City Heights
A vacant lot in City Heights was reimagined as an urban farm using fish and hydroponics to stay above ground. A project of the International Rescue Committee – San Diego, the aquaponics farm acted as an additional training ground for farmers of the nearby New Roots Community Farm. Produce grown here was sold down the street at the City Heights’ Farmers’ Market.
At the garden, Malaki Obado shares his experience of growing up around agriculture and how understanding where your food comes from can promote a change in habits.
The project lasted a couple years before it started growing beyond the lot’s permitted use. Traditional gardening techniques are still in use, but the fish and hydroponics have been removed.
Filmed in 2011, originally for Speak City Heights.