Ron Finley, A Renegade Gangster Gardener

If you go to the TED website, you can check out the speaker line up for any of their conferences. There’s a little blurb and some links about who they are so if you read the blurb you start to understand why they’ve been asked to speak. Before going to TED, a fun thing I like to do is to read through the speaker list looking for familiar names. Then, if/when I find one, I get really excited about hearing them speak at the conference. Little did I know that I'd be jazzed by Ron Finley, the artist, clothing designer and renegade gangster gardener. I certainly would never have guessed that Ron's TED talk would inspire me to help plant a garden across the street from Watts Tower in Watts, CA.

Ron grew up in South Central Los Angeles. He’d be the first to call his area a Food Desert, there’s nothing fresh or organic to be found. He started planting gardens in random places: vacant lots, traffic medians and curbside plots. Currently, all the food that’s produced is given to the communities for free. He thinks having access to fresh produce and getting the communities involved will help foster better eating habits. "If kids grow kale, kids eat kale."

So when Nick Weinberg invited me to a TEDActive Ron Finley gardening event, how could I not go? Ron describes a future plan of turning shipping containers into healthy cafés selling the food they grow. “Free is not sustainable. Funny thing about sustainability, to be sustainable we need to sustain.” Amen, Ron.

For more information about volunteering or becoming a part of LA Green Grounds, click here. 

(Images, from the top! Me and Ron; Anna and Nick; donated bulbs for planting; donated shovels; our gardening plot in Watts, CA; me turning soil while Ron's nephew waters; Ron's nephew teaching us about stressed tomato plants; Cholula observing our work; gardener's motto; squash plant; plant trays)