Project Overview
Annual Reports
Information Products
Commodities
Practices
- Crop Production: cover crops
- Education and Training: youth education
- Production Systems: permaculture
- Soil Management: earthworms
Proposal abstract:
Project Abstract
The Big Garden is a network of over 100 community gardens in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas. We have an existing 10-week curriculum entitled “The Big Garden Sustainable Agriculture Curriculum for Children and Youth.” During the growing season our garden teachers lead the curriculum at garden sites in Omaha and Council Bluffs. Our project proposal is to expand curriculum focus areas and activities for the 2015. We will expand five modules within the curriculum that will be described below. In addition, our curriculum will be available for free to all of our garden sites for the first time in 2015.
Detailed Project Plan and Timeline
We will create and expand five new modules in our “The Big Garden Sustainable Agriculture Curriculum for Children and Youth;” (1) Soil Health (2) Permaculture (3) Seed Saving (4) Extending the Growing Season and (5) Farm to Table. During 2015 we will teach 15 classes a week with 300 weekly participants.
In the Soil Health lesson students will learn the function and importance of cover-crops, plant cover crop seed, develop a crop rotation plan, and determine which cover crops will be used in fall. Students will see how the cover crops improve their soil health by testing their soil at the beginning and end of the season. Students will learn about Vermicomposting and build their own worm farm.
In the Permaculture lesson students will learn about annuals and perennials and permaculture design. They will develop a space at the garden dedicated to edible perennials and native plants. Students will plant the milkweed in 2015 because of its important relationship with monarch butterflies, as well as other pollinators. We will also discuss Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and what steps can be taken at the garden to protect honeybees.
In the Seed Saving lesson students will learn about Common Soil (the Omaha Seed Library) and Seed Savers Exchange, the importance of saving seed, learn the terms heirloom and open-pollinated, and discuss problems associated with not being able to save our seed. Common Soil Seed Library will provide The Big Garden seeds to grow for the seed library. Each garden site will grow 6 tomato plants for the seed library as well as lettuce seed.
Students will play a seed ID game, build their own seed screens, learn dry processing and wet processing, threshing and winnowing, and seed storing techniques.
In the Extending the Growing Season lesson students will build their own low-hoops and cold frames. Cold-hearty annuals will be selected for planting in the cold frames in the fall.
In the Farm to Table lesson students will discuss the importance of growing their own food and supporting local farmers through games and activities. They will meet a local farmer who will share the sustainable practices they use on their farm, discuss why they use these practices, and bring samples of products from their farm for students to try.
Project Timeline
1-1-14 – Finish rough draft of five new modules. (EPC denotes Education & Programming Coordinator)
1-15-14 – Meeting with Soil Scientist Charles Shapiro to get feedback on the Soil Health module. Changes will be made to lesson plan. (EPC)
1-30-15 – Weekend Intensive Training with Common Soil Seed Library on in teaching Seed Saving Techniques. The Seed Saving module will be completed. (EPC)
2-15-14 – Meeting with Big Muddy Urban Farm to design plan for Extending the Growing Season. (EPC)
3-15-14 – All lesson plans for 2015 “Grow Your Own” Curriculum will be completed. (EPC)
4-1-14 – All materials procured for new modules including; Vermicompost Bin, Designs for native plant spaces at each garden, Seed Screens, Seed Storage Containers, Flexible Hoops with Row Cover, and Cold Frames.
Develop a plan for training summer Garden Teachers in these new modules during their week-long training in May. (EPC)
“Grow Your Own: A Sustainable Agriculture Curriculum for Children and Youth” will be printed and disbursed to all Big Garden sites. (EPC)
4-15-14 –Host spring “Garden Educator Meet-up” to share new materials and resources made possible by SARE Youth Educator grant. (EPC)
5-15-14 – Garden Teachers will be hired at The Big Garden for the summer and trained in the new modules. (EPC)
May 1st through May 15th – Local Farmers will be contacted and invited to be guest speakers at our gardens, schedule will be set for Farm To Table Lesson. (EPC)
5-15-14 – 10-week curriculum begins at all garden sites. (EPC)
May 15th to August 15th – Garden Teachers will share their experiences at garden classes on Facebook and on the Big Garden Intern Blog. (EPC)
8-15-14 – Students will work on season extension projects at their gardens. Seed saving module will begin. (EPC)
September and October 2015 – Fall cover-crops will be planted at the gardens. (EPC)
9-15-14 – Summer Programming Report completed. (EPC)
Resources Used
In planning I will use the following resources; For the Soil Health lesson the Education and Programming Coordinator will meet with Dr. Charles Shapiro, Professor of Agronomy and Horticulture at University of Nebraska Lincoln. Dr. Shapiro specializes in soil science and soil health. We will also use the publication “Earthworms on the job” put out by SOLE Sciences of Life Explorations Through Agriculture.
For the Permaculture lesson the EPC will meet with Certified Permaculture Consultant, Gus Von Roenn, to discuss which perennials and native plants should be selected for the garden sites, as well as how to best teach permaculture design principles with children and youth. Gus will review the lesson plan and make suggestions.
For the Seed Saving lesson the EPC will attend a 1-day intensive training with educators from Common Soil Seed Library on teaching specific seed saving techniques. EPC will also contact Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa and ask someone to review our lesson plan, making any added suggestions. We will use the Seed Savers Handouts “Build Your Own Seed Screen” and “Top Ten Backyard Seed Saving Tools.” The publication “A Handful of Seeds: Seed-Saving and Seed Study for Educators” by Occidental Arts and Ecology Center will also be used.
For the Extending the Growing Season lesson the EPC will the UNL Extension Publication “Fall Vegetable Growing,” as well as “Cold Frame Manual” an online publication by Cultivating Gardens for Improved Health out of Wisconsin. This is a step-by-step guide on how to build cold frames for school gardens. The EPC will also consult with local urban farmers from Big Muddy Urban Farm on the cold frame project.
For the Farm to Table lesson local farmers from Douglas County and Southwest Iowa who use sustainable growing practices and humane animal practices will be featured as guest speakers.
Outreach
Sharing the project with other Educators – During the Spring of 2014 the Education & Programming Coordinator co-hosted a “Garden Educator Meet-up” at one of the community gardens (City Sprouts) in Omaha. We invited school garden teachers, neighborhood garden leaders, urban farmers, and other non-profit workers where there are community gardens. We shared our curriculum or activity plans for the upcoming season, brought books and resources to share, and discussed how we can better support one another. We plan to host another meet-up of this kind in April 2015, and one at the end of the season in November. We will share the new elements of our curriculum at this meeting.
Blog Postings – Our Garden Teachers will also have a blog where they make weekly posts about their experiences and what is going on in the gardens. They will be asked to specifically highlight these new modules and the projects we are doing.
Facebook/Social Media – The Big Garden has a Facebook page where we regularly post what is happening at our summer programming. We will share pictures and project ideas with our followers specifically relating to the new curriculum modules.
Print Materials – The Education and Programming Coordinator will put together a small printed brochure highlighting the new modules with pictures and project descriptions that we can share with the public at events in the winter.
Summer Programming Report – The Education and Programming Coordinator already assembles a summer programming report that is given to our staff, board, posted on our webpage, and shared with supporters and others through our monthly email newsletter. The report will include and highlight the new modules we were able to offer with funding from the SARE Youth Educator Grant.
Student and Community Impact
Our Big Garden educators will keep track of how many student participants are at each class every week during our 10-week curriculum. We can also highlight how many participated in the five new modules. The Education and Programming Coordinator will develop surveys that will be done with participants at the beginning and the end of the curriculum. There will be specific questions about the five new modules to gauge what was learned through the activities.
We will also keep track of all outside educators who helped in the planning process, farmers/ranchers who participate in the Farm to Table lesson, and any garden educators with whom we share this project with.
Project objectives from proposal:
The Big Garden is a network of over 100 community gardens in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas. We have an existing 10-week curriculum entitled “The Big Garden Sustainable Agriculture Curriculum for Children and Youth.” During the growing season our garden teachers lead the curriculum at garden sites in Omaha and Council Bluffs. Our project proposal is to expand curriculum focus areas and activities for the 2015. We will expand five modules within the curriculum that will be described below. In addition, our curriculum will be available for free to all of our garden sites for the first time in 2015.