The Veteran's Garden at the West L.A. Veteran's Administration is not only a good example of what urban agriculture is, i.e., basically it's a small farm, with 15 acres, but it's a wonderful place that offers horticulture therapy to vets, enabling them to heal and learn a valuable new skill.
The garden was established in 1986 as a work therapy program, and continues to run as a fully self-sufficient business, selling fresh-grown, pesticide-free produce to individual customers and several local restaurants.
You can find a wide variety of plants, herbs, and floral arrangements, and produce either directly at the garden or at one of their weekly sales at the Main Hospital or the Federal Building. Check out their website for exact times, locations, etc. http://www.gla.med.va.gov/vetsgarden/vetsgarden.htm
The Veterans Garden is also home to the Westwood Farmers' Market each Thursday afternoon from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. http://www.westwoodfarmersmarket.com/ .
While the garden is designed to be self-sustaining, donations and volunteers are always needed, particularly now as more and more vets are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
An easy way to support them is to come to their Christmas Open House Sale this Saturday, December 8, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. They will have a wide variety of holiday greens and decorations for sale including garland, swags, wreaths, centerpieces with candles, and custom flowers. In the event of rain, the Open House will take place on December 15th instead.
Click here to learn more about this wonderful farm: http://www.capitalpress.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=1007&SectionID=67&SubSectionID=616&S=1
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