Local Students Take Part in Urban Garden
With the prevalence of food deserts in urban communities, access to fresh produce can pose a challenge for South and West Side residents.
To help combat that problem, students in a farm program administered by the Chicago Botanic Garden, beginning the second week of May, will converge in Hyde Park for lessons in composting, planting, harvesting, recipe creation and cooking.
"This is a Chicago Botanic Garden, Green Youth Farm program," Chicago Botanic Grower, Renelda Gardner said as she tilled soil Friday morning in one of the 70 vegetable beds located in the canopied greenhouse situated against the backdrop of Dyett School, 555 E. 51st St.
"We have a partnership with Dyett," Gardner said. "We also let them use our garden as a classroom. Students come out here and do various things in the garden and learn various things as part of Dyett's plant science class. We connect it together and we're looking forward to doing more things with the school in the future."
Student's spring farming efforts are necessary to provide fresh veggies, fruit and honey for an upcoming famer's market that will start sometime in June, last throughout the summer and into the fall.
Recruited from various high schools throughout the city, students are provided instruction on beekeeping, team leadership, public-speaking, running a farmer's market and farm stands, and receive a small stipend.
Though registration for this program is closed, anywhere from 20 to 25 students are enrolled.
"We're teaching agricultural science and it's something students will take with them because you can plant anywhere," said Gardner who added, people often chuckle at her last name. "You can get a pot and put you some lettuce in there, or spinach...so this will stay with them forever."
It's almost impossible for one to miss the white tent where the farmer's market stand is set up next to Dyett School and the white canopied "greenhouse" with the neatly ordered growing beds filled with bright green sprouting vegetables. The produce there is growing fast and has already been harvested once.
"This will be the first year we can harvest the asparagus because it takes about three years before you can actually harvest well," Gardner said. "We also have an herb garden, radish, rhubarb."
"Gardens like this one are popping up everywhere," Gardner said.
"The thing I like teaching most is container gardening because that lets people know, no matter the amount space you have you can grow something, such as loose leaf lettuce that you cut and it will come back again."
Green Youth Farms also sell the students' food and produce to Open Produce on 55th and Cornell and Z &H Market Café on 47th St.
"We call them and let them know what we have available for harvest and give them a list and they tell us what they need and we harvest it and deliver it to them," Gardner said.
Though bees are a rare sighting these days, a small swarm of them can be found in the two bee hives at Dyett.
"We harvest fresh honey," Gardner said. "Students wear bee suits and have learned to handle the bees. It's cool now so the bees are not that busy but there is fresh honey in the hives."
Adults who want to learn gardening can take classes offered by the Botanic Gardens.
"There are always classes somewhere but you may have to hunt for them," Gardner said. "In order to keep these classes going, people have to sign up for them so maybe we need to advertise and promote the programs more."
People sometimes will show up at the Dyett location with questions about something that's gone wrong with something they planted or questions about how to get rid of a pest problem. Gardner said those involved with the garden are more than happy to share helpful information.
A wealth of information can also be found on the Chicago Botanic website at chicagobotanic.org.
As for her own, gardening passion, Gardner path seems predetermined.
"People always laugh when they hear my last name and they see what I'm involved in," said Gardner who fell in love with gardening after a cucumber grew from seed she and her husband planted.
For more information, please visit the Chicago Botanic Garden website at www.chicagobotanic.org.
By Deborah Bayliss
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