Tara Kolla, L.A's down-to-earth urban farmer

Tara Kolla was born in Inglewood but grew up in Europe. She came back to Los Angeles, to a half-acre Silver Lake plot, where she decided to try her hand at "urban farming." Her neighbors objected, so now she mostly works other people's land, and works to further the cause. We met in Hidden Canyon, the aptly named acres in Glassell Park whose owners invited Kolla to cultivate and grow market flowers. Here are rows and beds of hyssop, black-eyed Susans, honeywort, zinnias, mums and ornamental cotton flowers. I plucked a boll of what I'll call "Glassell Park long staple." Because of people like Kolla, laws have changed to permit farming, of a sort, all around town. What was once the single most profitable agricultural county in the nation may just be coming back, one urban plot at a time.

Patt Morrison

November 21, 2012