Growing your own food is like printing your own money.

[MattSh]

Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA

[djean111]

1. Thank you for that!!!!

I love TED immoderately; it is an antidote to the cynicism and despair I feel about our political system.

[duhneece]

8. Yup. there are times when I really need a dose of hope

Sometimes life just feels especially hard.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. we picked a ton - that's 2000 lbs - of produce from our driveway last summer.

500 containers, all sizes - 10, 5, 1 gallon. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. We are gearing up to do it again.....there has never been a better time to garden, if you have the space and physical ability.

[bunnies]

3. amazing. Wish I could rec this 100 times. nt

[bonniebgood]

4. I believe this could and should solve the inner city education, health and crime. nt

[mopinko]

5. +1

[kestrel91316]

6. A fabulous inner city community garden in Los Angeles

was shut down and bulldozed a few years ago to build a warehouse or something. Nice idea, but if there are no corporate profits to be made, it won't be permitted.

[BrotherIvan]

7. So sickening

I have often wondered why we don't have commons community gardens as in England. People need to learn to grow their own food, not only because it's cheap, it's healthier, tastes a zillion times better and is a great activity as well. I grow in containers on my apartment balcony, but sadly there is not enough sunlight for tomatoes which I wish I had an entire field of. Some of the teachers at our inner-city school gave a special after school class in gardening. They taught the students about making containers and raised beds from found materials, how to compost, deal with pests organically, and gave them all seeds and seedlings. The kids LOVED it. What a great thing to start in every community.

[kestrel91316]

17. Theft is a HUGE problem, though, with community gardens and even private home gardens if visible to

the street. Ask me how I know.

Los Angeles sucks in so many ways. If it isn't bolted to the ground here, it WILL grow legs and walk away. Even stuff in people's back yards.

[JDPriestly]

9. I garden mostly in pots in LA. It isn't free.

You have to get healthy soil from someplace. The soil around my house is nasty, thick clay. I compost, but collecting enough waste material is not easy.

In LA, we have lots of sun but that is not enough. You have to have soil and water, seeds and, if you want a decent yield, some fertilizer, preferably natural.

Water is a huge problem in LA, Ron Finley's hometown. I wonder how he manages his water, his soil and all the other things you need for a garden. I do it, but my garden is not free. It's less work than it is in many places. Because it rains so little, we have relatively few weeds. But let's be honest. Gardening is not free.

[efhmc]

14. Please join free cycle for free compost materials. You may need to drive to get them

but they are available. You just need to investigate the source so you will not get chemical laden substances. Also you can get/make a rain barrel and collect rain water year round. wwwfreecycle.org

[jeff47]

18. LA averages 15" of rain per year, and all of it falls between Nov and April.

Rain barrels aren't going to get the job done. Any garden will require significant water from the water company.

[JDPriestly]

20. We actually got rain yesterday, and I did collect it. I think that we might have gotten an

inch or so of rain. Average rainfall in May is about 1/4 an inch. I was so excited that it rained, I called my mother. Rain in May in Los Angeles is an event.

And we'll get almost no rain in throughout the summer.

[efhmc]

23. Fantastic. Wish we would get some here in Central TExas. We had some

nice clouds and few sprinkles.

[xtraxritical]

10. I've got six tomato plants and a fat rabbit, check with me in July.

[drynberg]

11. Yes, marvelous, excuse me as I

Need to plant some seeds for our garden, Peace.

[Voice for Peace]

12. YES YES YES YES YES

Change the composition of the soil. Transform the world one neighborhood at a time. It's contagious and it works.

[JNelson6563]

13. Absolutely brilliant.

As was rightly noted in this thread, gardening is not free. But it's a great way to get really cheap, really nutritious food.

I think it's awesome that he's got an eye to sustaining (and growing) this project by selling excess at farmer's markets and of course private donation.

What a hero Mr. Ron Finley is! Let's all Grow Some Shit!

Julie

[Kali]

15. the two most subversive things you can do

grow your own food and turn off the fucking tee vee.

[JDPriestly]

21. Wow! I must be really subversive. I grow as much of my own food as I can (which

isn't much) and don't watch TV at all except on the internet.

[bvar22]

16. It takes some up front investment in tools & infrastructure,

and a lot of Labor,
but Growing Your Own can produce Off-the-Books income if one is careful.

For most people, it costs MORE to Grow Your Own than it would cost to buy
the same produce at the local supermarket.

By the time labor is figured in,
it would be more financially advantageous to spend the time working in the Drive Up Window for Minimum Wage and buying from the local supermarket.

Growing Your Own will feed your soul,
but, realistically, how many MEALS will it put on your table?

There are good reasons for growing your own,
but "saving money" is not a sure thing unless done very carefully,
every year,
using existing infrastructure, (green house, saving seeds, starting seeds, existing garden plots, compost, fencing, plant supports, etc.)
with an eye on the pennies,
and on a scale that puts MEALS on your table.

In 2006, My Wife & I sold everything,
moved to the Woods in the South,
and started growing our own.
We also keep chickens and Honey Bees.

Major Health Concerns aside,
we would have done this for the TASTE only.



---bvar22 & Starkraven
Living well on a low "taxable" income,
and stuff we learned in the 60s

[JDPriestly]

22. Taste is the real motivator.

Freshness counts. If you pick a tomato right before supper, take it to the table and eat it fresh, it's worth all the work and expense.

[blackspade]

19. Awesome video

[Bucky]

24. Has anyone one else noticed how the TED talks sound the same?