Edible Avalon Summer Youth Program

View the project final report

Commodities

• Fruits: melons, cherries, peaches, berries (strawberries)
• Vegetables: sweet potatoes, beans, beets, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucurbits, eggplant, garlic, greens (leafy), leeks, onions, peas (culinary), peppers, radishes (culinary), rutabagas, sweet corn, tomatoes, turnips, brussel sprouts
• Additional Plants: herbs, ornamentals

Practices

• Crop Production: foliar feeding, organic fertilizers
• Education and Training: mentoring, youth education
• Farm Business Management: marketing management
• Pest Management: biological control, botanical pesticides, genetic resistance, physical control, prevention, sanitation, mulching - vegetative, weather monitoring
• Production Systems: organic agriculture
• Soil Management: organic matter
• Sustainable Communities: leadership development, local and regional food systems, urban agriculture, community services, employment opportunities, sustainability measures

Students in Avalon’s Summer Youth Program (SYP) will be involved in the full circle of growing food sustainably. Working with Edible Avalon and SYP, students will plan gardens, sow seeds, care for and plant out transplants, and maintain the gardens over the summer as part of the SYP program (approx. 5-7 hrs/wk). They will harvest the food and learn how to prepare and cook it, and will take that knowledge and the recipes back to their families. Food harvested from the youth gardens will go directly into the SYP’s daily meal program. However, students will also oversee beds whose produce will supply Avalon’s food pantry system. These student farmers will see families and adults at Avalon properties select and use the food that they have grown. This programming will be fully supported by ongoing classes and educational fieldtrips, including Tantre CSA farm in nearby Chelsea, and D-Town Farm and Eastern Market in Detroit, where students will see how important and successful sustainable agriculture can be even in inner-city environments. High School students in the program will also have the opportunity to acquire skills and explore sustainable agriculture by being involved in building Hoop-houses and selling at the Farmers Market.