Final report for YENC24-220
Project Information
Asibara Forest aims to educate youth on sustainable agriculture practices by creating urban food forests as an outdoor classroom. This approach enables children to learn about biodiversity, food sovereignty, and environmental stewardship in a hands-on setting, fostering a connection with nature. By nurturing this early interest, we aspire to produce environmentally conscious citizens and increase representation in STEM and conservation careers. This holistic method not only promotes ecological conservation but also generates employment opportunities, strengthens social bonds, and improves physical and mental well-being. Additionally, it empowers communities with knowledge and resources essential for sustainable living and enhanced quality of life.
What We Taught and Educational Approach:
Asibara Forest actively engaged youth in sustainable agriculture through hands-on projects in our urban food forested classroom and career pathway sessions. Outreach efforts included newsletters during our Sensory Sundays programming, sustainability tips on social media, and posts showcasing student learning and community events. Students and the community planned and cultivated a large rain garden with native plants. We hosted several community clean-ups, field days, tours, homeschool sessions, playdates, workshops, and our annual Harvest Festival, fostering both environmental stewardship and community involvement.
Conclusions and Adoption:
Asibara Forest has yielded promising results in terms of youth engagement, knowledge development, and community impact. Through hands-on involvement in the urban food forest cultivation and career pathway sessions, youth gained essential skills and a deeper understanding of sustainable agriculture. Our approach, rooted in exploration and experimentation, helped students develop practical skills in gardening, composting, and ecosystem management. Additionally, their attitudes toward sustainability were positively impacted, with many students expressing a greater sense of responsibility for the environment and an increased interest in sustainable practices.
For the Asibara Forest project, we developed a set of curricula and lesson plans based on hands-on, experiential learning to engage youth in sustainable agriculture. While we are not traditional educators, our lesson plans were created collaboratively, drawing from our community’s strengths and incorporating the expertise of local farmers, environmentalists, conservationists and most importantly our participating families. These plans were designed to be flexible, adaptable, and rooted in real-world applications.
- Facilitate the engagement of 25 children in urban communities in sustainable agriculture education by establishing an urban food forested classroom, students will help with design/development through build-out and maintenance.
- Implement two experiential learning projects that educate children about biodiversity, food sovereignty, and the importance of sustainable living. These projects will involve hands-on activities including planning, planting, nurturing, and harvesting in our urban food forest.
- Organize two field trips to local organic farms and conservation projects, and invite farmers, grocers, and chefs to share their experiences and introduce children to career opportunities in sustainable agriculture.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation summary:
Asibara Forest actively engaged youth in sustainable agriculture through hands-on projects in our urban food forested classroom and career pathway sessions. Outreach efforts included newsletters during our Sensory Sundays programming, sustainability tips on social media, and posts showcasing student learning and community events. Students and the community planned and cultivated a large rain garden with native plants. We hosted several community clean-ups, field days, tours, homeschool sessions, playdates, workshops, and our annual Harvest Festival, fostering both environmental stewardship and community involvement.
- Host webinar or in-person workshop
Learning Outcomes
Students gained a deeper understanding of sustainable agriculture practices such as composting, native planting and soil health. They learned about biodiversity and how different plant species support one another in an ecosystem, and the importance of food sovereignty in creating sustainable local food systems.
Students developed hands-on skills in gardening, planting, and maintaining the urban food forest, including practical tasks like soil preparation, plant care, and harvesting.
Youth became more aware of the environmental challenges facing their community, such as food insecurity and pollution, and how sustainable agriculture can address these issues.
Asibara Forest has yielded promising results in terms of youth engagement, knowledge development, and community impact. Through hands-on involvement in the urban food forest cultivation and career pathway sessions, youth gained essential skills and a deeper understanding of sustainable agriculture. Our approach, rooted in exploration and experimentation, helped students develop practical skills in gardening, composting, and ecosystem management. Additionally, their attitudes toward sustainability were positively impacted, with many students expressing a greater sense of responsibility for the environment and an increased interest in sustainable practices.
Key Results:
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Increased Knowledge: Students demonstrated a solid grasp of sustainable agriculture concepts, including food sovereignty, biodiversity, and the importance of organic farming practices. Group work days and group circle sessions revealed notable improvements in their understanding of these topics.
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Enhanced Skills: Youth actively participated in planning, planting, maintaining, and harvesting crops in the urban food forest. These activities helped them develop hands-on gardening skills, as well as problem-solving and teamwork abilities through collaborative projects such as rain garden creation and community clean-ups.
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Positive Attitudes and Awareness: Youth expressed a stronger connection to nature, with many reporting an appreciation for where their food comes from and a desire to engage in more sustainable behaviors at home. Several of our high school participants also showed increased interest in pursuing careers in agriculture, conservation, and STEM fields.
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Community Impact: The project fostered community involvement through workshops, field days, and events like the annual U-Pick Pumpkin Patch Harvest Festival. These activities helped build local partnerships, raise awareness about sustainability, and strengthen social bonds. The involvement of community members in garden planning and clean-up activities further enhanced the project's reach and impact.
While we are still in the early stages of our journey, the results thus far indicate that this experimental, hands-on approach to teaching sustainable agriculture has been effective in engaging youth and the broader community. As a non-expert team, we are learning alongside our participants, and this transparent, exploratory process has allowed for meaningful, organic growth in both our understanding and the impact on our community. The feedback from youth and educators has been overwhelmingly positive, suggesting that this model of experiential learning not only increases environmental awareness but also sparks interest in environmental careers.
However, challenges remain. As a new initiative, we are still refining our methods, and some logistical issues, such as resource availability, outreach and volunteer coordination, have required ongoing attention. Despite these challenges, the overall success of the program has demonstrated the potential of this hands-on, community-driven approach to sustainability education.
Moving forward, we plan to continue documenting our process, sharing our lessons with other educators, and expanding our outreach efforts to engage even more youth and community members in the coming years. The project’s success lies in its ability to empower participants to take ownership of sustainable practices, both in the garden and in their everyday lives.
For the Asibara Forest project, we developed a set of curricula and lesson plans based on hands-on, experiential learning to engage youth in sustainable agriculture. While we are not traditional educators, our lesson plans were created collaboratively, drawing from our community’s strengths and incorporating the expertise of local farmers, environmentalists, conservationists and most importantly our participating families. These plans were designed to be flexible, adaptable, and rooted in real-world applications.
One of the key curricula was an introduction to sustainable agriculture, urban food forest and permaculture, where students were introduced to core concepts such as soil health, crop rotation, tree guilds and organic farming practices. Activities included soil testing, planting, and discussions about how sustainable methods benefit the environment.
Another important lesson was biodiversity and ecosystem interdependence, which taught students about the importance of biodiversity in sustainable agriculture. Students created biodiversity inventories by identifying various plants, insects, and animals in the food forest, learning how different species support each other. They also planted pollinator-friendly plants in our rain garden to attract bees and butterflies, illustrating the importance of pollinators in food production.
Career pathways in sustainability and agriculture exposed students to various careers in sustainability, agriculture, and STEM fields. Most of our guest speakers were parent of attending students or local community.
Our most successful project, the Akoko Nan Rain Garden Design and community stewardship curriculum allowed students to co-design and build out a rain garden using native plants. This project not only contributed to limiting a flood zone but also taught students about the importance of water conservation and native landscaping in urban environments.
These curricula and lesson plans were designed to engage students meaningfully in sustainability practices, equipping them with knowledge and skills they can carry into their future. After two years of practice and engagement we have started the development of an official curriculum that we hope to share with educators and homeschooling families that will be flexible and encourage independent studies and increase nature engagement.
Key Strengths:
The curricula's greatest strength lies in its hands-on, student (family) led experiential learning approach. Students actively participated in planting, harvesting, and designing projects like the rain garden, which helped them develop a deep, practical understanding of sustainable agriculture. This approach fostered a genuine connection between students and the space, making the lessons more impactful and memorable. I love the repeat student who attended/volunteers the second year and we excited about the growth of the previous year's project. Additionally, the curricula was designed with flexibility, allowing it to be adapted to various age groups and community settings, making the program accessible to a wide range of learners and educators. The interdisciplinary nature of the lessons also connected various subjects, such as ecology, biology, and math, giving students a more holistic view of sustainability. Furthermore, the integration of community engagement through career pathway sessions and partnerships with local professionals helped bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world applications, inspiring students to consider careers in agriculture and conservation.
Key Weaknesses:
One of the challenges of our curricula was the lack of formal structure, which, while flexible, made it harder to assess learning outcomes in a standardized way. Without traditional assessments like tests or quizzes, tracking individual progress and providing consistent feedback was more difficult. Another limitation was resource constraints, as hands-on projects required multiple gardening tools which were sometimes in limited supply. Additionally, the time required for some of the more in-depth projects, such as the "Akoko Nan Rain Garden", often clashed with the busy schedules of students, volunteers, and homeschool families. This leads us to participation, during the summer we were in competition with so many other programs city wide that participation was unpredictable. The curricula also lacked traditional methods of evaluation, making it hard to measure specific knowledge or skills gained.
Conclusion:
Overall, the curricula’s hands-on, community-driven approach proved to be highly effective in engaging students and fostering a deeper understanding of sustainability. However, the lack of formal structure and some logistical constraints highlighted areas for growth as we continue refining and expanding the program in the future. Next farm season we have partnered with degreed professionals to evaluate our curricula and overall program for continued success.
Project Outcomes
During the first year of the project, I had the opportunity to work with a group of students from the Greening of Detroit Youth Summer Work Program. Many of these students returned for a second year, expressing how much they enjoyed both the program and the space. In the first year, they contributed to the initial build-out of the rain garden, by installing all of our plants, learning about native plants and their role in water conservation. When they returned for the second year, they helped with weeding of a thistle outbreak, plant care, and the overall maintenance of the garden.
One student, a 16-year-old from Detroit, shared, "It feels good to see the plants we planted last year growing bigger. We helped make this happen, and now we get to take care of it." This sentiment was echoed by several others, who took pride in seeing their work come to life and in knowing they played a role in improving the local environment.
The most unexpected outcome was the deep connection these students formed with the farm site. Not only did they learn about plant growth and ecological practices, but many of them also began to share their knowledge with their families and friends. One student brought her younger siblings to visit the garden during the annual harvest festival, explaining to them how the rain garden worked and why it was important for the environment. This ripple effect of knowledge extended beyond the immediate educational experience, making it clear that the project was inspiring a new generation of environmental stewards.
The students' sense of ownership and pride in the rain garden, as well as their growing interest in sustainability, were among the most rewarding aspects of the project, demonstrating the lasting impact of hands-on, community-driven environmental education.
For future projects and grant programs, I have a few recommendations that may enhance the effectiveness of initiatives like ours and ensure greater sustainability in community-driven educational efforts. First is to provide professional development and mentorship for educators. Some grantees are not traditional educators but community-driven leaders. Offering opportunities for professional development or mentorship would help non-traditional educators gain confidence in curriculum development and teaching strategies, while also connecting them with experts in sustainable agriculture and education.
Additionally, increasing program flexibility could improve the impact of future projects. Some initiatives, like ours, take longer to unfold or require an iterative approach that may not fit neatly into traditional grant timelines or categories. Greater flexibility in funding and timelines would better support innovative, long-term projects that evolve as they progress.
I truly appreciate the opportunity to be part of the SARE grant program. The support allowed us to implement an innovative, community-driven initiative that wouldn’t have been possible without this funding. The ability to experiment and create a space for both homeschooling families and educators to explore sustainability in a hands-on manner has been immensely rewarding. As we continue to learn and adapt, I believe future programs could benefit from more flexible guidelines that support creative, long-term educational initiatives driven by community-based organizations. Thank you for your continued support, which has allowed projects like ours to thrive.