Community Gardens in La Paz

Just a week before we left La Paz, our friends Kay and Steve Terzian (Sea Lady) introduced us to some Bend, Oregon friends who are working and living here. Bill works with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on issues of sustainable development. He and his wife, Terry, in turn introduced us to the La Paz community gardens project. Home gardens have a long, rich history in Mexico and the community gardens project (Sam and Alfredo coordinating it) hopes to reacquaint people with the earth... demonstrating how easy, inexpensive, and healthy it can be to raise some of their own food.

The first garden was developed in November, 2011. It's located at the corner of Manuel Encinas and Guillermo Prieto and has dozens of little garden plots allocated to various individuals or families. Herbs, chard, spinach, lettuce, corn, beans, flowers, tomatoes, beets, onions, and a variety of other fruits and vegetables bring color and texture to the sandy brown soil. Check it out at: jardinencinas

A second garden, Sabores de la Tierra, is located at the end of Nayarit (#41), on the edge of the bay. It shares a space with two large, abandoned cement storage towers and a couple acres of undeveloped land. The plots in this garden seem to belong more to whomever works them...I planted seeds one day, helped with equipment another day and was able to take home an armload of produce.


On Sunday, April 15th, there was a tree-planting event at the third garden, Guamuchil, located on Colegio Militar between Altamirano and Ramirez. This was the first planting, so the dry, dry ground looks so barren compared to what will be coming.