Community Gardens

Vital Stats

Jarrad P

Fall River, MA

  • People Doing It140

The Problem

We are working on the social topic of sustainability. There are many projects to choose from pertaining to sustainability, and our team will be focusing its attention on creating community gardens at six middle schools in Fall River and New Bedford. Creating community gardens solves many problems. First, students will learn the value of teamwork. They will work together with the principals to pick the best location for the gardens, create beds, and plant vegetables; demonstrating leadership to their peers and the community as a whole. Students will be doing a project that is tangible and sustainable. Each city has received a grant from the state to hire a community gardens coordinator. We will be collaborating efforts with this project and the coordinator will ensure that it will not only continue from year to year, but expand the program through education in the classroom and making a part of the students' curriculum. Finally, the food that is harvested will be utilized at farmer's markets, soup kitchens, or food pantries that the students have already established earlier in the year working on the social problem of hunger and homelessness.

Plan of Action

Our plan of action is to begin the community gardens project the beginning of March. We will begin the semester talking to the students about the importance of Sustainability and then work into the community gardens project where we will find out the best place for the gardens to reside - a courtyard, rooftop, or corner of the playground. Then, we will test the soil for lead and ensure that it is safe to plant in the location, however, our "plan B" will be to use raised beds and get our own soil. If this is the case, we will use old desk and bureau draws, file cabinets, and other three sided structures and have the students and decorate the recycled materials - another method of sustainability. Students will plant vegetables, herbs, and flowers at the end of May and once the school year is over, the community gardens coordinator and his team will take over for the summer with watering and weeding until the students return to school in the fall for harvesting. As stated earlier, the crops harvested will be given to farmer's markets, soup kitchens, or the food pantries to be given out to families in need.
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