Meet Alvaro Santos from Mariposa-Nabi Community Garden

Mariposa-Nabi Community Garden opened its doors in 2012. It began as a “Little Green Fingers” garden, funded by First5LA, planned to educate young children in healthy eating habits and growing healthy food. It’s now run by the parents of these children. One of these amazing parents is Alvardo Santos. He first stepped into the garden on Fathers’ Day 2014 to help plant his family’s plot and rotate the soil for a new harvest. “I just wanted to see green and flowers,”  he said.

Since his initial involvement, Alvaro has stepped up as the head of the compost committee for Mariposa-Nabi. Thanks to a recent grant from the City of Los Angeles, and with the help of LA Compost and the LA Conservation Corps, Mariposa-Nabi is one of ten community gardens that received composting bins to encourage residents to drop off their food waste and help community garden members build compost for their plants. Alvaro attended each workshop and is now proud of what he’s been creating for the garden.

“We learned that you can’t cultivate what you don’t grow and that the compost is for those who need it the most, which are the plants,” he said.

Alvaro is proud of the relationships he has built with local coffee shops that donate coffee grounds and he brings food scraps from the restaurant in which he works.

Alvaro enjoys investigating what he can grow and how to grow certain plants. His favorite plants to grow are lettuce and basil, which his family shared are their favorites, since he prepares dishes for them at home.

Mariposa-Nabi Community Garden is located at 961 S Mariposa Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006.

By Diana Campos-Jimenez