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La Huerta Roots and Rays is a volunteer-run community garden located in Pilsen, Chicago. It is a place for families, friends, and neighbors to come together to grow food, tell stories and share experiences. It is a place to build community. 

 

In 2008 a neighbor noticed an abandoned lot near Lafflin and Cullerton. She improvised a humble garden with some perennial flowers and a few containers of vegetables.  Even though she started small she had big dreams and came together through a series of community connections and organized support network of fifteen neighbors who provided physical and financial help. With a tiny budget and a lot of creativity and resourcefulness they managed to build eight roughly hewn raised beds for organic vegetable production. Since then, La Huerta continued to attract several people wanting to garden.venthouough

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In 2011 the site was remediated and the garden redeveloped. Upon the project's completion this NeighborSpace site won the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association Community Outreach Award.Today we have 25 private plots, a perennial flower garden, fruit trees, local wild plants and a community area for growing and harvesting vegetables.