Green Street
This whole growing up on a farm thing must have stuck with me. The idea that I can’t get out of my head these days is, why are we wasting all these resources growing lawns when we should be growing food instead?
So I’m starting a project, called Green Street: The Students and Homeowners Gardening Cooperative.
The goal of Green Street is to increase the number of home gardens while providing educational opportunities for students in a wide range of subject areas, from biology to life skills.
We’ve received a lot of encouragement from various organizations already, including offers to help with the pilot project from the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and Urban Farming, and possible AmeriCorps support from the Northwest Service Academy in Portland.
The project is currently is in its information gathering and research stage, moving towards pilot projects in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles, California in 2010.
The idea for this project is simple: there are many homeowners who would love to have a garden, but don’t have the time and/or the knowledge to make it happen. Luckily, there is a prime demographic out there who would love to be doing anything at all outside rather than sitting inside: middle school students!
As I began my research, I found that there are already many wonderful programs in this same idea space, from school-based gardens to community gardening projects which include students.
Two things set Green Street apart, however. First, it involves students working at homes during school hours rather than at their school. In some cases, the students will be working at their own homes, since the goal is to work with homeowners within short walking distance of the students’ school. Gardening in this context will not be seen as just an academic activity but as something that more and more people are doing at their own homes.
Second, since the program will be completely integrated into the curriculum, with gardening happening on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, gardening will become a regular part of the students’ lives rather than something that’s seen only as a special occasion or a field trip destination.
The food harvested from these home farms would be divided - the homeowners would essentially receive as much as they want, probably a third to a half of what’s grown, and the students would be given the remainder. Some of it would be donated to food banks, some of it could be used at the students’ own school for lunches, and some could be sold at farmer’s market (bringing in an economics component to the program).
Moving Forward
The priority right now is to find one or more schools in Los Angeles and Portland to host the pilot projects. Right now we’re working on developing curriculum that aligns with the state standards in California and Oregon.
Assuming the pilot projects are successful, the next step will be to bring in full-time employees and expand to more locations. With the AmeriCorps program set to expand considerably over the next few years, we see them as an ideal partner since Green Street addresses two of AmeriCorps’ focus areas, education and the environment.
We also very much need the feedback of homeowners, educators and anyone else. Email me at karneyhatch@gmail.com with any thoughts you have!
I’m also working on a very related documentary.
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Did you know that lawn turf is the #1 irrigated crop in the US? If that raises your blood pressure, check out some of these sites:
Los Angeles Conservation Corps