Teresa Mares

Today in class we had a great guest lecturer, Teresa Mares. Her presentation was about Urban Agriculture and Food Justice. Towards the middle of the presentation, Teresa started talking about Urban Agriculture in our own city, Seattle. They include organizations like the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods P-Patch Communities, (I mentioned this in an earlier blog), Cultivating Communities, Seattle Youth Garden Works (no longer exists), Lettuce Link, and Seattle Tilth. Teresa later delves deeper into Marra Farm, which has been cultivated since the early 1900s. This farm is located in South Seattle, in the South Park area. This is near the Duwamish River which is a Superfund site. South Park is also seen as a food desert because there are limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables. So as Teresa says, many questions have been raised over the farm producing organic produce yet it is located within such a toxic area. The farm consists of three gardens: Lettuce Link Giving Garden, Mien Community Garden, and a P-Patch Garden. The Lettuce Link garden produces 13,000-14,000 lbs of produce a year! The Mien Community garden is amazing as Teresa describes and is cultivated by refugees from Laos.

I feel like this lecture really connected with our blogs since most of our early blog posts were about community gardens. South Park residents probably have been facing environmental racism, so I think having this farm there is great as I think some of the community members has a share in the farm. Teresa also mentioned that Marra Farm is transitioning into being a City of Seattle Park. Personally, I don't think this is a good idea. Although there can be benefits for the whole community since it can be a great place for gathering and such, but I feel like there are more disadvantages than advantages. I'm not sure if the park is going to be around the farm or how that is going to work. But I feel like there might be a certain invasion of privacy. The farmers have all been there for a while and now all of a sudden, there will be people all over the place. I hope that this doesn't lead to theft or destruction of property. But hopefully I am wrong and the park does turn into something beneficial for all involved. Teresa also mentioned that there is concern since having this park could increase costs and eventually could push the farmers out. I also hope this doesn't happen because many have been reaping the benefits from the farm and if this is lost, then that will be a sad day. Most of the farmers at Marra Farm are probably lower income people of color. Their gardens are vital to them. We do not need this to turn into something like the South Central Farm in LA.

Marra Farm



Learn more about Marra Farm: http://www.solid-ground.org/Programs/Nutrition/Marra/Pages/default.aspx


-Hien Ngo