At the Pasadena Earth and Arts Festival, Mark Rice of Pasadena Learning Gardens hosted the first of four meetings, entitled “The Next Course”. There were about forty people present, with representatives from a variety of organizations, including the county’s Master Preserver program, the Pasadena Public Health Department, the Pasadena Community Garden, NELA Transition, Flintridge Center, Sustainable World, 7th Principle, Throop U.U. Church, and likely others I didn’t recognize. Rather than being an educational course, this event is really meant to be a gathering of activists around urban food issues.
The concept is here we all are in Pasadena and Altadena, we have a large array of natural and human resources, and a wealth of community activism. What can we do to impact the impact the issues of food justice, food deserts, and the sustainability of the overall food distribution system? Is there a consensus we can come to around these issues?
I like to wrap all of this with the term “urban agriculture”. LA County has a rich history of urban agriculture that goes back over a hundred years. When the LA basin started to expand rapidly in the early twentieth century, the promise of large enough lots, where a homeowner could do some farming close enough to the city to get to work each day, drew many to Southern California.
The concept is here we all are in Pasadena and Altadena, we have a large array of natural and human resources, and a wealth of community activism. What can we do to impact the impact the issues of food justice, food deserts, and the sustainability of the overall food distribution system? Is there a consensus we can come to around these issues?
I like to wrap all of this with the term “urban agriculture”. LA County has a rich history of urban agriculture that goes back over a hundred years. When the LA basin started to expand rapidly in the early twentieth century, the promise of large enough lots, where a homeowner could do some farming close enough to the city to get to work each day, drew many to Southern California.
The next meeting is May 9th at the Altadena Community Garden at the corner of Palm (between Altadena Dr. and Alta Loma) and Lincoln. We will meet at 6 pm with a garden tour and the program will start at 6:15 pm. Anyone with a stake in healthy food is invited to participate.
May 9, Thursday, 6:00 pm
Altadena Community Garden
3330 N Lincoln Av
Altadena
We’ll have two segments. First, Dr. Walsh will talk about the issues around eating well or not, and we’ll collect ideas. Then we’ll discuss how any garden can be a tool for transforming a neighborhood, with Hop Hopkins speaking about Villa Park and his house, and me speaking about Madison and the Altadena Community Garden, and a review of January’s talk at the first meeting about the Throop Learning Garden. We also plan to create a list of possible community garden resource locations.
— David Cutter
Links:
Pasadena Learning Gardens
LA Kitchen Gardeners & Urban Farmers Meetup
Altadena Community Garden
Photo: Master gardener Mark Rice leads a discussion about the future of food in and around the Pasadena area.
May 9, Thursday, 6:00 pm
Altadena Community Garden
3330 N Lincoln Av
Altadena
We’ll have two segments. First, Dr. Walsh will talk about the issues around eating well or not, and we’ll collect ideas. Then we’ll discuss how any garden can be a tool for transforming a neighborhood, with Hop Hopkins speaking about Villa Park and his house, and me speaking about Madison and the Altadena Community Garden, and a review of January’s talk at the first meeting about the Throop Learning Garden. We also plan to create a list of possible community garden resource locations.
— David Cutter
Links:
Pasadena Learning Gardens
LA Kitchen Gardeners & Urban Farmers Meetup
Altadena Community Garden
Photo: Master gardener Mark Rice leads a discussion about the future of food in and around the Pasadena area.
