Ron Finley is a guerilla gardener in South Central Los Angeles who's inspired me and countless others planting gardens in the food deserts of the inner cities.
Meet Ron Finley
When I first heard of Ron Finley, I had just left my 10 year career in sales in beautiful Cancun to look for a place in Washington I could grow food. As beautiful as those beaches in Mexico were, the soil pales compared to the Pacific Northwest.
It was winter in Seattle. I was holed up at the Green Tortoise hostel with a certainty that I would be growing something, somewhere by next season when I found the video of his TED talk.
Tears welled up in my eyes when I first saw it. I have been around good food all my life and to hear him tell his story of living in a food desert had an effect on me. You know when you realize how you've been taking the simple things in life for granted. That feeling.
His words are the same mantra I have been chanting to myself and anyone who'll listen. Growing food is more than a hobby. It's a game changer.
If you haven't seen his TED talk go see it right now.
Ron's TED Talk
Go on, Go See It. I'll Wait
With no place to dig yet I went out and got a shovel after listening to him talk. I looked him up on Facebook and sent him a friend request and shared with him how that video inspired me. He replied back and now we're on Facebook.
Ron has done a lot of things to change his community for the better, centering around growing food and expanding from there.
Coming To You
His newest project is a film planting seeds in cities throughout the U.S. to create a paradigm shift in food availability.
Food is more than nourishment, it's the glue that binds communities together, the fuel that feeds commitment to each other. It's life.
Ron will personally come to your community to plant the seeds of change that every city needs. If you want to be part of the solution you should watch this.
Go watch his trailer and be inspired. Be the change. If they can do this in South Central L.A. we can do it anywhere.
Great initiative, and he's a great advocate.
In either direction from my office there are 'gardens' with sparsely placed trees, and between the concrete walkways is ample space with fantastic soil to grow food -- fruit trees, berry bushes, salad greens, whatever. Also within a few hundred meters of the office are no less than 6 homeless people. It always seems surreal to me.
We could feed the entire suburb on that ground, let alone the entire city's homeless community...
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All it takes is a few people to change a landscape into something more productive. Ron will come to your town and show your community how.
Visit http://ronfinley.com
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I always think that 'growing projects' should be in schools - each school should have a 'patch' to develop and teach children about food, soil etc - what they grow can be sold and monies used to reinvest .
Nice article
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I agree. Showing kids how to grow food has so many educational opportunities. They can learn about nutrition, science, chemistry, ecology, biology and economics. It also teaches cooperation.
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What they should always have been teaching (that and all other life sustaining skills) in schools. It will take strong individuals, one by one to make this mainstream or common sense again.
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It's catching on. The importance of access to good food and knowing how to grow it is spreading. Thanks for your comment.
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