Children's Discovery Garden Campaign

After our first successful growing season, our resident community garden in the Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh is expanding to include 20 more families. As part of the expansion, we want to create a shared gardening space that children can enjoy and care for collectively. Our “Discovery Garden” will serve as an engaging platform to educate children about healthy food and how it grows.

The Discovery Garden will be installed this spring as part of the garden expansion, and will include a seating area and decorative signage made by the children. We will host several interactive workshops for the children throughout the season, including cooking demonstrations, craft activites, and gardening workshops to learn about seeds, plant care, and harvesting. The aromatic herbs, flowers, and vegetables children plant will serve as a platform to learn about beneficial pollinators and insects. We will host weekly Weeding Wednesdays for adults and children to meet in the garden to work together. Partnership is a key to our success. We are partnering with Magee-Womens hospital to provide classes on nutrition and cooking healthy food. Our efforts are supported by the Garfield Community Action Team and a local Americorps program called Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience. 

In our first season, the children in the surrounding blocks were the biggest enthusiasts of the garden. They displayed so much interest in learning and helping out around the garden, but didn't have a space to call their own. By the fall, there was a waiting list of gardeners and a desire to expand the garden and create more structured times for children. In our neighborhood, children comprise nearly 40% of the population, we are currently without a full-service grocery store, and the poverty rate hovers at 40%. 

We want the garden to serve as a space where resident gardeners can mentor each other and pass our knowledge on to the youngest among us. We will learn together how to become more self-sufficient by growing our own food and strengthening our community.