Episode Summary

In this episode, Ron talks about why gardening is an essential piece of creating a greater community and environment. He discusses some of the struggles with his efforts to create gardens in Los Angeles and some of the underlying systemic issues that create underserved communities. 

Highlights

• Ron turned his pool into a garden.
• Plants do communicate and produce sound.
• A lot of today's technology has atrophied our minds and body.
• People need to get back to doing things, touching things, building and communicating.
• Life comes out of the soil and then goes back into it and we need to appreciate that.
• Ron worked in fashion manufacturing and studied tailoring from the time he was 15 years old. He wanted to be a master tailor.
• When people hear the word fashion they think of clothes. That is not the definition of fashion. 
• Ron sees gardening and tailoring as the same thing. It is a creative process in the same way an artist renders something.
• If you are a passionate person then everything that you do has passion.
• Gardening is a source of freedom.
• Air is the single most important thing in your life and most people don’t recognize that. Even water has oxygen in it.
•  Ron was instrumental in having the law changed to allow food to be planted on the parkways in Los Angeles. 
• Ron wanted to walk out of his home and see and experience something beautiful and fulfilling instead of grass and trash.
• His garden was reported to the city for planting in the parkway. He received a warrant for his arrest.
• He removed the first garden but several years later he planted another one and was reported again. This time he didn’t submit to the request to remove the garden.
• Ron believes that the food problem is easy to solve but there are too many industries that would be negatively impacted by the change so those that could fix it choose not to.
• It’s June but there is still time to plant many vegetables and fruits. Find out what zone you are in and start now.
• You can grow squash, grapes, and cucumbers on a balcony if you are in the city.
• No herbs are easy to grow.

Relevant Links

Website - Click here
Ted Talk – Click here
Master Class -Ron Finley Teaches Gardening - Click here