Urban Ag Ambassador Spotlight: Patrick
Somerville Urban Ag Ambassadors receive free ag training in exchange for 30 hours of community service
This past summer I worked
at the community garden at the Chuckie Harris Park in East Somerville. The
garden was in difficult shape. We also struggled with attracting input and
interest from the adjoining senior center. Furthermore, my wife and I ended up
moving from Somerville midway through the summer, complicating the gardens
revitalization efforts. I was feeling distressed in how I would be able to
serve the remainder of my Urban Ag Ambassador volunteer hours. I then realized that I would be
co-teaching senior capstone class at UMass Boston on Urban Agriculture.
I modeled the classes
lectures off of what I learned during the Urban Agriculture Ambassadors Program
and used The Urban Bounty book written by Green City Growers as our required
text. The capstone course is meant to have students take what they’ve learned
in the class lectures and apply it to a real world project. For this my
co-instructor and I identified areas in Metro Boston that could use student
help to plan new or reactivate old gardens for students to apply what they were
learning in class.
I was determined to find a
location in Somerville and with the help of Kim Schmidt and an idea from a
former UAA graduate, I decided to pursue the development of a community garden
at the Clarendon Hill Towers. Working with an interested staff at the Towers, I
was able to orchestrate a group of 5 senior Environmental Studies students
through a process of building a functional garden project plan. The students
begun by studying the history of the site and understanding the demographics.
They then mapped the sites biophysical characteristics and tested the soil for
nutrients, metals and contaminants. Based on their interviews, research,
findings they were able to put together a project plan that would be most
beneficial to the residents. The final project centered around a raised bed
herb garden that would thrive in low light, with little maintenance and provide
a bountiful harvest for residents. Their plan also included a composting system
and a rain barrel solution that collected water from a nearby shed.
The students final report
priced out the cost of their proposed project and step by step instructions for
how the Towers staff could implement the recommended project. It is our hope that
the staff at the Clarendon Hill Towers decide to take implement the students
project for the benefit of the residents.
