A Garden Grows in Watts
Lauren Whaley | 8-18-2010 | Comments |
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Katie Bachler spent her Tuesdays this summer on East 107th street in Watts, observing nature with neighborhood kids.
The 28-year-old taught her students how to break open a peach pit to reveal the almond-like center, how to find natural beauty in their city street and how to document it in personal journals.
Bachler and friend Sarah Dougherty taught a weekly class to kids who live across from the famous Watts Towers. The natural history of Los Angeles was the subject. Bachler is a graduate of the Masters of Public Art Studies program at University of Southern California. But, it’s really the intersection of art and nature that inspires her and inspires her to teach.
“We came up with this curriculum about native plants in L.A.,” she said. “How nature’s in the city and you can find beauty everywhere.”
On one Tuesday, she and Dougherty took the kids - who range from ages four to 12 - for a nature walk. They didn’t go to the Angeles National Forest or the Santa Monica Mountains or even the beach. They stayed on their own street and found that nature - literally - in their backyard. Kids picked up bean pods, felt the texture of kale from a garden and talked about how seeds become trees.
“We’re working with them to view the city as more of a process than a product, to see their neighborhood as a place to learn,” Bachler said. “The garden is a metaphor for looking at everything as nature and growth.”
After the kids finished eating their peaches, they broke open the pits and drew what they see. They learned Native American folklore, like the story of the “three sisters” - beans, squash and corn - that grow together in harmony.
One student, Abigail, who will be a second-grader this fall, said she wants to teach people about science when she grows up.
“I want to be a plant scientist,” she said. “Even people who are blind, I can teach them.”
Abigail’s mother, Rosa Gutierrez, said that she hopes to raise “a group of scientists.” And, as a mother of 10, she may just do that.
The nature class is part of the Watts House Project, which aims to improve the houses - and thus the neighborhood - across from the historic Watts Towers. Improvements include fixing gates, painting homes and creating a space for kids to learn from people like Katie Bachler and a host of volunteers.
“They’re teaching gardening, and they can bring those gardening plants to our house,” said Gutierrez, who is a liaison between the community and the Watts House Project. “It’s helping them learn something useful. Getting into something healthy, something that’s going to keep them busy. Something they know they can take care of. They can grow up being responsible taking care of something, not destroying things.”
Gutierrez hopes the program will continue into the fall and next summer. It will depend on a number of things, including funding. The Watts House Project, the umbrella organization, is funded by foundations, art museums and donations.
This inaugural summer, the kids saw how the complexity of gardens can be extrapolated to the webs and roots and systems of cities. They touched earthworms that will help their families’ gardens grow. They learned about the source of L.A.’s water. They took a field trip to a local farmers market.
And, they said the fruit tasted great.
“There are all these other ways of thinking about the world around us,” Bachler said. “It’s more than just a gardening class.”
Second-grader Abigail holds up a carrot from her garden.