I hope you’re all staying warm!
Last week, we got a pretty inspiring story of hard work and dedication. One overarching point, though, is that all this work can’t start and stop with one person. There are plenty of younger adults involved in the efforts in these communities, but even then, we won’t live or be able-bodied forever.
With trying to get our younger community members a bit more involved, and knowing these skills are good for everyone to have in general, Courtney McCary-Squyres has offered local schools tours of the Maryland garden a couple of times this past year.
Both Emmanuel Christian Academy and Mountain View Middle School students got the opportunity to plant produce and learn about regenerative agriculture, with the former also getting the opportunity to learn how to prune annuals and evaluate the health of plants, since more was growing at the time.
An important aspect of building up a community is learning how to share resources equitably. One of the best, easiest, and most unlimited resources we could possibly share? That would be sharing knowledge.
The community gardens are something that need to be overseen, sown, tended to, harvested, etc. But knowing how to grow your own food, especially in this area, is something that will continue to give back to this community for years to come.
Given the reception to these tours out to the Maryland location, it seems like maybe these goals are being achieved.
“A few months after the Mountain View Middle school field trip, I had a With Many Hands table set up at the Alamogordo Public School’s back to school bash and a student came up to my table,” recalled McCary-Squyres. “She went on to tell me that she had a really good time working in the garden.”
These are just little moments, but it is encouraging to know efforts like these field trips stick in young people’s minds.
Right now, the gardens will only be growing a few plants that can actually withstand the winter temperatures. Starting in the spring, With Many Hands will be focusing on sowing for the new season, more field trips, resuming Garden Walks, and they are planning on having the Puerto Rico location (in the plot behind Grace Methodist Church) ready to provide for our community as well.
We all have a lot to look forward to, even if it doesn’t feel like it. I would be remiss not to remind you that if you have decaying pumpkins, produce scraps, leaves, or shredded paper, that Puerto Rico location is accepting them for our community compost pile. Just look for the crates and the red gate!
This Thursday will be my last regular post for about three weeks. I will be on vacation and, hopefully, working on my first few community profiles.
In the meantime, I invite you to keep an eye on My Calendar, particularly for those who don’t enjoy being on Facebook. The best part of this time of year is that the goodwill that should be year-round is forefront in everyone’s minds, and I will try to keep it as up-to-date with humanitarian opportunities and community celebrations as I can.
Until then,
Salud.
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