La Huerta Roots and Rays

Contact Information: Connect with a garden leader at rootsandraysgarden@gmail.com or by calling (774) 234-7297
Address: 1523 W Cullerton
Neighborhood/Community Area: Pilsen
Garden Established: 2007
Protected by NeighborSpace: 2014
Social Media/Website: 
Facebook: @lahuertarootsandrays
Website: Rootsandrays.org
Community Partners: Pilsen Alianza Verde, Pilsen Wellness Center
Garden Workdays: Workdays are the first Sunday of the month from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. Workdays are subject to change due to weather conditions.

About the Garden: (From Pilsen Alianza Verde) 
Roots and Rays is a volunteer run urban garden designed to grow organic food for the people of Pilsen, grow knowledge through experience, and grow community by providing a safe shared green-space. Upon moving to Pilsen in 2007, our founding member noticed an abandoned grassy lot on the corner of Cullerton and Laflin, the following summer she began gardening. Starting with a perennial flower garden and a few containers of vegetables in 2008, interest in the garden quickly began to grow.

By the winter of 2009, Roots and Rays’ core leadership came together through a series of community connections and by the start of the planting season had organized a support network of fifteen neighbors who provided physical and financial help. Together we built eight raised beds and grew enough vegetables to feed our friends and ourselves for the entire season. Though full of delicious veggies we were still left unsatisfied knowing that our bounty wasn’t reaching further into the community. Thanks to a lot of hard work and generosity we’ve transformed a once vacant, dirty, and dangerous city lot into a fully functional, fully supplied small scale agriculture site growing food for our volunteers, the neighbors and the Pilsen Wellness Center’s food pantry as well as a community gathering space, hosting workshops and presentations around organic gardening, non-violent conflict resolution, and environmental and food justice issues.