked on NASCAR ( go Carl Edwards - yoohoo). I watch football, I watch baseball, basketball, GOLF (omg). I sit and watch tv and listen to Huny tell me all kinds of statistics, names, places, who's who and who knows what else and I say, Yes, Dear. (Just don't ask me to repeat any of this because I have NO IDEA, what he is talking about.)

So being the dutiful wife and, okay, now I do kinda get into the sports thing (even though I still have no clue), I watched the Kentucky Derby. Getting into the spirt of the thing, I threw on my cowboy horse shirt, dug out my favorite straw cowboy hat and searched high and low for the trim and feathers to make it into a hat worthy of the Kentucky Derby.

When Huny got home from work he started searching for his BB gun. Never mind that he doesn't even own one. HaHa.

I gave him my appropriate Derby nose and asked him if he wanted me to fix him a hat too. Well, he said no way.

Hmmph.

In lieu of the Mint Julip, I plucked a sprig of spearmint sat back and enjoyed the show with my trigger happy Huny.

I hope you had a wonderful day today as well!

The latest flu...

Everytime we turn around there is something out there that is out to get us. It's either some type of flu bug or something that we are told we shouldn't eat or drink because it gives us cancer.

I feel for the familes that have been affected by this latest flu bug. Loved ones have died and that is sadness.

Familes and communities have been affected in other ways as well. Schools are closed putting an extra burden on the parents that have to find some way to have their children cared for during the day while they are at work. Most parents can't take the time off to be at home because this job is all they have to keep their family above water. Businesses are losing their livelihood because no one is going there to shop or eat. Families are confined to their homes. I heard this morning about a father that took his children to the gym at a Marine base and was turned away - not because he or his children were or had been ill, but because his children attended a school where three children had confirmed cases of the flu.

Events across the nation are being cancelled. Most of these events have vendors that to most of them an event is another avenue of how to sell their product and make a living. All of this adds to an already troubled economy. In my community the opening day of Lewisville Farmers' Market and the Cinco de Mayo event was cancelled.

And then today, I heard that the whole thing was blown out of proportion. That yes, it is a bad thing that is happening, it is just not the big, badness that it was made out to be.

Whether that is true or not, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is or what the right action to take is.

Like you, I don't want my family to become affected by this flu or any other flu, or sickness, or anything. But I also don't want to confine my family and be afraid of living life.

Like our grandmother and mother said, wash you hands. Be careful. Be aware.

And as we say in Texas, don't be afraid to take the bull by horns. (Just be sure you wash your hands afterwards!)

Poppies in the Garden

A perfect day for a walk in the garden! The day was a bit cloudy and just the right temperature.

A while back I posted about seeds that I put out in the garden and some of them were for poppies. Yesterday I got my first bloom!

Later in the day I was walking around and found it was being visited by a little fly.

Here are some other pictures of my garden:

daisy

yarrow

dianthus and a monarch butterfly.

Have a wonderful day!

Radishes

Radishes.

Up until a year ago or so I never really thought about them. At all. It's a vegetable, you see. I didn't eat them in salads. I certainly didn't eat them whole.

But then the Vege Garden Fairy (my Huny) visited me. (He might not like me calling him a Garden Fairy, but he is.) And my life changed.

Now radishes are everywhere in my garden.

I eat them in my salads now. I've tried them whole with salt- Huny's direct route to Nirvana - but this is not my thing.

There is a curious thing that happens when you start to garden with vegetables. You have to eat them.

And I love it! I love going out and picking my lettuce and green onions for the salad every night. I love to pick some chives for the breakfast eggs. I can hardly wait to harvest the onions. The cherry tomatoes are coming on, the serrano peppers are going strong, the pumpkins are leafing out so beautifully! Cucumbers are starting to reach for the sky. Beans are being shy still, but I'm patient with them. Tomatoes are flowering and jalapenos and bell's are starting to wake as well.

This Spring has been a wonderful revelation to me. It's like a butterfly opening her wings and learning to fly.

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?