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 Anna Marie Carter a.k.a. “The Seed Lady of Watts,” is founder and CEO of the Watts Garden Club.
My name is Anna Marie Carter, but I am also known as “The Seed Lady” of Watts. I am a certified Master Gardener through the University of California. I practice direct action by building free, organic gardens for people who suffer from HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and other illnesses. My advocacy takes me to drug/alcohol/mental health facilities, community centers, schools, inside of housing projects, and to shelters that house women who are returning to our community from prison. I teach people how to grow their own food, organically. But that is not all I teach them.
The environment in Watts is toxic. We are told not to drink the water. The air is polluted, and there is not much rain. Multi-generational gangs, multiple drug usage, carnal value systems resulting from being institutionalized by the welfare system for generations, and low morality all add up to no self-esteem, depression, overcrowding, crime, and escapism through unprotected sex and drugs. Where there seems like there is no hope, there is no reason to be happy or to act decently or to dream.
External forces dictate here. I have yet to meet a drug addict who harvests his own drugs. There are no coca plants or poppies growing here. All this madness is imported by the tons to this community—daily!
I had an organic vegetables, seeds, and plants store many years ago on Crenshaw Boulevard. The health of the community is further jeopardized by the lack of real food. The food available in South Central Los Angeles is genetically engineered, pesticide-laden, hybridized, and irradiated. The majority of people here eat food that is bagged, bottled, canned, boxed, or frozen. A majority of this food comes from South America and Mexico through free trade agreements. We do not even get food grown in California. DDT is still widely used in Latin America. There is no access to whole foods here. The highly processed food and low-quality meats affect the health, both physical and mental, of everyone here
After I graduated as a Master Gardener, I began my internship at the former Watts Family Garden. We lost the battle to save the garden from sale, so I took my newly formed garden club into the city of Los Angeles’ recreation center inside the Jordan Downs Housing Projects. Here we taught a class called the “Value of a Seed,” taking the children to the gardens and planting the ingredients that go into pesto, salsa, coleslaw, and other products.
With the help of donations to the Watts Garden Club, we bought our own center in the heart of Watts in 2002. At the Club, we have our own Community Supported Agriculture project (CSA), which provides fresh farm produce to the invisible populations here, and we operate our own produce stand and farmers’ market. We train youth in agricultural entrepreneurship (which include classes in manners, grooming, hospitality, and vendor education). We also hold anti-drug/gang rallies, HIV support groups, and holistic workshops. We involve the community in garden construction, and we network with other low-income communities of color.
We also offer think tank sessions at the Garden Club. Here we plant the seeds of change, knowledge, and remembrance by facing our history and tasting the bitterness of slavery, oppression, injustice, and self-hatred. We take these emotions, bond with each other like never before, and then, fast-forwarding to the 21st century, we take a full assessment of where we stand today, here in Watts, California. We are networking and forming alliances to initiate direct action to expedite change.
If you look at history, you can see it takes only one person to change an environment—one person who takes a stand, an advocacy, an action. It takes only one person to change the entire world. Once upon a time we were taught here in Watts “Power to the People.” I have lived through that to tell you what I know for sure, and that is People are the Power. And it only takes one—you!
Find your true path by preserving your health and your environment. Eat organically and do not smoke. It does not matter how pretty you are, where you live, how many degrees you have, or what you drive, if you don’t start saving this planet, soon you won’t have anywhere to live.
I am currently writing a book called The Lady and the Hoe!
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Last updated November 27, 2006.
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