For the past few years I have been donating time to help
educate women and families of the community about the importance of healthy
eating and urban gardening. Obesity is a
large epidemic in today’s society and if I can help even a few families see the
benefits of gardening I will be happy. During
the semester I have donated approximately 20 hours of my personal time to helping
with questions regarding cultivation, installation and maintenance of urban
gardens in the Flint community.
(above an empty lot transformed - on Mabel Avenue in Flint's Eastside)
Some
topics talked about were disease prevention, composting in the garden, weeding
and organic care. Working with these
individuals has been very full filling.
The idea behind urban gardening is taking unused land in Flint and
creating a garden that the neighborhood can be proud of. This not only helps educate the women and
members of our community about the importance of healthy eating but also helps
to utilize and beautify the area. I also
donated time to apartment communities that wished to establish urban gardens of
their own.
(above the garden's installed at Charter Oaks Apartments in Davison)
I feel that donating my
time to help develop urban gardens in Flint has helped to develop has been beneficial
to the “stay at home” moms of the community.
While my assistance was for the community in general, most of the
donated time was to these women. During
harvest time (late September) we also helped educate these people in the art of
canning vegetables for the long winter months.
I hope to continue with this program next season and possibly expand
into other areas within Genesee County. If anyone would like to volunteer to help out next season please let me know and we can get something set up.
No comments:
Post a Comment