*Image courtesy of Hermosa Beach Community Garden*

By Brianna Egan

*update - since this article was published in 2020, SBPC and the RBCG committee successfully opened the first Redondo Beach Community Garden with a Ribbon Cutting ceremony in June 2023. More information is available HERE

There is a particular sense of richness and purpose found in community connectedness--in coming out of our private spaces and sharing resources, knowledge, and time as a community. In our current moment, where we find ourselves more isolated and withdrawn by both necessity and circumstance, we also find ourselves craving community and connection more than ever. We can choose to sit behind screens, slinging exclamation points over social media, or we can step outside the walls of our homes and come to ground level among neighbors.

Crucially, we need opportunities and space to find this fertile, common ground. Consider my hometown of Redondo Beach: This suburban beach city along the Los Angeles coastline, may as well be landlocked. Indeed, the beach to our west accounts for about 1.5 miles of open space, but other than the ocean and the Strand, we are effectively closed in with little green space (whether open space or park space) and limited levels of environmental awareness in general. At 10,769 persons per square mile, Redondo Beach is among the most densely-populated South Bay cities. With the density of our city, we have a disproportionate lack of green space. According to an L.A. County needs assessment, there are only 1.4 park acres per 1,000 residents in Redondo Beach, compared with the county average of 3.3 park acres per 1,000 residents. Redondo Beach is thus “park-poor.”

As someone who was born and raised in Redondo Beach, it was not until I left for college and took classes in public health and environmental health that I could recognize this lack of green space and environmental-consciousness in my hometown. Later on, I studied abroad in Costa Rica, researching agroecology on a sustainable coffee farm, and served a year in an AmeriCorps program in Santa Cruz County, working on nutrition and school garden programs in Watsonville, a semi-rural farming town in the Pajaro Valley. Each of these experiences was eye-opening as I was able to experience a rich sense of community in the context of shared gathering spaces and a deep connection to the land. I realized that in the entirety of my public school education in Redondo Beach, I had never learned about the history of our land nor grappled with the environmental imperative to protect our coastal ecosystem and native habitats. It wasn’t until I saw communities rallying to combat climate change in Costa Rica and in Watsonville that I realized such things were possible. Currently, I am studying for my Master’s in Public Health Nutrition, and with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing classes online, I moved back to Redondo Beach in March 2020, and returned back to the small garden I tend in my family’s backyard.

Having witnessed the beauty and function of community gardens in other communities, I have long dreamt of a community garden for Redondo Beach. In such a garden, there would be garden plots available to rent for an annual fee, a community compost system that turns food scraps into rich soil (completing the nutrient cycle in one place), and a workshop area that provides space for teaching and learning. Communal plantings along the outside of the garden would bear herbs and fruits for any community member to enjoy. Such concepts are not difficult to envision for Redondo Beach, given that the neighboring cities of Hermosa Beach and Torrance boast vibrant and active community gardens, with the latter having a waiting list that stretches for several years. Previous efforts to start a community garden in Redondo Beach had fizzled out in years past, but the need and passion for the idea remain.

Soon after returning home, I became involved in a neighborhood garden project several blocks down from my family’s home. With its towering corn stalks and overflowing zucchini bushes, the garden became a model for community food security. Demonstrating the bounty and variety that can be grown in our mild climate, the garden underscored the importance of growing one’s own food amidst the backdrop of a global pandemic. Neighbors routinely walked by the space, giving a “thumbs up” and sharing their delight at watching the veggies grow.

In July 2020, I connected with city councilman Nils Nehrenheim and the local nonprofit, the South Bay Parkland Conservancy (SBPC). I have since partnered with SBPC to create a committee for a Redondo Beach Community Garden consisting of local residents and experienced garden advisors, now eight persons strong. The SBPC board decided to adopt an initiative to advocate for, establish, and eventually manage a community garden for the city. In October my committee and I presented our vision to the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission, which approved a motion to recommend the idea to the city council for consideration. We have connected with various city council members who are supportive of a community garden. We plan to formally present to city council before the year’s end and hope to begin discussion with city staff to determine a location and define the terms of an agreement. Ideally, we hope to be able to break ground within the next 6 months. We envision that the community garden would be managed by SBPC as a nonprofit and located on city land. Initial startup costs could be raised through a combination of grants, donations, fundraising, and city funds earmarked for such projects. Yearly operating costs would be met by annual dues paid by plot-renting members of the garden.

Community gardens provide a radical “third space” for gathering and coming together. Such places break down the barriers we erect of cynicism, judgment, and self-preservation. When we see each other eye-to-eye, when we grip another hand in shake, when we stand in a circle with our boots to the ground, we are stronger. We return to our roots and to our human need for interdependency, just as communities have done for ages. A community garden would provide residents of Redondo Beach with opportunities to build a sense of community. It would grow the human capital of sharing knowledge on how to grow food and feed families, and improve access to much-needed green space and cultivating space. Additionally, a community garden would improve nutrition and the dietary preferences of children, who are more likely to eat more fruits and vegetables if they took part in growing it themselves. For adults, community gardens are shown to improve overall health, reduce symptoms of depression and fatigue, and increase levels of social involvement and intake of fruits and vegetables. A Redondo Beach community garden would further catalyze partnerships and connections across schools and other groups, giving students the chance to engage in volunteering and citizen science projects.

To me, the most beautiful picture of gathering and solidarity are community gardens. I’ve encountered community gardens deep within a busy city or tucked away on church lots in rural towns. The magic is always palpable. Monarch butterflies visit the milkweed and busy bees flit between lavender and fruit trees, their pollen sacs ripe and yellow. Children point at the kaleidoscope colors of pepper and eggplant, and rip off leaves of kale to munch on. Gardeners, young and old, trim the shoots off tomato vines and bring water to thirsty melons. In these gardens we remind ourselves that the soil and the earth provide for us, and that the world of concrete and steel is of our own making and not necessarily a fertile space where things can thrive. The pursuit of money, of materialism, of consumption, is simply no longer relevant on these grounds. We acknowledge that food--real, good, nourishing food--comes not from packaging and stores but from the soil below us, and the air above us, and the seeds we hold in our hands.

As a city, Redondo Beach needs to strengthen a sense of community, foster neighborly bonds, and facilitate development of human capital and civic engagement. A community garden would provide us with this and more. It would create equitable access to food-growing space and would plant the seeds of environmental conservation and self-reliance. The time is now to set aside personal differences of background, ideology, and experience, and to work together in the common pursuit of something so simple yet so impactful--a community garden for Redondo Beach. May this be the first step in fulfilling a vision for a more vibrant and interconnected city.

If you’d like to get involved in the effort to create a Redondo Beach Community Garden, visit the SBPC page on the initiative and the “How you can help us” section at the bottom of the page.

This project and Brianna’s work was recently featured in the Easy Reader News: Return home inspires plan for Redondo Beach community garden.

Why Redondo Beach Needs a Community Garden