Viva la community garden.

Last class we visited some local P- patches in the U-district. I've been attending the U.W. for two years now and had no idea about these community gardens. The one on University way I've passed several times with out noticing. Reading about the Seattle's history of the P-Patch by David Hess and how P-patches are really geared toward the benefit of lower-income communities makes me less cynical of the future of our countries food distribution and production. In fact, to go along with the articles we read last week, an article I read in a more recent Adbusters, has a short story titled "The People's Grocery." West Oakland is an area that has 53 liqueur stores and not one grocery store. There is know way to get fresh produce with out a significant amount of travel. Most people of the lower income area lack the resources to travel and therefore have to eat less nutritious foods. Foods high in fat are sold more expensive at local convenience stores. The area is high in drugs, and gun violence; however, the number one cause of death is said to be heart disease. Places like west Oakland are "primes examples of food injustice" says Adbusters. Poor areas are being denied access to healthy food. What happens in situations like this? The people take charge. In 2002, the Peoples Grocery was founded. It's a program that is helping West Oakland become more educated and most importantly, more self-reliant about food. Urban gardens began to sprawl up around the area. Micro-farms also providing jobs. The program plans to open a store in the local area with foods "grown by the people and for the people." There is a food crisis that will most likely expand in the coming years. It's good to see that solutions are already being created. With stories like this and the benefits of P-Patches, it's a reaction that is practical and kind of coming up the rear. Most people probably don't know about community gardens and their benefits, but I believe in the coming years they will. They will have too. We are not going to stand around and look at each other when there are no trucks coming to Safeway with Wonder Bread. We are going to take action. Stories like this show that and give me hope. We will not need the IMF and NAFTA to tell us what to pay for food. It will be more like a big "fuck you, we're going to grow it ourselves."