INSPIRE
private funding for a nonprofit group
using public school land and developing broad farming capabilities that
would, in return, provide produce for
more than 700 meals daily.
Friendship Gardens now has three
acres for its Urban Farm at Charlotte’s
Garinger High School, tucked behind
the baseball field. The farm is still in its
infancy and has not yet completed its
first full year of farming. But it’s quite
a sight: a 100 x 100 foot field with four
40 x 40 plots; an established arbor of
fruit trees; newly donated fruit trees
creating a second arbor; a shed, complete with solar panels and a rain water
container system that will water the
fields; and a restored greenhouse that
will house aquaponic growing pools.
“We have some great partnerships with
the local community college, who has
had a horticulture class complete their
service learning by building the plumbing system inside the greenhouse,”
Owen said. “UNC Charlotte’s engineering program helped us to build the
shed, install the solar panels and figure
out the rainwater capture system.”
Locating the farm on the high school
grounds has also allowed for Friendship Gardens to extend its mission of
providing learning opportunities. Primarily led by Garinger Garden Leader
Bobbie Mabe, the high school students
have installed raised beds for gardening and a geometry class assisted in the
layout and placement of the fruit trees.
“I believe that our program offers a
wide range of positive experiences
for those involved, including hands
on learning, vocational skills, stress
reduction, a sense of community/
belonging—opportunities for success
academically, socially, and emotionally,” Mabe said. “I’m doing this
mainly by working with teachers, in
all class subjects, to write gardening
into curriculum in a meaningful way,
offering after school garden club, and
working with Henry to connect students to the farm in any way we can.”
APRIL MAY 2014
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