We Are the Soil

Ron Finely's TED talk about LA Green Ground's mission to bring the community benefits of urban gardening to South Central LA in California reminded me of my own observations living in a similar neighborhood in Long Beach Ca., also in LA county.
One of the first things that I noticed while living there was the lack of actual grocery stores with natural foods and fresh produce; only corner convenience stores with canned goods, pickled everything, and plenty of soda and candy which was often well past the expiration date on the labels.
I also noticed, and even participated in, several graffiti projects which were very much created in a "guerilla style" ambush of an unsuspecting wall under a bridge or on the side of an abandoned warehouse.
When Finely was describing the act of gardening in the community as an artistic expression similar to graffiti, I felt like I could relate to the spirit of what it is that he uses to energize other members of the neighborhood to join in and take ownership of their part of the righteous project.
It is that sense of ownership and pride in a work that literally bears fruit that unquestionably comes from their connection to the group effort and their vested interest in seeing it through to fruition.
When Finely says "when kids grow kale; kids eat kale" is quite true. I remember teaching simple cooking skills to a young person who I had a parental relationship with and I would watch him eat the things that he had cooked himself which he would have left cold on a plate if I had made the same thing for him. The difference is the fact that he had created it himself. He faced the challenge, suffered the frustration, and eventually saw his efforts pay off. The kids in South Central LA probably had a similar experience with their urban gardens.
Another powerful image in the TED talk was when Finely says "we are the soil". It is more than a metaphor when one considers what soil is and how it serves to produce fruits, vegetables, and other plants and flowers. Importantly, soil is distinct from dirt because fecund soil has rich nutrients which must be added from an outside source in an urban environment. The young people of a community like South Central, or Long Beach Ca. also flourish when they are given nutrients of both the literal variety, as well as the more ecological nutrients that comes from being involved in such a healthy and bountiful project as gardening in LA.