Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Community gardens grow more than vegetables; offer places for people to thrive

Back to Leopold Letter Summer 2012

By LAURA MILLER, Newsletter editor

Nature abhors a vacuum. That’s what I tell myself whenever I pull a dandelion that’s popped up again among my marigolds and roses. The best growing conditions always bring unwelcome plants we call weeds.

However, two garden projects supported by the Leopold Center this year have taught me a positive way to view the same scene: Nature embraces community – and (my addition) where there is none, nature will build it.

A garden project at an Ames elementary school has bolstered the community in ways that surprise even those most closely involved with it. In Waterloo, a group of minority women have bonded over seed catalogs, a garden plot and plans for a farmer’s market in an area of the city that has been described as a food desert. In both instances, the gardens will provide tomatoes, watermelons and other vegetables, but the harvest will include much, much more.

Craig Chase, interim leader of the Leopold Center’s Marketing and Food Systems Initiative and coordinator of the statewide Local Food and Farm Initiative (LFFI) program, describes it this way: “Community gardens are a way to get more people connected to gardens, growing fruit and vegetables and healthy food. That’s the whole idea behind community gardens.”

Chase said community gardens can bring together people from varying backgrounds and cultures by helping them work toward a common goal.

“Gardens are visible and offer something concrete for community-building efforts – the fruits and vegetables grown in the garden,” he said. “They also teach important skills to those who might not have ever had a link to the land.”

Growing school gardens in Ames schools

Just ask Pam Stangeland, principal at Kate Mitchell Elementary School in south Ames, who has seen many changes since her school planted its garden in 2011.

“Who would have ever thought kids would be eating beets!” she said. “It’s been amazing all the foods that students have been willing to try and are taking home to their families.”

Now in its second growing season, the Kate Mitchell garden program has been so successful – with lessons at every grade level, after-school cooking classes, and summer events at the garden – that it’s a model for other schools.  

The Kate Mitchell garden occupies most of the school’s front lawn and has two distinct areas: Vegetable Valley and Friendship Garden is a 100X100-foot plot beside the school. There’s a butterfly garden along the walkway, an outdoor classroom and a series of raised beds for each grade level to conduct experiments or plant whatever they want. The area doubles as a gathering place for summer concerts, other community activities and garden work days for students, families and neighbors.

“Parents are here all the time now and the kids just love it; we’ve even had people in the community come back to volunteer in the garden,” said Penny Brown Huber, whose son Daniel is a Kate Mitchell student. “The kids are learning that they can do things that matter.”

Students harvested watermelons to feed everyone at school three times, and still had 30 melons to sell at their own farmer’s market in September. More than 500 people attended that event, which included garden tours by students, to raise enough money to buy seeds and plants for this year’s crops. In March, five students traveled to Washington, D.C. to help First Lady Michelle Obama plant a garden on the White House lawn.

In addition to parents, students and teachers, the Kate Mitchell project has had the support of numerous businesses as well as the Volunteer Center of Story County (VCSC) and Prairie Rivers of Iowa RC&D. The garden grew out of discussions about providing low-income students with more access to nutritional foods. Kate Mitchell has a large percentage of its students who qualify for free- and reduced-price school lunches.

In February, the VCSC and Prairie Rivers approached Chase for short-term funds to expand the project to Sawyer Elementary School, which also has a large population of low-income students. The Sawyer garden was planted during the last week of classes in May. The school will host twice-monthly garden work days this summer, and plans also are underway for a garden at Ames Middle School.

“My poorest students were the ones most excited about the garden because they had never had a chance to do anything in soil before,” said Glen Sibbel, who teaches third grade at Sawyer. “When you live in an apartment you don’t have the chance to play in the dirt. The garden takes them outside these four walls.”

The request for a garden came from several third-grade students, who had heard about what was going on at Kate Mitchell.

“They approached the principal and kept asking, so he knew they were serious,” Sibbel said. “We formed a garden club and 40 third-graders joined, even before we planted one seed. They’ve named the garden lightning after our school mascot. There are so many connections with our curriculum, it’s incredible.”

One key to a school garden’s success is a full-time garden coordinator, who works with teachers on curriculum development, plans volunteer activities and handles other garden details. “Garden lady” Kristen Loria is an AmeriCorps service member, assigned to the VCSC to assist limited-resource communities. Thanks to the LFFI grant that supported their efforts through June 30, 2012, the VCSC and Prairie Rivers are exploring other school garden projects in Story County.

Stangland said she saw an example of her students’ changing views on the last day of school this year. “Someone forgot lunch so they ran out to pick lettuce leaves for their own salad,” she said. “Everyone sees the garden as a genuine source of good nutrition.”

Growing community as well as gardens in Waterloo

Cheryl Faries sees the hopeful part of gardening, and the many resources needed to make a community garden successful.

That’s why this community organizer has recruited 14 women—single mothers, many without jobs and all with limited economic resources—and has been working side-by-side with them over the past year to learn business and horticultural skills. They hope to turn a corner of a county park into a garden and sell what they harvest at their own farmer’s market.

“Whatever we do, we want to make this vibrant and to succeed,” Faries said. “We know this isn’t going to happen overnight, that we have to stay together and keep focused and dedicated to the big picture.”

The image that members, who are part of the Women’s Self-Sufficiency Program or WSSP, have chosen to represent their efforts is the West African symbol for transformation, “sesa wo suban,” or “change your character.”

“You have to transform yourself before you can move forward,” Fairies explained. “Our members know that we have the community behind us and all these resources, and they are willing to put in the time, so that helps to motivate.”

Andrea Geary, a program manager at the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa, wrote the proposal for this unique project. “Local Food in Every Pot: Growing Farmers in Northeastern Iowa through Public and Private Partnerships” is supported by a two-year competitive grant from the Leopold Center Marketing and Food Systems Initiative.

Geary said the WSSP, which offers training in life skills such as finding child care or writing a resume, was a good match for the new farmer project. Many of the women have received assistance from the Northeast Iowa Food Bank or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps). The idea of growing food cooperatively has helped build a group identity.

“It’s been interesting to watch this group of women evolve into one cohesive unit,” said Geary, who has attended their weekly meetings. “One person used to have her own business, another is passionate about cooking, and another has a degree in environmental policy. Everyone contributes what they can.”

All are trained as master gardeners; the local master gardener club offered scholarships for the women to enroll in the 11-week course. Several also will complete business training, and they are exploring other items to market such as candles. ISU Extension horticulturist Bryan Foster has helped the group design a 2,000 sq. ft. area to grow watermelon, muskmelon, squash, tomatoes, peppers and herbs. And the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors is providing land for the garden at Ray Tiller Park, as well as $5,000 for seeds and garden supplies. Water is supplied by the City of Waterloo.

The group hosted a ground-breaking ceremony on May 24. Later in the summer, they hope to have produce available at Jubilee United Method Church, in the heart of the African-American community in Waterloo. It will be the first farmer’s market in the area.

Supervisor John Miller said gardens are a good use for some of the more than 8,000 acres of parkland in the Cedar River Valley floodplain. Much of the land was purchased as part of a hazard mitigation grant program and deed restrictions prohibit new construction. No-cost leases for community gardens ensure that the land will be cared for, he said.

“We believe growing our own businesses is the best way to do economic development,” Miller said. “Our goal is to create 25 new farmers in Black Hawk County in the next two years.”

He said he also supported the project from a health perspective. With obesity rates rising among all Americans, Miller, who grew up on a five-generation farm near Hudson, said fresh fruit and vegetables add to a healthy diet and offer good exercise.

“Five acres will raise an awful lot of tomatoes and onions and keep you busy,” he said.

Back to Leopold Letter Summer 2012