Try to find a patch of green in the Eastside Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights and you might get lost amid the gray pavement. With the 5, the 10, the 60, and the 101 freeways weaving through the area, it’s easy to find a paved road, much harder to find a green space.
Keep looking and you might stumble upon an oasis, Proyecto Jardín, a communal garden and local treasure in Boyle Heights. It’s where I recently found Antonio Garcia carefully tending his crops. Young gardeners turn to the 63-year old for help growing their ancestor’s crops, like hoja santa, epazote, and chinchaoyte, all readily yielding at Proyecto Jardín.
Two months ago, Garcia started growing patches of lettuce, cilantro and calabesita de arbol, often used as vessels for drinking or eating. The question now is whether Garcia will be able to continue to care for his crops, because Proyecto Jardín’s lease ran out on Dec. 31.
Garcia is right at home in Boyle Heights. More than half of the 100,000 people living there are immigrants — most from Mexico, with a rising number from El Salvador. About 1-in-3 live below the poverty line, and many suffer from cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It’s all connected here. Less money means less access to safe housing and healthy food, and less access to safe housing and healthy food leads to poor health. Proyecto Jardín, whose name translates to “garden project,” was created in Boyle Heights in 1999 to combat this cycle by establishing a hub intimately tied to community health. Proyecto Jardín is the name of the place and the organization that runs it.
[For more of this story, written by Aura Bogado, go to http://grist.org/food/importan...aces-a-rocky-future/]
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