'Can You Dig This' Event Recording

Attendees from across the country joined us online and at Kehrein Center for the Arts in Austin to enjoy a rich, thoughtful, and important dialogue for our critical times—facilitated by Liz Abunaw of Forty Acres Fresh Market.

The event began with a mini farmers market and healthy food tastings by Michelle Scott of Thank God 4 Raw & Vegan Treats—and included a Q&A panel of local experts from BUILD Chicago's Iris Farm, PCC Community Wellness Center (Austin)'s Farm, and Garfield Park Community Council's Neighborhood Market.

Watch the recording of the post-film dialogue and read the chat transcript. You'll also find a Take Action slide related to our presentation with ideas for taking action on what you learned. Please share these resources with family and friends so that more people can learn from them.

FULL FILM DESCRIPTION for "Can You Dig This," which is available free on Tubi or for $3.99 from Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

Delila Vallot/2015/84 min/Food-Agriculture

FILM DESCRIPTION: South Los Angeles. What comes to mind is gangs, drugs, liquor stores, abandoned buildings and vacant lots. The last thing that you would expect to find is a beautiful garden sprouting up through the concrete, coloring the urban landscape. As part of an urban gardening movement taking root in South LA, people are planting to transform their neighborhoods and are changing their own lives in the process. Calling for people to put down their guns and pick up their shovels, these "gangster gardeners" are creating an oasis in the middle of one of the most notoriously dangerous places in America.

"Can You Dig This" follows the inspirational journeys of four unlikely gardeners, discovering what happens when they put their hands in the soil. This is not a story of science and economics. This is a story of the human spirit, inspiring people everywhere to pick up their shovels and "plant some shit."

Suitable for teens + general audiences, age 13+ (at parents' discretion) all adult ages.

This event is part of Austin Eats, a collaborative working to rewrite the narrative around food in Chicago's Austin community. By synergizing organizations already promoting healthier food choices through grocery access, culinary entrepreneurship, food education, community gardens, and urban farms, Austin Eats will recreate Austin’s food access ecosystem.

This event was hosted by Chicago-area organizations Austin Coming Together, One Earth Film Festival, Austin Garden Collective, Austin Community Food Coop, and Austin Renaissance Council, as part of the Austin Eats Initiative.

Thank you for registering for our October screening, "Can You Dig This"—a collaboration among Chicago-area organizations Austin Coming Together, Austin Garden Collective, PCC Community Wellness, One Earth Film Festival, Austin Community Food Coop, and over a dozen other organizations lifting up the work of groups already promoting healthier food choices through grocery access, culinary entrepreneurship, food education, community gardens, and urban farms.