DANTE INIGUEZ + ANTHONY MARTIN,
LOS ANGELES SUPER STEWARDS
Elysian Park
By Daniela Velazco & Hannah Flynn
current and former Test Plot interns
We are Dani and Hannah, current and former Test Plot interns. Starting in early 2022, we conducted a series of seven interviews with “Super Stewards” - members of the Test Plot community who are stewards of community and of the environment. Our conversations covered personal histories, what it means to be a steward, and what the future of community-tended green space can be.
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We met Dante Iniguez and Anthony Martin at the Elysian Park Test Plot on a chilly late afternoon as they were watering what was at the time the newest plot, a plot mostly filled with wildflowers grown from seed. Dante and Anthony are more than regular volunteers at Elysian Park - their reliable presence is a pillar of the Test Plot.
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Dante, a designer, and Anthony, a microbiologist, live in an apartment together with no room for a garden to tend to. Dante spent formative years in San Luis Obispo, where widespread native plants and protected nature areas instilled a deep appreciation for the nature of California. Anthony’s parents, immigrants from the Philippines, took him camping frequently throughout the state as a child. His father developed his own deep connection to the land by studying agriculture, a connection that was practically “genetically transferred” to Anthony, citing his father’s own interest in agriculture.
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They were both drawn to the opportunity to be outdoors and work with people with similar values to theirs. In spending so many hours working, they quickly bonded with the plots. Dante’s reasoning behind his choice of favorite plant in the plots, the Manzanita, reflects this: they are “really sculptural, beautiful….[and] unique”, but they also take a long time to grow”.. Anthony’s favorite part of the plots isn’t a plant, but the whole picture - including the soil in which the plants grow. He’s “excited by…the idea of creating habitat and returning the land to how it needs to be.” He draws a comparison with his work studying gut microbiomes: like our own digestive systems that power us, “there’s a whole ecology of microbiomes that affect the soil’s health.”
Spending quality hands-on time with the plots has taught them a lot. Anthony feels that he’s getting to see the life he studies in the lab “being its full self outdoors”, understanding how plants interact with each other and with the climate. Test Plot has become like “a game”, experimenting with parameters like pH and soil composition to see how plants will grow – or not. And it’s not just the volunteers who get to learn: as people walk by, they get curious and ask about them. These interactions have the potential to be valuable opportunities to help people who aren’t as exposed to ecology “understand the value of what [Test Plot is about] and why native plants are better than other plants.”
![Wild mustard growing on the hill]()
![Test Plot planted with native species]()
Dante and Anthony strongly believe exposure leads to understanding, which leads to an appreciation of ecological systems much larger than the Test Plots themselves: a greater understanding of how our gardens connect to the broader ecological context of the city, to “our food systems, the clothes we wear, and where [that all] is coming from.” An understanding that our plant palettes “can be aesthetic and still building an ecology.”
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Who would benefit from this hands-on exposure? A lot of people are already showing their desire to work with plants, say Dante and Anthony, citing beautiful balcony gardens that they’ve noticed hanging down from apartment balconies throughout the city. If apartment gardeners had a plot to care for, they would bond to it, just like Dante and Anthony did. Neglected public spaces - like the mustard-filled spots at Elysian before the plots were established - are a “missed opportunity to give the land back to the people” so that they can get their hands dirty and build that connection, plant by plant.
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Thank you, Anthony and Dante
Photos by Robert Flynn
LOS ANGELES SUPER STEWARDS
Elysian Park
By Daniela Velazco & Hannah Flynn
current and former Test Plot interns
We are Dani and Hannah, current and former Test Plot interns. Starting in early 2022, we conducted a series of seven interviews with “Super Stewards” - members of the Test Plot community who are stewards of community and of the environment. Our conversations covered personal histories, what it means to be a steward, and what the future of community-tended green space can be.
We met Dante Iniguez and Anthony Martin at the Elysian Park Test Plot on a chilly late afternoon as they were watering what was at the time the newest plot, a plot mostly filled with wildflowers grown from seed. Dante and Anthony are more than regular volunteers at Elysian Park - their reliable presence is a pillar of the Test Plot.
Dante, a designer, and Anthony, a microbiologist, live in an apartment together with no room for a garden to tend to. Dante spent formative years in San Luis Obispo, where widespread native plants and protected nature areas instilled a deep appreciation for the nature of California. Anthony’s parents, immigrants from the Philippines, took him camping frequently throughout the state as a child. His father developed his own deep connection to the land by studying agriculture, a connection that was practically “genetically transferred” to Anthony, citing his father’s own interest in agriculture.
They were both drawn to the opportunity to be outdoors and work with people with similar values to theirs. In spending so many hours working, they quickly bonded with the plots. Dante’s reasoning behind his choice of favorite plant in the plots, the Manzanita, reflects this: they are “really sculptural, beautiful….[and] unique”, but they also take a long time to grow”.. Anthony’s favorite part of the plots isn’t a plant, but the whole picture - including the soil in which the plants grow. He’s “excited by…the idea of creating habitat and returning the land to how it needs to be.” He draws a comparison with his work studying gut microbiomes: like our own digestive systems that power us, “there’s a whole ecology of microbiomes that affect the soil’s health.”
Spending quality hands-on time with the plots has taught them a lot. Anthony feels that he’s getting to see the life he studies in the lab “being its full self outdoors”, understanding how plants interact with each other and with the climate. Test Plot has become like “a game”, experimenting with parameters like pH and soil composition to see how plants will grow – or not. And it’s not just the volunteers who get to learn: as people walk by, they get curious and ask about them. These interactions have the potential to be valuable opportunities to help people who aren’t as exposed to ecology “understand the value of what [Test Plot is about] and why native plants are better than other plants.”
Dante and Anthony strongly believe exposure leads to understanding, which leads to an appreciation of ecological systems much larger than the Test Plots themselves: a greater understanding of how our gardens connect to the broader ecological context of the city, to “our food systems, the clothes we wear, and where [that all] is coming from.” An understanding that our plant palettes “can be aesthetic and still building an ecology.”
Who would benefit from this hands-on exposure? A lot of people are already showing their desire to work with plants, say Dante and Anthony, citing beautiful balcony gardens that they’ve noticed hanging down from apartment balconies throughout the city. If apartment gardeners had a plot to care for, they would bond to it, just like Dante and Anthony did. Neglected public spaces - like the mustard-filled spots at Elysian before the plots were established - are a “missed opportunity to give the land back to the people” so that they can get their hands dirty and build that connection, plant by plant.
Thank you, Anthony and DantePhotos by Robert Flynn