Recall in our Garden-Based Learning Newsletter, we solicited success stories from to feature in our newsletter and blog. We are excited to share this Success Story with you. The Geneva Community Center’s Boys & Girls Club is currently working on an after-school gardening project every Wednesday for children ages 10-14. Eight expert gardeners have volunteered to work on a rotating basis with children on a particular aspect of gardening. Some of the expert volunteers include community members and Master Gardeners of the New York State Volunteer Program under the direction of Russ Welser at Ontario County Cornell Cooperative Extension.

The team of gardeners will be growing carrots, lettuce, beets, raspberries, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, summer squash, garlic, chard, radishes, potatoes, and mustard. Visit gardening.cornell.edu for vegetable growing guides. Here are some growing guide examples for the vegetables featured at the Boys & Girls Club garden: Carrots  Beets  Cucumbers

The expert gardeners will also engage the children in fun, garden-related activities such as learning about soils, how to prepare a planter for container gardening, how to protect a garden from deer, and the use of cover crops for weed prevention. Resources on building soil, cover crops and keeping deer away can be found on our site too.

This gardening project is supported by the USDA volunteers based at the Geneva Experiment Station, the faculty and staff from Hobart & William Smith Colleges, as well as board members and staff of the Boys & Girls Club. A recent donation of organic soil was made by John Hicks.

The project aims to fulfill the youth development strategy of The Boys & Girls Club:

-A Sense of Competence: there is something boys and girls can do and do well
-A Sense of Usefulness: the opportunity to do something of value for other people
-A Sense of Belonging: a setting where an individual knows he or she has a place where he or she “fits” and is accepted
-A Sense of Power of Influence: a chance to be heard and to influence decisions

The mission of the Boys & Girls Club of Geneva is to empower all young people in our community to reach their full potential. Located at 160 Carter Road, the Geneva Community Center is just a short ways away from the Geneva high and middle schools.  The Geneva Community Center is a gathering point for people of all ages to engage in fun and enriching activities in a safe and welcoming environment. It is the Center’s mission to build and support collaborations between organizations, services, neighborhoods, and age groups to create long-lasting relationships.

Visit their webpage at http://www.genevacommunitycenter.org/index.html.

If you would like your garden-related program success story to be posted here, email us at garden@cornell.edu with a two to three paragraph description that includes the garden project’s mission or goals, a description of the success story and its impacts, and attach two to three JPG photos of the project (with rights released). Be sure to include your address, phone number, email, and project website (if applicable). First five submissions will receive a complimentary copy of our Discovering Our Food System curriculum.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2012 at 9:50 am and is filed under Classroom, Edibles, New York State, School Gardens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.