Organization plants seeds in youth
SEEDS teaches sustainable skills
September 19, 2015
When Julie Rappaport started talking about educational, edible, community gardens to the city and the district back in 2012, she didn’t realize it would spark so much interest in students at the high school.
Four Roots and Shoots members worked for Rappaport as interns this past summer and Rappaport said even more are interested.
“I’ve already got a few more from the club that said they want to come work next summer, which is great,” Rappaport said. “They are youth change agents that are part of a growing movement.”
Rappaport’s organization started with only one garden, Browndale Park, in 2013. However, she said with the help of Roots and Shoots members last summer, it has grown to over 10 parks. She said she is proud of this growth.
“(Teaching at the community gardens) was to show the city that this is a really great program,” Rappaport said. “At the end of the summer, they said that it was a really great program so we’re going to put it in three more parks next summer.”
Junior Anna Roethler said she worked as an intern for Rappaport this past summer.
“We gardened with her and we also worked on some other projects with her like publicity stuff,” Roethler said.
Rappaport said these students learned valuable vocational skills through the internships.
“Through them working for me this summer as interns, they learned so much,” Rappaport said. “It’s not just about growing food, it’s about growing health, sustainability and education.”
The first annual Community Garden Harvest Festival is a culmination of all the work Rappaport and her interns have put into their gardening this summer.
Rappaport said there are going to be a variety of classes to take and skills to learn at the event.
“There’s going to be classes about keeping chickens in your house and learning about beekeeping, organic composting and vermicomposting,” Rappaport said. “There are some food skill classes to help repurpose your groceries.”
Roethler said she and the rest of the interns will guide tours of the gardens.
“Some of us are going to be giving tours of the gardens at Birchwood, Browndale and the parks,” Roethler said. “We’ll just help her out with whatever else she needs.”
The Community Garden Harvest Festival takes place Sept. 19. A full schedule with times and locations can be found on SLP SEEDS Facebook page.
