Welcome to another episode of Lurie Breaks It Down, a podcast where we dig deeply to connect the dots on the issues that shape our world.

I'm Lurie Daniel Favors, author, activist, attorney, and the host of the Lurie Daniel Favors show on Sirius XM's Urban View, Channel 126. If you like what you're about to hear, go ahead and give us five stars and tell everybody that you know. And if you didn't like it, honey, just keep it to yourself and pray our strength. And don't forget to check out my YouTube page, Lurie Daniel Favor's Media, where you should subscribe, like, and share. So you will get notified when I post videos for my show and when I go live with my YouTube audience. Now, I am not going to even lie to y'all. There's no way I could because I try to keep it honest and be as integral as I possibly can. but I love the idea of being a grower, somebody who can plant things in the ground and grow it from the ground and have that moment of joy when you see like the first sprout break through the dirt and then you see a flowering plant. And I would like to talk about this. Like I'm good at that, but I'm not, right? like my mama lives with us and so thankfully she is a

plant mama and she knows what she's doing so our house has a lot of green plants around it but I am

a learner in this phase I'm beginning my journey back to the land but this effort has really

taken on an increased sense of urgency for me because I am very concerned right now about a lot

of things like food scarcity.

I'm concerned about the fact that we have federal agencies that are no longer really prioritizing

their role of keeping our food inspected so that we, the people, can be safe.

And I feel like just ancestrally, like my ancestors is like, girl, why you can't plant

and grow nothing? Like, if you had to

survive and feed yourself, like, what is you doing? So with all of that sort of at the back of my

mind, or maybe the front of my mind, I'm so grateful that we today are going to be hearing from

Jemaiah Hargans. He is the founder at CropSwap, L.A., which grows food on unused spaces using rainwater capturing, water recycling, and hyper-local distribution methods. He's going to be joining us in just a second. But first, I want you out to hear this news clip because when I heard this news clip, I was like, there is a God. I know there is a God. And I want you all to just hear about some of the miraculous work that folks from our community are already doing let's take a listen south L.A neighborhood is ditching lawns

and growing food instead some homeowners are turning their front yards into gardens helping

feed the community and fight food insecurity NBC 4's Jonathan Gonzalez introduces us to the man leading

the charge.

What if I told you you can find a farm in the middle of a South L.A. neighborhood?

We're here at my home, the Degnan Micro Farm in L. Mert Park.

Meet Jemaiah Hargans.

That's right. Thank you, brother.

Jemaya is the founder of CropSwap L.A., which builds these tiny farms in people's yards.

And today, we're in his yard at the corner of Degnan and Coliseum.

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