Growing Youth

I am so excited for tomorrow!! I was contacted by Allison Demarest from Boise's Downtown Community Garden. She's teaching a series of garden-based classes for a group of 9-year-olds, and as part of her curriculum wants to do a day on hunger and gardening. And she asked me to come and help her with it!
Now, I am the first to admit... my experience with kids is limited at best. And I am no teacher. But I think this will be a pretty relaxed affair, and I think the age group is pretty good. We have some pretty exciting activities lined up for the afternoon. We're going to talk about some general hunger statistics that I supplied from the Food Bank and then broaden the topic to world hunger. Then we're going to bring the ideas back home again and talk about refugees in Boise. I suggested talking about mobile pantries, the Backpack Program, and refugee gardens throughout the city. We haven't finalized a lesson plan yet, and she's the boss. I'm just happy to be along for the ride, and happy that I can help! I love last-minute, spontaneous plans. It's like somehow... I don't have time to think about it, agonize over it, and fret over it (because I am a worrier), which then lets me relax and go with the flow. Hopefully that's the case for tomorrow afternoon! I think it should be fun, anyway. She told me the kids are really excited about all of this, and that makes all the difference. I think the garden setting will help, too. If I were a kid, I would want to learn outside!

This past Friday, Cindy and I visited two more community gardens in Boise. Our first stop was Boise's Downtown Community Garden (pictured to the left), which is located on Fort Street between 11th and 12th (near the Co-op). I liked this garden a lot; mostly because it made gardening seem very approachable. They basically planted food anywhere it would go, and this results in a hodge-podge of plots that I found delightful. The garden had several circular beds in it, and in one instance a tall crop was planted around the outer edge of the circle (it was either corn or sunflowers, I can't remember) to protect a smaller crop on the inside (peppers maybe?). This garden doesn't have any individually designated plots; instead, it functions on the philosophy of "unified" or "communal" gardening. No money is ever exchanged at this site; this means that if anyone wants to come and help weed or help in some other way, they get vegetables in exchange for their labor. This is the garden's first season.

Our final stop was at a refugee garden. This garden is part of a program known as "Eat Local, Live Global" under a group called Common Ground and it helps to train refugees and give them the skills necessary for the job market. We got a tour from the head gardener. His name is Devi and he is from Bhutan, and very clearly knows what he is doing. This garden was possibly the largest we have seen yet, and it was very, very, very impressive. There are two sections in it: the market garden, where they grow produce for the Farmers' Market, and a garden for customer produce. For a flat rate of $250 at the start of the season, families or individuals can purchase a plot. The refugees tend this plot throughout the season and the customer gets to enjoy the produce. I was honestly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of food, and the order of absolutely everything.

I was feeling very inspired after seeing these gardens, and this was only perpetuated over the weekend. I went to a potluck on Saturday and saw the amazing garden in the backyard of the host's house. It included a rotating compost barrel, solar food dehydrator, fruit-bearing trees, herbs, and several plots. On Thursday I should have more information, because he has agreed to sit down with me and talk to me in detail about his gardening practices. This will be highly beneficial to the future gardening packet and helpful to me personally, because he has several contacts within the community.

I can feel things starting to pick up slightly... people have begun calling my office and I suddenly have things to do and places to go. It is wonderful to be busy. The community gardens map is coming along slowly, though I know there are several gardens that I haven't even heard about yet.

I moved that poor (probably doomed) basil plant outside... it was suffering from neglect in my room, and if a rabbit hasn't chewed it to shreds (I forgot to check it this morning) hopefully it will rejoice in the sun today. I should really just abandon all hope of growing plants inside... I've had trouble with almost every indoor plant I've ever owned. Once it's in the ground, that's a different story.

Ay me, the contradictions of being a Community Garden Coordinator!