SAN DIEGO — The crops may look like they’re thriving, and some are even ready to be harvested.
Cody Hale, the community programs manager at the Tijuana River Valley Community Gardens said, “We have various greens, broccoli, peas, lettuce, green onions.”
But when we get close, we see leaves caked in mud. It’s what’s not visible that’s most concerning. That’s because all the crops are tainted by bacteria from recent floods. Hale said, “They’ll have to get rid of the plants which are so happy with water but can’t be eaten.”
We’re visiting the Tijuana River Valley Community Gardens and farms. Images from near Hollister St. show row after row was covered in 2-3 feet of water.
It’s been described as a lake on January 22 when the torrential rains pummeled this land.
Daniela Mejia, the community garden coordinator said, “The garden beds completely lifted, floated and entire gardens destroyed.”
Since it’s all contaminated, it all must go. They’re going to throw all of it away and till the land. Then they must wait for the sun to come out for several days before the sun decontaminates the soil, before they can even plant again.
What got destroyed? 210 plots near the US-Mexico border rented to gardeners who plant anything they can dream of.
Mejia said, “We have folks here that have been here for 21 years since we opened. I think our oldest gardener is 91 years old.”
Generations of families have been creating food from land. “They can grow food that they grew up eating which makes it really special,” said Mejia who would bring her daughter to the community gardens when she was just 3 months old. “This was the only area close to home where I could garden, where I could grow food and have a plot of land.”
Now more recently, as the community garden coordinator, Mejia is dealing with flooding on a scale she never used to see, “we flooded 4-5 times in the past 3 years.”
In fact, in April 2023 we went to Wild Willow Farms. Also – like the community garden – it’s part of San Diego’s Resource Conservation District.
And spoke with Executive Director Ann Baldridge about farmers needing to redo their entire years’ worth of crops.
And here we are again, having the same conversation...
Ann Baldridge said, “The cost is obviously financial but also emotional. People put so much time and effort and their love into these sights so it’s heartbreaking for people to have to constantly rebuild.”
The site also has 10 quarter-acre incubator farms. Those are for farmers who are starting out their business of growing and selling.
Hale said, “You can meet them. They’re wonderful people and that connection with people who grow your food is so important to keep going and to keep them in business.”
One of the farms on this site is Pixca Farms, they are from the South Bay and have become well known for growing in and for their community.
But as we look at what happened to them, we see their equipment got tossed around in the floods. All their investments need to be repurchased, rebuilt and replanted.
Right across the way, the Kind Folk Farm started out just a year ago. Hale said, “They’re given an empty plot and they do everything else.”
And now they’ll have to do it all over again.
Because this is happening more often, some farmers are considering not using the Tijuana River Valley land anymore. But as we know, space is limited in San Diego so they don’t know where else to go.
The Berry Good Foundation is raising money to directly help farmers. This is the direct link to their donation page.
Pixca Farms also has a GoFundMe for flood relief.