by Alicia Healey
I plan on starting a community garden in my neighborhood in a small empty grassy patch that is located on a local elementary school’s property (which is down the street from my house). Since I went to this elementary school and personally know the principal because she is a close friend, I believe that I will be allowed permission to use the space as a community garden. I plan on involving the people in my neighborhood by giving each house the opportunity to have a plot in the garden in which they can grow one particular plant/vegetable. This way, each person with a plot would only be responsible for providing their plant/vegetable with the specific needs it requires (some plants require different amounts of sunlight, water, etc). Once one person’s plant/vegetable grew then they would share their produced vegetables with the other people who have plots in the garden. This would be the same for the rest of the people and as a result, each person would end up having a variety of vegetables to eat with their families. In addition, the elementary school could have a few plots in the garden as well (5 plots) and classes of kids at the elementary school could take short field trips to the garden. Here, they could learn about how the community works together and how important it is to grow your own food or buy local food. During each trip to the garden the students could assess the plants/vegetables to see how they are doing and provide any care necessary. This teaches the students responsibility and what it means to take care of something that is growing. In addition, after the plants/vegetables are ready in the school’s plots they could be incorporated into the school’s lunches. This would also provide a direct connection in the student’s minds between the growing of the food and the eating of it right after it is picked. Since the plants/vegetables are already on the school property they are also in range of the school’s sprinkler system. This would be an easy and effective way of watering the plants/vegetables in the garden and any plants that required a little more water could be provided with water from the hose that is used to hose down the football fields near the garden. In addition, there is a local lumber company in my town that gives back to the community by providing rejected wood pallets to the people. I would use these pallets to create the raised garden bed and also to create a compost bin that could be used to produce the fertilizer for the garden (including a cover). Since my dad has a lot of the tools necessary to create these structures, him and I could work on building these together. The compost bin will be used to make the fertilizer for the garden before any plants/vegetables are planted and will be comprised of contributions from the people in the neighborhood (see Step 5 of objectives). Click here to read Alicia’s full action plan.