Скачать или смотреть Inside the Altadena Community Garden with Farmer Al Renner (February 2024).

Al Renner, widely known as Farmer Al, is a beloved community leader, environmental activist, and urban gardening pioneer in Los Angeles. Born on a family farm in Illinois, he initially swore off farming—only to return to the soil later in life after a major health crisis. In 1989, after suffering a heart attack and leaving his career in quality control and rocketry at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Al began walking with a cane and searching for healing. That healing came through community gardening.

By the early 1990s, Al was reclaiming vacant lots across Los Angeles—transforming neglected spaces into vibrant gardens. His first garden was at Sunset and Santa Monica. He later became a driving force behind the Solano Canyon Community Garden and the founding of Lavender Hill Farm in Elysian Park. Lavender Hill became not just a growing space but a healing one—offering formerly incarcerated and unhoused individuals hands-on training in soil preparation, planting, composting, and harvest. Participants in the program have collectively grown thousands of pounds of produce while regaining self-worth, skills, and community connection.

As co-founder and former executive director of the Los Angeles Community Garden Council (LACGC), Al helped establish and support over 30 community gardens throughout the city. His grassroots leadership has fostered intergenerational and intercultural connections, environmental education, and food justice in some of LA’s most underserved neighborhoods.

Known for his signature straw hat, contagious laughter, and boundless generosity, Farmer Al believes that gardens are temples—sacred spaces that heal people and land alike. Now in his late 80s, he continues to inspire new generations of urban farmers. Through decades of hands-on work and advocacy, Farmer Al has cultivated more than gardens—he has cultivated hope, community, and transformation in the heart of Los Angeles.

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