EL
RITO, CO. Dear friends and followers: I am happy to report the
launching of a global campaign to restore the South Central Farm in Los
Angeles and place this agroecological treasure back in the hands of the
indigenous farmers and their extended community of families seeking
food sovereignty. The recovery and restoration of this rare urban
commons is one of the most profound environmental justice and food
sovereignty campaigns of our time. Please join me today and help us
restore this agroecological wonder.
Established in 1992, in the aftermath of the Rodney King Insurrection,
the South Central Farm became the largest urban agricultural landscape
in the nation. Ten of 14 acres at the urban site, in the middle of a
warehouse and wrecking yard district, were intensively cultivated with
more than a 100 different species of unique Mesoamerican heirloom row
crops, medicinal herbs, fruit vines, orchard and sacred ceremonial
trees, and cacti. For an early study of the ethnobotany and
agro-biodiversity of the original farm, please visit The Acequia
Institute Research Reports page and scroll down to Link 7.
In 2003, The South Central Farmers (SCF) organized a campaign to save
the farm from developers. The farmers resisted eviction until June of
2006. The eviction occurred despite the fact that the SCF successfully
raised the $16.5 million the land owner was asking for the purchase of
the land. The origins of the farm and the 3 year-long campaign
against eviction became the topic of an Oscar-nominated documentary
film, "The Garden."
Over the past four years since the eviction, the SCF have gone on to
establish a farm near Bakersfield in the community of Buttonwillow,
about two hours north of LA. Last month, the farmers had a ceremony
attended by the Honorable Maxine Waters (D-CA) to initiate the opening
of the irrigation system to water the 80-acre Buttonwillow site.
However, the farmers seek to return to their urban roots, while
continuing to build the broader movement for food sovereignty through
the activism of their "community-based agriculture" project in
Buttonwillow.
By Peter N. Nelson, The Faster Times Posted on January 5, 2010, Printed on January 5, 2010 http://www.alternet.org/story/144934/
This article was reprinted from The Faster Times. Faster. Smarter. Funnier: Go to TheFasterTimes.com for the latest in News, Politics, Science, Arts, Health, Nonsense, and everything else.
If you’re like me, you considered it your duty, as a good father, to
eat more than your share of rich fatty sugar-laden foods over the
holidays, as a way of protecting your family from obesity. The instinct
to protect one’s offspring is hardwired throughout the animal kingdom
and a noble calling, so if you’ve gained 10-15 pounds since
Thanksgiving, you are to be commended.
Now, Pork-Boy, it’s time to take your New Years’ resolutions
seriously and lose a few pounds, particularly if part of your
stay-at-home dad’s duties is to buy and prepare foods for your family.
Odds are, you’re not the only one in your family who gained weight, or
needs to shed it, including your kids.
I won’t bother you with a lot of statistics about the ongoing
obesity epidemic (two thirds of adults and about forty percent of all
children in this country are overweight) or what the health costs are
(diabetes, hypertension, chronic heart disease etc) — if you don’t know
this stuff already, you’ve been in a coma for the last ten years.
Kidding aside, it’s important. Bad eating habits are learned young
- rarely do fat kids come from thin parents. If you really want to
protect your kids, implement the following changes:
Cut sugar. Sugar
sends a signal to your body: “burn me first, store fat for later.” We
evolved to store as much fat as possible as a defense against future
famines, but the mechanism works against us when there aren’t any
famines, and there aren’t, at least in this country. If you avoid
sugar, you’ll burn fat. Eating sweets before bed is the worst thing
you can do. Dr. Naomi Neufeld, Los Angeles pediatric endocrinologist
and author of Kidshape(Rutledge
Hill, Nashville, 2004, with yours truly as co-author) recommends
Splenda as a substitute, though years of studies have shown Sweet ‘N’
Low to be safe too. And don’t fool yourself, thinking fruit juices are
good because they have the word “fruit” on them — some have more sugar
in them than sodas.
Cut fat. Duh.
Two percent instead of whole milk, margarine instead of butter, chicken
or turkey instead of beef or tofu instead of chicken, and just a bit of
olive oil to fry with. Read labels and if you see something at the
store that says “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil,” don’t buy it,
and hide it so no one else can either.
Tianguis TWO YEAR'S LATER COMMUNIDAD SIEMPRE ADELANTE
Written by Administrator
May 30, 2008 at 12:21 PM
South Central Farmers Health and Education
1702 E. 41st St. Los Angeles, CA 90058
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2008
South Central Farmers' Tianguis
TWO YEAR'S LATER
COMMUNIDAD SIEMPRE ADELANTE
WHAT: 1) South Central Farmers' Two Years since the eviction
2) Community Supported Agriculture Program
3) FarmLife Reunion
4) Chard, kale, Beets, Carrots, and More!
5) Bring seeds to plant
WHEN: Sunday, June 1, 2008 12pm (noon) - 5:00 pm
(Also...Save the date...June 13th @ 7pm...Vigil, Potluck, and Fandango)
WHERE: The SCFHEF Community Center & Gallery
1702 E. 41st Street
Los Angeles, CA 90058
Metro: Exit Blue Line Vernon Station and walk four blocks North
WHY: SCFHEF remembers the eviction and celebrates the perseverance, hard work, and commitment of the South Central Farmers' and their mission for food sovereignty.
WHO: Danza Azteca
Holistic Care & products
Tasty Food
And More!
As part of their commitment to keep Bringing Food to the ‘Hood, the SCFHEF hosts a monthly Tianguis marketplace in collaboration with various community-based organizations, artisans, and local merchants. Every first Sunday of the month, the Tianguis transforms public space surrounding the original 14-acre farm into a site for healthy eating, healthy economics, and healthy relationships.
April 6 2008 Tianguis: Coalition of Immokalee Workers 4/6/08
About the CIW: After 2 successful campaigns--one against Taco Bell and the other against McDonald's-- the CIW is now targeting Burger King. But Burger King is not only denying their responsibility for the subpoverty wages and sweatshop conditions faced by farmworkers in their tomato supply chain, they are also working with tomato growers to take away what was won with Taco Bell and McDonald's.
Burger King denies farmworker poverty and modern-day slavery, even though at the end of November another case of slavery was uncovered in Immokalee and is currently in federal court-- a case that involves over a dozen workers that were forced to work against their will, chained and locked in a u-haul truck at night, and beaten when they tried to escape. The CIW has launched a national petition campaign to gather signatures from all over the country to take to Burger King at the end of April. In the same way that abolitionists in Britain and the U.S. did petition drives and boycotted sugar and other products produced by slaves, 200 years later the CIW is launching a similar campaign to end modern-day slavery in the fields today.
Health & Education
