Our gardens on Jay Street and Linwood Place are being transformed, thanks to the help of our summer youth employees!
Each year, the Oneida County Summer Youth Employment Program employs young people in the area to jumpstart their careers. According to the organization’s website, “Oneida County’s youth learn valuable skills to help them become members of the 21st-century workforce” by holding various local, hands-on jobs. Youth work an average of 50 hours total, starting in early July. Work sites are located in all parts of the County, including our community gardens. This summer, For the Good Inc. was lucky to have over twenty employees, ages 14-18, coming through our gardens.
The positive impact of their work has been very clear. Transformations have been seen in fruitful production, beautification of the land, and the attitudes of the youth towards gardening.
Since week one, students have learned valuable and marketable skills at work including weeding, planting, harvesting, pruning, shoveling, mulching, watering, and weed whacking. They have also learned the process of maintaining a garden, the uses for manure as fertilizer, and plant identification.
As an intern with For the Good Inc., I worked with the students in the garden four days a week. Day one was rocky. I worked closely with each group of students as they learned to weed and plant, showing them how to be gentle with the plants. While some plants were inevitably destroyed, I was assured that it was part of the learning process.
Each successive week, students became more and more autonomous, more willing to ask, ‘how can I help?’ and more empowered to make decisions about what to weed and plant on their own. The students have become invested in the beauty of the garden, requesting to plant a flower garden and discussing ways they can continue to improve their space. A month of hard work and they are able to teach each other and new employees that join. Just today, one student was found teaching another about the process of using the weed whacker safely.
The benefits of intensive gardening extend beyond the food produced, or even the skills learned. Students respond that they are encouraged to get out of the house and socialize with a new group of people. “I like to work instead of being home bored,” one student mentioned. “I get out of the house; I barely leave the house” was another common narrative.
Working in the garden has also encouraged students to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, straight from the earth. About half of students said that these fresh items were not currently eaten in their home; however, they expressed a willingness to take home food from the garden they were planting. In the beginning of the month, I observed a resistance to eating the food from the garden, getting a lot of questions such as, “Do you actually eat this food?” By week three, I have seen many of the students snacking on berries from the bushes, trying the spicy hot peppers as they ripen, and taking home harvested garlic.
There has been a transformation in the gardens on every front, and we are excited to see what the next few wee
ks will bring. Our gardens look more productive, cleaner, and more beautiful than ever, and we could not have done it without this crew!
Please help us continue this community project! We are in need of the following donations:
- 100 ft of hose
- High-Quality Hoes
- Wheelbarrows
- Round point shovels
- Steel Rakes
- Gloves of all sizes
- Harvest knives
- Clippers
- Hand Mower
- Weed Wacker
- For more information visit facebook.com/forthegoodgardens or call (315) 797-2417
