Via Erin McMorrow of the Venice Victory Garden on Rose:
why victory gardens? it starts with the soil. the mission of my latest passion project is “to simultaneously sequester carbon into the soil and make nutrient rich food through building the soil’s humus layer.” we’ve started with a volunteer-driven and funded, handmade victory garden from reclaimed and donated materials. it sits on one of the most heavily walked corners in los angeles, at the corner of rennie and Rose and rose in venice, behind the conspicuously cool matt winters design studio (matt winters generously shared his space with us and is an all-around badass).
the purpose is to get the word out about the critical importance of soil health in sequestering carbon to reverse global warming, to protect vital life forms that support all human life, and to get nutrients back into food by growing in healthy soil. the goal is to spur action across the country and the world to move away from industrial agricultural approaches that are stripping and killing the soil (among other nasty things that I’ll write about in the future), back to compost-based, nutritional, truly organic farming.
I’m involved because I believe the mission and timing are urgent, and that this fired-up group of people is in the right place at the right time to inspire significant change in our food and agricultural systems. to me, food and agriculture are at the center of everything – health and nutrition, hunger, global warming and ocean health, money in politics, use of urban space, use of oil and water, and on.
our work will include a number of upcoming projects involving compost and urban gardens, policy advocacy, and media to raise awareness.
“The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
