Container Gardens for Fighting Food Insecurity
Background
The EAST patio now has beautiful container garden! This project originated with a group of EAST students led by 7th graders, Savana and Jillian, in 2014. These students were astounded by the bleak food insecurity statistics for our state of Arkansas and decided to do something about it in our community. With partnerships with Apple Seeds, Inc., Specialized Real Estate Group, and Modus Studio, and master builder and J.O. Kelly Middle School math teacher, Mr. Mike Luttrell, these students have created a wonderful container garden that can be used for growing their own produce as well as being used as an outdoor classroom for the main purpose of teaching ourselves and our school and our community the best practices of container gardening. In addition to the container garden on our patio, students are also creating series of instructional pamphlets with accompanying instructional videos. These materials will be used to teach others about the best practices associated with container gardening. After completing the instructional materials, the EAST students will schedule a series of workshops to be presented in the 6th and 7th grade science classes. Eventually, the EAST students will also present container garden workshops at local apartment complexes. They have reached out and formed partnerships with management at both Brookhaven Apartments and Electric Avenue Apartments. Since many of the students from our school live in these apartments, these workshops will help provide apartment residents, students, and their families with the necessary information, skills, and resources so that they may create their own container gardens.
Project Motto: Give a man food and you feed him for a day; teach a man to garden and you feed him for a lifetime.
Phase 1: Creating the Container Garden, Designing and Building Customized
Planter Boxes and an Outdoor Classroom,
Phase 2: Creating the Container Garden Best Practices Instructional
Pamphlets and Videos,
Phase 3: Presenting Container Garden Workshop to science classes, and
Phase 4: Presenting Container Garden Workshop to residents of local
apartments.
Go to this link to check out an Esri Story Map that was made by the EAST students at HTMS after our Community Garden Tour.
