Immediate action is recommended. Whenever possible, clean up or replant the damaged areas to restore them to their normal state. This sends a strong message that the garden is important to the community. Report the incident to community law enforcement.
One expert recommends that gardeners document the amount of vandalism and crime that took place on the garden site before starting the garden in order to establish a baseline. That way, if an incident occurs, it can be compared with the number of crimes that occurred previously. It may be unreasonable to attribute an incident of vandalism incident to the new garden without considering the number of times similar incidents occurred before the garden began.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Part 4. Garden Vandalism: Should a garden have a protective fence?
Our community garden that was vandalized has a six-foot high chain-link fence plus securely locked gates. Obviously, these did not stop malicious intruders from entering the premises. Most gardeners I know find these fortifications unattractive and unfriendly even if they’re not made from barbed- or razor-wire (which may be illegal to use in some places). Furthermore, if the sole purpose of a fence is to keep vandals out, don’t waste your time and money. I know of no ordinary fence that can deter determined vandals from breaking into a fenced garden.
However, there are a few good reasons to mark the perimeter of a garden with a physical barrier such as a fence. A physical barrier, for example, can keep stray animals and some marauding pests out of the garden. It could minimize the risk of vandalism. A low picket or chain-link fences can offer adequately protection. Planting spiky or thorny plants and vines along these fences may add to their effectiveness.
However, there are a few good reasons to mark the perimeter of a garden with a physical barrier such as a fence. A physical barrier, for example, can keep stray animals and some marauding pests out of the garden. It could minimize the risk of vandalism. A low picket or chain-link fences can offer adequately protection. Planting spiky or thorny plants and vines along these fences may add to their effectiveness.
Part 3. Garden Vandalism: What can be done to prevent vandalism?
Many garden experts prescribe a positive, proactive public relations and education campaign instead of the more draconian approaches associated with protective fences and attack dogs. I agree with their belief that a community garden can and will be protected by neighboring community members if they perceive it as a beneficial neighborhood asset worth defending. The more personal stake they have in the garden, the more vigorously they will look after its welfare.
Some preventive measures begin with planning the new garden. Locate the garden near well-lighted sidewalks and residential buildings where garden-friendly pedestrians and residents have full view of the garden day and night. This advice has a downside because not all bystanders are garden-friendly. Some gardens, like the University of Calgary Campus Community Garden, are relatively isolated from the busier areas of the community. Its members consider this part of the explanation for why there have been few, if any, vandalism incidents. Keeping a low profile by not entering garden contests or avoiding publicity is a deliberate strategy to keep the riffraff away from the garden.
Invite neighbors to participate in the garden from the very beginning, especially young people, some of whom, if excluded from the garden, may become potential vandals. Befriend the neighbors even if they are not gardeners. Invite them to garden events and gain their goodwill by offering some of the garden’s produce to them. They can be friends of the garden and help with some of the garden tasks.
Children and youth can be effective garden champions so allocating some plots specifically for them. Offer free small plots to children whose parents or grandparents already have a plot in the garden. Encourage schools in the neighborhood to organize garden-based learning activities that they can integrate into their curriculum.
Design spaces in the garden that are inviting and safe for gardeners and neighborhood folks to use for leisure and relaxation. Make them feel safer by ensuring that they have unobstructed views and can see (and be seen by) other people. For example, avoid placing dense shrubs beside a path or seating area.
Design paths to be continuous and minimize the number of dead ends. Consider installing lights to encourage use of the garden after dark and discourage undesirable activities. Build in multiple access points to prevent people from feeling trapped.
Some prescribe the establishment of a "vandal's garden" near the entrance to a garden, one that has a sign that reads, "If you need to take food, please take it from here." This may help if vandals are motivated by a need for free food but it is probably ineffective against vandals with devastation on their irrational mind. I favor institutionalizing food donations by arranging to have recipient groups to come to the garden to help harvest what they need from plots communally tended by volunteers.
One specific tactic is to make a prominent sign that tells the public to what local organization the garden belongs. Community gardens are neighborhood projects and advertising that fact may be sufficient to elicit pro-neighborhood feelings and deter anti-neighborhood behavior.
It is prudent to eliminate or minimize temptation by keeping the edible garden unattractive (or even invisible) to potential vandals. Easily recognizable foods, such as fruits, tomatoes, pumpkins, and cucumbers are relatively more attractive and are likely to be taken so hide them behind taller, less attractive and ‘unusual’ plants. One of my friends planted an unusual variety of dark-colored peas, which he said are less vulnerable to theft because they look unappealing compared with ordinary peas even when ripe. Another suggestion for making the vegetables look unappealing is to sprinkle flour on ripening veggies to give the impression of pesticide dust
Location is another factor to consider. Instead of planting tempting fruits and vegetables along the more accessible parts of the garden, plant root crops and less popular vegetables, such as potatoes and kohlrabi.
Just like a house, store, or office building, an untidy, neglected, and poorly maintained garden tells the public that its owners do not care much about what happens to their garden. Such gardens are more likely to be vandalized than ones that are well maintained. Fix any damaged fences, gates, compost bins, and tool sheds. Eliminate weed patches and heaps of rubbish. These prescriptions are consistent with the “broken windows” hypothesis popularized by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling. They believed that a successful strategy for preventing vandalism is to fix the problems when they are small. For example, repair the broken windows within a day or a week, and vandals are much less likely to escalate their attempts to break even more windows.
Some preventive measures begin with planning the new garden. Locate the garden near well-lighted sidewalks and residential buildings where garden-friendly pedestrians and residents have full view of the garden day and night. This advice has a downside because not all bystanders are garden-friendly. Some gardens, like the University of Calgary Campus Community Garden, are relatively isolated from the busier areas of the community. Its members consider this part of the explanation for why there have been few, if any, vandalism incidents. Keeping a low profile by not entering garden contests or avoiding publicity is a deliberate strategy to keep the riffraff away from the garden.
Invite neighbors to participate in the garden from the very beginning, especially young people, some of whom, if excluded from the garden, may become potential vandals. Befriend the neighbors even if they are not gardeners. Invite them to garden events and gain their goodwill by offering some of the garden’s produce to them. They can be friends of the garden and help with some of the garden tasks.
Children and youth can be effective garden champions so allocating some plots specifically for them. Offer free small plots to children whose parents or grandparents already have a plot in the garden. Encourage schools in the neighborhood to organize garden-based learning activities that they can integrate into their curriculum.
Design spaces in the garden that are inviting and safe for gardeners and neighborhood folks to use for leisure and relaxation. Make them feel safer by ensuring that they have unobstructed views and can see (and be seen by) other people. For example, avoid placing dense shrubs beside a path or seating area.
Design paths to be continuous and minimize the number of dead ends. Consider installing lights to encourage use of the garden after dark and discourage undesirable activities. Build in multiple access points to prevent people from feeling trapped.
Some prescribe the establishment of a "vandal's garden" near the entrance to a garden, one that has a sign that reads, "If you need to take food, please take it from here." This may help if vandals are motivated by a need for free food but it is probably ineffective against vandals with devastation on their irrational mind. I favor institutionalizing food donations by arranging to have recipient groups to come to the garden to help harvest what they need from plots communally tended by volunteers.
One specific tactic is to make a prominent sign that tells the public to what local organization the garden belongs. Community gardens are neighborhood projects and advertising that fact may be sufficient to elicit pro-neighborhood feelings and deter anti-neighborhood behavior.
It is prudent to eliminate or minimize temptation by keeping the edible garden unattractive (or even invisible) to potential vandals. Easily recognizable foods, such as fruits, tomatoes, pumpkins, and cucumbers are relatively more attractive and are likely to be taken so hide them behind taller, less attractive and ‘unusual’ plants. One of my friends planted an unusual variety of dark-colored peas, which he said are less vulnerable to theft because they look unappealing compared with ordinary peas even when ripe. Another suggestion for making the vegetables look unappealing is to sprinkle flour on ripening veggies to give the impression of pesticide dust
Location is another factor to consider. Instead of planting tempting fruits and vegetables along the more accessible parts of the garden, plant root crops and less popular vegetables, such as potatoes and kohlrabi.
Just like a house, store, or office building, an untidy, neglected, and poorly maintained garden tells the public that its owners do not care much about what happens to their garden. Such gardens are more likely to be vandalized than ones that are well maintained. Fix any damaged fences, gates, compost bins, and tool sheds. Eliminate weed patches and heaps of rubbish. These prescriptions are consistent with the “broken windows” hypothesis popularized by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling. They believed that a successful strategy for preventing vandalism is to fix the problems when they are small. For example, repair the broken windows within a day or a week, and vandals are much less likely to escalate their attempts to break even more windows.
Part 2. Garden Vandalism: Why are gardens vandalized?
This is a huge and complex question worthy of serious research. More researchers should probe into the psychological and sociological reasons for this antisocial behavior.
Perhaps vandals are thoughtless, insensitive, inconsiderate, and antisocial people whose perverse idea of fun is self-indulgent and narcissistic. They may be bored with nothing better to do. They may have been on drugs or drunk when they ran amuck in the garden.
They may engage in risky antisocial or criminal behavior because believe they can avoid detection and, therefore, get away with it. They may feel rejected by not being included in the garden or be angry with a gardener, and their vengeful and hostile behavior is a form of displaced aggression. These and others factors may work in combination to account for some vandalism cases.
In the early 1970s, architect and city planner Oscar Newman advanced a controversial theory – the Defensible Space Theory - about crime prevention and neighborhood environments. In his book Defensible Space, published in 1972, Newman pointed out that high-rise apartment buildings experienced higher crime rates because residents felt no control or personal responsibility for an area occupied by so many people. Newman argued that an area is safer when people feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for that piece of space. Intruders, such as criminals or vandals, would feel less secure in committing a crime in an area where they feel that the community is watching over the defensible community space. Newman’s theory is viewed as a narrower improvement of the earlier and more comprehensive ideas on crime prevention through environmental design proposed by C. Jay Jeffery, a criminologist who embraced behaviorist theories that emphasized the influence of rewarding and punishing environmental forces on learning and performing antisocial acts.
There are obvious differences between high-rise apartments and community gardens. However, the four factors that make such residential spaces defensible may be relevant to community gardens.
The first factor is territoriality, referring to the idea that one’s home turf is sacred space. The second factor is natural surveillance, referring to the residents’ ability to see what is happening by designing the environment accordingly. The third factor is image, referring to the capacity of the physical design to impart a sense of security. The fourth factor is milieu, referring to other security-related features such as proximity to busy commercial areas or law enforcement substations.
Applied to gardens, Newman’s theory suggests that a garden can be designed to evoke a sense of territoriality, natural surveillance, image, and milieu in order for it better deter vandalism and promote safety and security. A garden is a planned space in which its custodians, who have invested a good deal of their personal time, money, and energy, may feel a strong enough sense of proprietary ownership to mobilize an effective defense against criminals and vandals.
Perhaps vandals are thoughtless, insensitive, inconsiderate, and antisocial people whose perverse idea of fun is self-indulgent and narcissistic. They may be bored with nothing better to do. They may have been on drugs or drunk when they ran amuck in the garden.
They may engage in risky antisocial or criminal behavior because believe they can avoid detection and, therefore, get away with it. They may feel rejected by not being included in the garden or be angry with a gardener, and their vengeful and hostile behavior is a form of displaced aggression. These and others factors may work in combination to account for some vandalism cases.
In the early 1970s, architect and city planner Oscar Newman advanced a controversial theory – the Defensible Space Theory - about crime prevention and neighborhood environments. In his book Defensible Space, published in 1972, Newman pointed out that high-rise apartment buildings experienced higher crime rates because residents felt no control or personal responsibility for an area occupied by so many people. Newman argued that an area is safer when people feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for that piece of space. Intruders, such as criminals or vandals, would feel less secure in committing a crime in an area where they feel that the community is watching over the defensible community space. Newman’s theory is viewed as a narrower improvement of the earlier and more comprehensive ideas on crime prevention through environmental design proposed by C. Jay Jeffery, a criminologist who embraced behaviorist theories that emphasized the influence of rewarding and punishing environmental forces on learning and performing antisocial acts.
There are obvious differences between high-rise apartments and community gardens. However, the four factors that make such residential spaces defensible may be relevant to community gardens.
The first factor is territoriality, referring to the idea that one’s home turf is sacred space. The second factor is natural surveillance, referring to the residents’ ability to see what is happening by designing the environment accordingly. The third factor is image, referring to the capacity of the physical design to impart a sense of security. The fourth factor is milieu, referring to other security-related features such as proximity to busy commercial areas or law enforcement substations.
Applied to gardens, Newman’s theory suggests that a garden can be designed to evoke a sense of territoriality, natural surveillance, image, and milieu in order for it better deter vandalism and promote safety and security. A garden is a planned space in which its custodians, who have invested a good deal of their personal time, money, and energy, may feel a strong enough sense of proprietary ownership to mobilize an effective defense against criminals and vandals.
Part 1. Garden Vandalism: What’s the damage?
The following essays are my way of responding to a serious and disturbing incident involving vandalism in our community garden that happened just a few days ago.
The psychological impact of garden vandalism is often far deeper and more devastating than the economic impact of losing valued crops, tools, bird houses, garden art, or solar panels. Gardeners are generally familiar with crop loses due to severe weather or to marauding animals, such as deer, rabbits, gophers, moles, mice, voles, armadillos, chipmunks, raccoons, and squirrels. These opportunistic creatures have a biological need to find nourishment and there is food in the garden for the taking. Growing edible and ornamental plants in a greenhouse can help protect them from severe weather although this can be an expensive measure for most gardeners.
Most gardeners know that vandalism can occur despite preventative measures. And, despite the realistic pessimism, when vandals strike, the impact is every bit as devastating as when a thief breaks into one’s home or vehicle. Thieves who break into houses to steal money or valuables may be desperately in need of drugs or something important to them. But how do we explain why people break into a community vegetable garden?
I’m not aware of any empirical evidence to support these but a few writers say that some, mostly adults, steal food such as vegetables, fruits, flowers, chickens and other animals, while others, mostly kids, simply trash the garden. There are countless anecdotal evidence about vandals who randomly dig up plants, smash them with shovels and pitchforks, turn the water faucets on causing the garden to flood, bend water pipes, cut up hoses, ransack tool sheds, and even kill chickens and other animals.
The damage that vandals can do to a garden is comparable to what vandals do to playgrounds, parks, bus stops, parked cars, cemeteries, schools, stores, or other structures. One difference is that many of these structures or damaged objects can be replaced or repaired. Plants in a mature vegetable or flower garden, on the other hand, cannot easily be replaced especially if the vandals struck late in the growing season. Replanting a garden would be virtually impossible and can almost be like treating or replacing a beloved pet that’s been a victim of abuse.
The psychological impact of garden vandalism is often far deeper and more devastating than the economic impact of losing valued crops, tools, bird houses, garden art, or solar panels. Gardeners are generally familiar with crop loses due to severe weather or to marauding animals, such as deer, rabbits, gophers, moles, mice, voles, armadillos, chipmunks, raccoons, and squirrels. These opportunistic creatures have a biological need to find nourishment and there is food in the garden for the taking. Growing edible and ornamental plants in a greenhouse can help protect them from severe weather although this can be an expensive measure for most gardeners.
Most gardeners know that vandalism can occur despite preventative measures. And, despite the realistic pessimism, when vandals strike, the impact is every bit as devastating as when a thief breaks into one’s home or vehicle. Thieves who break into houses to steal money or valuables may be desperately in need of drugs or something important to them. But how do we explain why people break into a community vegetable garden?
I’m not aware of any empirical evidence to support these but a few writers say that some, mostly adults, steal food such as vegetables, fruits, flowers, chickens and other animals, while others, mostly kids, simply trash the garden. There are countless anecdotal evidence about vandals who randomly dig up plants, smash them with shovels and pitchforks, turn the water faucets on causing the garden to flood, bend water pipes, cut up hoses, ransack tool sheds, and even kill chickens and other animals.
The damage that vandals can do to a garden is comparable to what vandals do to playgrounds, parks, bus stops, parked cars, cemeteries, schools, stores, or other structures. One difference is that many of these structures or damaged objects can be replaced or repaired. Plants in a mature vegetable or flower garden, on the other hand, cannot easily be replaced especially if the vandals struck late in the growing season. Replanting a garden would be virtually impossible and can almost be like treating or replacing a beloved pet that’s been a victim of abuse.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Flor's Garden
Forty-five minutes drive from their lovely home in Pasig, MetroManila, Philippines, is a 5-hectare piece of land that Flor Gozon Tarriela and her husband, Ed, have been meticulously and painstakingly nurturing. They named their tropical acreage in the City of Antipolo Flor’s Garden. It’s really much more than what most people, myself included, would call a garden. Let me tell you why.
I had the good fortune to tag along to Flor’s Garden with my brother, a well-known Filipino urban and environmental planner and a friend of the Tarrielas. I also learned that Flor and my wife, Edna, were high school classmates. Small world.
The narrow driveway into Flor’s Garden meandered past a lush, forest-like landscape. The van slowly made its way past bamboo groves, mango trees, and other tropical vegetation on both sides. The driveway ended at an elegant gazebo, where Fely, a charming hostess, welcomed our small group. Fely served us delicious herbal tea, rice cakes, and homemade pesto with bread, and gave the new visitors a brief explanation of the garden. She showed us a garden map, handed us a brochure, and described what we were about to see on the tour.
Fely led us past a huge guesthouse that could double as a meeting venue. Beside it was a beautiful and inviting infinity pool. As we strolled past the house and into the garden, we encountered free-range bantam chickens, butterflies, and birds. In the garden – or should I say gardens because there were several - we saw hundreds of species of medicinal, ornamental, and edible plants.
Fely introduced us to Ponching, another staff member, who introduced us to the wide range of medicinal plants and their healing power. I referred to a pamphlet Fely handed to me at the gazebo - God’s Pharmacy Plants in the Garden – where more than 25 species of medicinal plants in Flor’s Garden are described. Did you know that lemon grass, in addition to flavoring food, also makes an excellent tea used to relieve stomach queasiness and, good news, is said to have anti-cancer properties?
Companion planting is practised in Flor’s Garden. This is when properties of certain plants benefit other plants by providing nutrients or protection from parasitic critters. Many of Flor’s plants have natural properties that repel pests, too. For example citronella repels mosquitoes, pandan repels cockroaches, oregano and mint, that repel mice. In addition to being excellent substitutes for toxic chemicals, these plants are renewable and sustainable.
It began to drizzle so Bernadette, Carlos, Dinky, and I took shelter under an awning over a picnic table and listened as Flor, Ponching, and Fely took turns explaining the amazing healing properties of their collection of their incredible plants.
As soon as the light rain ceased, we continued our tour along the nursery towards the vermicomposting area. Another member of the garden staff showed us a series of worm beds and samples of the organic materials that were needed for the worms. Flor’s Garden avoids the use of chemical fertilizer and, instead, makes their own soil amendment using African worms that consume organic waste from the garden and kitchen. Based on my own experience in composting, I know that composting diverts a considerable amount of organic material from the waste stream that otherwise would end up in landfills.
Down a path from the worm beds is a small pig pen in which two pot-bellied pigs were silently sleeping. Unlike most pig pens I’ve seen, the air and the pigs in this section of Flor’s Garden were neither odorous nor offensive. Flor explained that the pigs buried their excreta and urine in several layers of organic material that lined the floor. Friendly microorganisms in the bedding decompose the pig’s waste. The pigs evidently soiled only specific parts of the pen, perhaps avoiding the place where they sleep. As Carlos Atayde, a local happiness guru and a Tarriela friend and adviser, noted, “Hindi sila baboy! (These pigs are not pigs!)”
We continued the tour by crossing a wooden footbridge that was suspended across a small creek. Several of us stopped by a mango orchard where Flor was conducting an experiment. Half of the mango trees were fertilized with worm castings, and the other half with conventional fertilizer. The quantity and quality of the mangoes will be the indicators of which methods works best. Being a worm composter, I’m placing my bet on the worm casting.
Finally, our tour ended at the big house, where we rested at poolside, took group photos, and cleaned up before lunch. Fred Liongoren, a famous Filipino artist and a friend of the Tarrielas, joined us. It was an unexpected reunion for Fred and Dinky, who were students at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts and Architecture in the sixties. Fred was an art student and Dinky was an architecture student. Fred, we learned, designed the suspended wooden bridge in Flor’s Garden that we crossed a few minutes earlier.
It’s not surprising that virtually everything that was served for lunch came from Flor’s Garden. This will undoubtedly set a trend in eating locally, which is good news for Filipino locavores, especially those who delight in eating edible flowers and leaves freshly picked from a natural, organic garden.
Flor’s Garden is truly a labor of love, inspired by an extraordinary vision to create a bucolic rural atmosphere for meditation, nature appreciation, and urban agriculture R&D. Like many visitors to Flor’s Garden, I enjoyed seeing the birds and the butterflies and learned a lot about medicinal plants, farm-scale vermiculture, and no-smell pigs. Who knows what we will learn next time we visit Flor’s Garden?
On the drive back to Pasig, I reflected on what I experienced. I could not help but marvel at the passionate and meticulous care with which Flor, Ed, Fely, Ponching, and the rest of the staff have invested in what I believe is a jewel in the City of Antipolo’s crown.
I had the good fortune to tag along to Flor’s Garden with my brother, a well-known Filipino urban and environmental planner and a friend of the Tarrielas. I also learned that Flor and my wife, Edna, were high school classmates. Small world.
The narrow driveway into Flor’s Garden meandered past a lush, forest-like landscape. The van slowly made its way past bamboo groves, mango trees, and other tropical vegetation on both sides. The driveway ended at an elegant gazebo, where Fely, a charming hostess, welcomed our small group. Fely served us delicious herbal tea, rice cakes, and homemade pesto with bread, and gave the new visitors a brief explanation of the garden. She showed us a garden map, handed us a brochure, and described what we were about to see on the tour.
Fely led us past a huge guesthouse that could double as a meeting venue. Beside it was a beautiful and inviting infinity pool. As we strolled past the house and into the garden, we encountered free-range bantam chickens, butterflies, and birds. In the garden – or should I say gardens because there were several - we saw hundreds of species of medicinal, ornamental, and edible plants.
Fely introduced us to Ponching, another staff member, who introduced us to the wide range of medicinal plants and their healing power. I referred to a pamphlet Fely handed to me at the gazebo - God’s Pharmacy Plants in the Garden – where more than 25 species of medicinal plants in Flor’s Garden are described. Did you know that lemon grass, in addition to flavoring food, also makes an excellent tea used to relieve stomach queasiness and, good news, is said to have anti-cancer properties?
Companion planting is practised in Flor’s Garden. This is when properties of certain plants benefit other plants by providing nutrients or protection from parasitic critters. Many of Flor’s plants have natural properties that repel pests, too. For example citronella repels mosquitoes, pandan repels cockroaches, oregano and mint, that repel mice. In addition to being excellent substitutes for toxic chemicals, these plants are renewable and sustainable.
It began to drizzle so Bernadette, Carlos, Dinky, and I took shelter under an awning over a picnic table and listened as Flor, Ponching, and Fely took turns explaining the amazing healing properties of their collection of their incredible plants.
As soon as the light rain ceased, we continued our tour along the nursery towards the vermicomposting area. Another member of the garden staff showed us a series of worm beds and samples of the organic materials that were needed for the worms. Flor’s Garden avoids the use of chemical fertilizer and, instead, makes their own soil amendment using African worms that consume organic waste from the garden and kitchen. Based on my own experience in composting, I know that composting diverts a considerable amount of organic material from the waste stream that otherwise would end up in landfills.
Down a path from the worm beds is a small pig pen in which two pot-bellied pigs were silently sleeping. Unlike most pig pens I’ve seen, the air and the pigs in this section of Flor’s Garden were neither odorous nor offensive. Flor explained that the pigs buried their excreta and urine in several layers of organic material that lined the floor. Friendly microorganisms in the bedding decompose the pig’s waste. The pigs evidently soiled only specific parts of the pen, perhaps avoiding the place where they sleep. As Carlos Atayde, a local happiness guru and a Tarriela friend and adviser, noted, “Hindi sila baboy! (These pigs are not pigs!)”
We continued the tour by crossing a wooden footbridge that was suspended across a small creek. Several of us stopped by a mango orchard where Flor was conducting an experiment. Half of the mango trees were fertilized with worm castings, and the other half with conventional fertilizer. The quantity and quality of the mangoes will be the indicators of which methods works best. Being a worm composter, I’m placing my bet on the worm casting.
Finally, our tour ended at the big house, where we rested at poolside, took group photos, and cleaned up before lunch. Fred Liongoren, a famous Filipino artist and a friend of the Tarrielas, joined us. It was an unexpected reunion for Fred and Dinky, who were students at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts and Architecture in the sixties. Fred was an art student and Dinky was an architecture student. Fred, we learned, designed the suspended wooden bridge in Flor’s Garden that we crossed a few minutes earlier.
It’s not surprising that virtually everything that was served for lunch came from Flor’s Garden. This will undoubtedly set a trend in eating locally, which is good news for Filipino locavores, especially those who delight in eating edible flowers and leaves freshly picked from a natural, organic garden.
Flor’s Garden is truly a labor of love, inspired by an extraordinary vision to create a bucolic rural atmosphere for meditation, nature appreciation, and urban agriculture R&D. Like many visitors to Flor’s Garden, I enjoyed seeing the birds and the butterflies and learned a lot about medicinal plants, farm-scale vermiculture, and no-smell pigs. Who knows what we will learn next time we visit Flor’s Garden?
On the drive back to Pasig, I reflected on what I experienced. I could not help but marvel at the passionate and meticulous care with which Flor, Ed, Fely, Ponching, and the rest of the staff have invested in what I believe is a jewel in the City of Antipolo’s crown.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Children Learning at the Garden About Community Gardening
The mission of the Garden Path Society (GPS) is “to provide an organic garden to cultivate plants, build community and share our resources.” One of the ways to achieve this is to share the Inglewood community garden with children and youth.
As part of the 2009 summer programs called Nature Discovery Camps and the Environmental Stewardship Camps offered by the City of Calgary Parks Inglewood Bird Sanctuary (IBS), children will be learning how food is grown organically at the GPS community garden. A maximum of twenty-six 6-14 year-old children are expected to grow food at the GPS community garden beginning on July 6, 2009. The campers would come to GPS for an hour on Monday afternoons and an hour on Friday mornings accompanied by IBS Nature Educators.
They will plant and tend a shared plot, where they will grow vegetables under the supervision of the Nature Educators who are organizing the program in partnership with GPS. The children will also have an opportunity to interact with other GPS gardeners and help in tending some of the Cornucopia plots where food will be grown for charity.
Through a hands-on approach, the children will learn what is takes to grow healthy food, what makes organically grown food different, and what it takes to make their vegetable plot be productive. They will also learn how community gardens like GPS add to the quality of life of the Inglewood neighborhood and the City of Calgary. For example, some of the vegetables from the garden will be donated to supplement the diet of senior citizens and homeless Calgarians.
The young gardeners will also participate actively in applying some of the principles and techniques of backyard composting. For example, in addition to what they will learn about composting at the IBS from Clean Calgary Association staff, they will also have a chance to help with composting at the GPS.
The GPS part of the IBS summer camp program is part of Learning at the Garden, a GPS garden-based environmental education initiative that consists of informal educational programs aimed at beginners, intermediate, and advanced gardeners.
For more information about summer camps with the City Parks at IBS, visit the website at www.calgaryparks.ca.
As part of the 2009 summer programs called Nature Discovery Camps and the Environmental Stewardship Camps offered by the City of Calgary Parks Inglewood Bird Sanctuary (IBS), children will be learning how food is grown organically at the GPS community garden. A maximum of twenty-six 6-14 year-old children are expected to grow food at the GPS community garden beginning on July 6, 2009. The campers would come to GPS for an hour on Monday afternoons and an hour on Friday mornings accompanied by IBS Nature Educators.
They will plant and tend a shared plot, where they will grow vegetables under the supervision of the Nature Educators who are organizing the program in partnership with GPS. The children will also have an opportunity to interact with other GPS gardeners and help in tending some of the Cornucopia plots where food will be grown for charity.
Through a hands-on approach, the children will learn what is takes to grow healthy food, what makes organically grown food different, and what it takes to make their vegetable plot be productive. They will also learn how community gardens like GPS add to the quality of life of the Inglewood neighborhood and the City of Calgary. For example, some of the vegetables from the garden will be donated to supplement the diet of senior citizens and homeless Calgarians.
The young gardeners will also participate actively in applying some of the principles and techniques of backyard composting. For example, in addition to what they will learn about composting at the IBS from Clean Calgary Association staff, they will also have a chance to help with composting at the GPS.
The GPS part of the IBS summer camp program is part of Learning at the Garden, a GPS garden-based environmental education initiative that consists of informal educational programs aimed at beginners, intermediate, and advanced gardeners.
For more information about summer camps with the City Parks at IBS, visit the website at www.calgaryparks.ca.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
