Back to Planning & Organizing

Meeting Youth’s Needs Through Garden-Based Learning Experiences
Youth Involvement in the Garden
Benefits and Barriers to Youth Participation
“Taming” the Overly Enthusiastic Adult
Additional Resources

“When it comes to working with children and youth in garden settings, all across the nation, we often miss the boat: adults typically plan, design and implement garden programs, inviting young people to the table after the garden is finished.  While that isn’t ‘bad,’ it surely misses an opportunity.  Our research has shown that gardening interest is more strongly correlated with decision-making than garden activity.  It’s worth taking the time to engage young people in every step from the beginning.” –Marcia Eames-Sheavly, Senior Lecturer & Senior Extension Associate at Cornell University

Meeting Youth’s Needs Through Garden-Based Learning Experiences

It is thrilling to witness a child raise a marigold from a seed s/he has planted, or watch a teen-aged youth create a sunflower house for a younger sibling. Even as we are always interested in horticulture, we are stretching toward what constitutes an ideal experience for all gardeners – not just the garden content, but also the life skills gained through the experience. The Circle of Courage is a model of positive youth development which can inform exciting program goals to meet the needs of all participants. It is a model grounded in the principles of belonging, mastery, independence and generosity, and which integrates the cultural wisdom of native peoples and findings of contemporary youth development research.

Mastery:  Learning by doing “I can.”

It isn’t difficult to create a long list of all the ways in which someone can gain skills by interacting with the plant world. Hands-on activities, experiential learning, group investigation, and discovery are the backbone of a gardening experience. We encourage educators to focus on the long-term goals of learning and to provide prompt feedback.

A number of years ago, a panel of 4-H youth responded to questions posed by attendees. When asked what frustrates them about the adults in their lives, one teen responded, “You’re all so terrified to see us fail. We can handle it! Let us work it out!” This beautifully exemplifies the desire for mastery. And although it can be one of the hardest lessons in life, in gardening as with everything else, plants die, our goals sometimes aren’t realized, and the beautiful gardens of our dreams occasionally sport weeds. We aim to model and teach that failure and frustration are learning experiences, too.

Belonging:  Cultivate relationships “I belong.”

In this busy culture of over-scheduled activity, it’s easy to forget that more than ever, hanging out with each other has tremendous value. It can be ironic that educators may need to schedule ‘down time’ for program participants to get to know one another; doing so is every bit as important as the learning about tomato cultivars or how to compost. Rainy days and other occasions can be a wonderful chance for indoor activities aimed at cultivating connection. For example, older adults often have tremendous knowledge about gardening; talking with them can be a way to promote relationships outside the usual scope of young people’s affiliations. It’s not difficult to promote ties with family and community, since gardening is our nation’s favorite hobby.

Because of all the activity that revolves around the garden, it isn’t challenging to build in small group time to allow for the development of close relationships. Many of the crops we grow have come from all over the world; exploring where our food comes from and celebrating different ways of sharing and preparing food from the garden, for example, can be an exciting way to show respect for the value of diverse cultures. Perhaps most importantly, although plants need to be watered, and the weeds are ever present, a vital aspect of any program is remembering can be to have fun and enjoy one other. Without that, few participants may wish to return.

Generosity:  Gestures of thoughtfulness & shared responsibility “I can make a difference.”

When we say the word generosity, frequently what comes to mind is the giving away of “things.” No question, there is often a lot of produce or flowers to be shared when you’re in the thick of a terrific gardening experience, and many people in our communities can benefit from shared food and beauty. But generosity can include much more. A skilled garden-based learning educator reinforces gestures of thoughtfulness, and asks participants to take responsibility for others. Critical reflection, as a part of a service-learning experience, can be an important pursuit that leads to compassion, a broader scope, and life-long interest in the community.

Power:  Authentic youth engagement & decision-making “I matter.”

An area that can be over-looked in the rush toward efficiency and getting things done is fostering power, ownership and independence. For example, in the children’s garden arena, often the people who are the most enthusiastic about gardens and gardening are adults. Nation-wide, these adults are calling the shots, designing gardens for children, developing educational programs for children, instead of thinking in terms of partnership. While this isn’t ‘bad,’ it does reduce learning opportunities and the chance to engage audiences in decision making. A major thrust of our focus is fostering genuine participation in community garden-based projects and exploring ways to better engage participants in decision-making aspects of projects.

When it comes to gardening, there are myriad decisions to make, and before making any, we urge educators to reflect on how to share decision-making to ensure a strong sense of commitment. Include participants of any age in planning, encourage their input, and give them responsibility. There are many obstacles in gardening, from deer and other pests, to weather and site concerns; however, we shouldn’t deprive children in particular of the thrill of overcoming a barrier. Their ideas are often more creative and less burdened with “shoulds” and “the way things are” than ours. Ideally, the power ought to slowly shift to participants through self-governance, with respect to garden planning, design, implementation and maintenance. It might mean revising our notion of committees, meeting structures, timing, and an entire approach to how a project is organized.

All of these four themes – mastery, belonging, power, and generosity – are relatively easy to work into any garden-based learning effort. Remember that the ultimate goal isn’t just raising crops; it’s growing competent, committed, reflective, and caring gardeners. Instead of thinking solely of our subject matter expertise, and the important content to be gained from learning about horticulture, it is equally important to consider program factors such as non-scheduled time, opportunities for friends to join in, chances to make a difference in the community, and avenues through which our young participants can voice an opinion.

Your Program

To include more opportunities for mastery, belonging, generosity, and power into your garden-based learning effort, try using the tool Planning for Positive Youth Development Through Garden-Based Learning. Consider an activity: planting pumpkins, planning a new garden, or hosting a harvest festival. How might you expand it? Use the planning sheet to dig deeper and get the most out of meeting the needs of participants in the process.
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Youth Involvement in the Garden

• This Coins of Strength Activity (doc), illustrates a strength-based approach to working with children and youth versus a deficit based approach.
• Do you engage children and youth in planning and decision-making in your program? Use the Hart’s Ladder of Participation Activity (pdf) to find out!
• Learn more about effective youth engagement with this exercise, Considering Age Appropriate Activities (pdf).

Recruiting Youth
If you’re having a difficult time recruiting youth for your project, take a step back and ask “where did this idea come from?” Think about where your project currently falls on the doing to, doing for, or doing with spectrum. Projects operating with a doing to or doing for approach, tend to have a harder time recruiting youth because they have to recruit youth! If your project is taking a doing with approach, youth have most likely been involved in generating or supporting the idea early on and — through their experiences — have developed a sense of ownership that keeps them coming back.

Encouraging Youth Participation
Often youth garden projects are set up with the assumption that adults plan and build the garden. Youth involvement starts with “fun” activities once the garden is in place. Young people have such great ideas and energy that it seems a waste not to involve them in every step of the process. Additionally, if your garden project is intended to be used by youth, involving them ensures that you’re developing a garden that not only meets young people’s needs but also one which they will find interesting and exciting.

Including Youth as Partners
The benefits of involving youth as partners far outweigh the barriers. If you think involving youth in planning will take too long, take a look at your timeline and consider whether it can be altered. Consider starting small and asking around among your volunteers and potential volunteers to see who might want to spearhead this aspect of the project.

Dr. Roger Hart, co-director of the Children’s Environments Research Group, offers suggestions for involving children in community-based projects. A critical point he makes is to avoid efforts that “decorate” or “tokenize” children’s connection to the project, since this does not represent true participation.

• An example of decoration is when children wear T-shirts promoting a garden program that they neither planned, nor designed, nor implemented.
• An example of tokenism might be a school in which children are involved in a contest to name the garden, but do not have any input in its planning, design, or implementation.

Hart created a “ladder” of participation to help us think about where we really are and where we’d like to be in terms of children’s participation in our programs. This ladder was not created to suggest that we have to be “at the top” rung, but rather, that we ought to be aiming to get out of the lower rungs of non-participation, and think of ways to genuinely engage children and youth. These resources will guide you through: Using Hart’s Ladder Ages 3-6, Using Hart’s Ladder Ages 7-11 and Using Hart’s Ladder Ages 12-18 (pdfs). Visit our Youth Grow curriculum page for an interactive activity that uses Hart’s Ladder as the framework.

Programming for Older Youth

If middle- and high-school aged youth are the target audience, a garden that offers hands-on experiences in the plant sciences, and in the related field of ecology, botany, plant pathology, and entomology, can be very rewarding. High school science teachers often feel that it is difficult to teach plant science because it is viewed by youth as less animated than animal science. In each of the situations below, gardening is combined with one or more disciplines to create a more ambitious experience for the older child.

• Composting is an appealing activity-based focus for older youth that also fosters environmental responsibility.
• Others may want to focus on a different type of stewardship—that of community service—by raising produce for soup kitchens and food pantries. One group of teenagers involved with the Broome County Cooperative Extension returned from a week among the homeless in Washington, D.C. to set up a gardening program to produce food for the hungry.
• Marketing programs are challenging, too, and can offer students a source of income, while giving them skills in horticulture, communication, and business management.

Benefits and Barriers to Youth Participation

Benefits:

• Greater Interest: Increasing youth participation in a gardening program also broadens the roles young people can play in the project. For example, a talent in art, an interest in math, and a knack for organizing can all lead to a role for a young person who may not be as excited about “plants.” In the same way that adults tend to find their niches of interest within projects, young people may discover that they have an opportunity to do something they enjoy too.

• Greater Ownership and Responsibility: People take greater responsibility for things in which they are invested; if you’ve contributed your time, energy, and ideas to the project, you’re less likely to be destructive towards it or to let others be.

• Building Transferable Skills: Planning projects and making collective decisions requires many skills: communicating your ideas and considering others’ ideas; reaching compromises, working together, problem solving; these are all skills that will benefit those involved in the future, regardless of the project or situation.

• Reduce Time and Costs: Some argue that involving young people in the planning and decision-making process can actually reduce time and costs; by going straight the “users” or “stakeholders,” you reduce the risk of missing the mark and having to make changes.

• Confidence and Pride: Supporting youth in making meaningful decisions and respecting those decisions can boost their confidence in being able to enact change in their communities and in their own lives.

Barriers:

• Adults Have All the Knowledge: It’s hard to make good decisions if you don’t have all the information. It’s also hard to feel ownership and responsibility for something if others don’t trust you or feel that you can‘t handle all the information. Assess whether this barrier is just a matter of getting youth the information they need or if the adults are unwilling to share the knowledge they have.

• Power Distances: Young people are often very far away from the people with the power to make something happen. How many steps does it take to get from student to school district administrator or 4-H member to city council? Is there a way to bridge that gap more effectively?

• Perceived Capabilities: Young people can’t do this; they don’t have the knowledge/ understanding/ interest/ ability to make these decisions.

• It Takes Too Long: It would be great to have young people more involved but we want the garden finished by the end of next month. (Ask yourself: Who sets the deadlines? Why are they set as such? How flexible are they? Are there benefits to taking more time?)

• It’s Not Always Easy: We don’t have the time, expertise, or resources to involve youth in decision-making on this project. What can you do now with the time and resources you have? Can you start small and increase as you go along?

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“Taming” the Overly Enthusiastic Adult

When adult leaders launch a new effort aimed at increasing youth participation, they’re surprised to find that their biggest program challenge isn’t engaging young people; it’s often curbing enthusiastic grown-ups who rush in to “help.” Here are some ideas for fostering participation without bruising feelings of would-be adult assistants along the way:

• Organize a meeting with all parents, teachers, and volunteers who intend to be involved with the project. Talk with them about your approach, what you’re doing, what the children and youth will be responsible for, and how adults might support the project in other ways.

• If you’re hosting an event for children and youth, consider hosting an adult-oriented event or activity concurrently. For example, while children and youth are talking and sharing ideas, adults can be in an adjacent room, generating lists of people in the community who could provide skills, talents, or funding – or listening to a presenter on a topic of interest.

• Be very explicit about roles whenever adults are going to be present. For example, in a youth program held at Cornell, adult chaperones were sent a letter in advance that notified them of their roles.

• Organize a special evening opportunity for children and youth to teach their parents or guardians about what they’ve learned in the program. For example, at a harvest dinner or special event, children/youth might walk the adults through the garden, teaching or demonstrating one of the tasks they learned. This may give the adults a better appreciation for the capabilities of their children and youth. This event might also be an appropriate time to talk with children and youth about the roles of adults, things that adults may do to enhance the program, and when these might be most welcome.
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Additional Resources

Act for Youth, Positive Youth Development 101 Manual

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Youth Grow Home | Activities for Educators | Activities for Youth | Youth Grow Summit 2011 | Take Action | Links |

Summit Program

Check out the 2011 Youth Grow Summit booklet (pdf) for a list of the summit speakers, workshop topics, and activities.

Summit Photos

Check out the photos from the Youth Grow Summit 2011 here

Summit Videos

Watch a quick intro video on Youth Grow

Watch the Youth Grow Summit 2011 Video

Watch Sam Levin’s inspiring keynote address at the Youth Grow Summit.

Summit Press

Food-system activism cultivated in 70 high school students at first Youth Grow Summit

Mushroom Cultivation at the Cornell Youth Grow Summit

Youth Grow Summit recognized as a Sign of Sustainability!

Back to the Curricula Page

Introduction
Mat Weaving
Rope Making
Net Knotting
Paper Making
Indigo Dyeing
Educator Resources
Learning Standards

Introduction

What do mats, rope, indigo, paper, and nets all have in common?
All are related to textiles and all are made from plants, of course!

This project focuses on past and present technologies that convert plant materials into fibrous products. If you are wearing blue jeans, you likely are wearing indigo – a time-honored plant dye. You can still purchase handmade paper, even though most of today’s paper comes from large mills. Rope, nets, and mats, once made by hand from plants, are now manufactured in factories using a variety of raw materials.

And each activity consists of four main components:
•    Tools – make a tool.
•    Technology – use the tool in a traditional activity.
•    Research – use the Internet to learn about comparable technologies and products in today’s market, and to further explore plant fibers and textiles.
•    Connections – involve others from your community.

The activities vary in their level of difficulty and the amount of time and materials required. Below the activities are listed according to these factors, along with a short activity summary for each:

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Mat Weaving (quick and easy):

In this activity, youth will understand the basic functions of a loom and will weave a simple mat. Weaving is said to be the most ancient of the arts.  Some say humans mimicked the intricate nests of the weaver-bird or the graceful patterns of a spider web.  Others credit the combination of human ingenuity and needs.  Whatever its origin, textile production is so essential that it has a significant presence in our language, customs, and literature.

Introduction (pdf)
Tools(pdf)
Technique(pdf)
Research(pdf)
Expanding the Activity(pdf)
Learning Standards for Mat Weaving(pdf)

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Rope Making (quick and easy):

In this activity, youth will learn about rope structure and will create natural fiber-based ropes! No one knows when the first rope was made.  We do know that sailors, builders, hunters, and farmers have long depended on rope to move and control animals, structures, and machines.  Early ropes were made by hand, using cotton, dogbane, sisal, jute, hemp, flax, abaca (manila hemp), coir (coconut husks), leather, or hair.  Today, most ropes are made in factories from petroleum-based synthetic fibers.

Introduction (pdf)
Tools(pdf)
Technique(pdf)
Research(pdf)
Expanding the Project(pdf)
Learning Standards for Rope Making(pdf)

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Net Knotting (moderately easy):

In this activity, youth will get a chance to understand net structure by making knots and differently shaped nets. Nets have been used for thousands of years to trap, carry, protect, and store items. Today, netting structures are found in hammocks, basketball nets, insect traps, tennis nets, plant hangers, shopping bags, belts, clothing, hockey/soccer goals, etc.

Introduction (pdf)
Tools(pdf)
Technique(pdf)
Research(pdf)
Learning Standards for Net Knotting(pdf)

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Paper Making (preparation needed; a little messy):

In this activity, youth will collect fibrous plant materials and create handmade paper.
Papermaking was invented in China, but was a well-kept secret for hundreds of years until 700 AD when Arabs captured an entire village of Chinese paper makers! Over the centuries and across cultures, the art of papermaking developed into a variety of traditions. These traditions continue today, with both mills and artists researching ancient techniques, new technology, and different plant fibers.

Introduction (pdf)
Tools(pdf)
Technique(pdf)
Research(pdf)
Expanding the Activity(pdf)
Learning Standards for Paper Making(pdf)

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Indigo Dyeing (preparation needed; material intensive):

This activity gives youth the opportunity to practice and learn the various techniques used in the process of Indigo Dyeing. They will learn about both traditional and modern technologies, history, and science of dyes made from plants.

Introduction (pdf)
Tools(pdf)
Technique(pdf)
Research(pdf)
Expanding the Activity(pdf)
Learning Standards for Indigo Dyeing(pdf)

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Educator Resources

I. Adapting the Activities to Your Educational Setting (pdf)- Read how others are using this curriculum in both formal and informal educational settings

II. Make Your Own Toolkit (pdf)– Learn how to assemble your own project toolkit.

III. Showcase (pdf)– Find out how you can showcase your work in your community.

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Learning Standards

New York State Learning Standards

Each of the activities featured on this site are aligned to the New York Academy of Teaching and Learning (NYSATL) standards for Mathematics, Science and Technology.

The learning standards detail the following for each activity:
•    Chapter Heading
•    Standard Area
•    Number
•    Level
•    Subject
•    Performance Indicators

Table Key:
MST = Mathematics, Science and Technology
E = Elementary (Grades K-4)
I = Intermediate (Grades 5-8)
C = Commencement (Grades 9-12)
* Elementary standards were not evaluated since the target audience for the activities was Grades 5-12.

Click on each of the activities below for their learning standards (pdfs):
•  Indigo Dyeing Learning Standards
•  Mat Weaving Learning Standards
•  Paper Making Learning Standards
•  Rope Making Learning Standards
•  Net Knotting Learning Standards

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Youth in this age group move from concrete to abstract thinking. Increasingly, they are able to differentiate between how things are and how they may be. Youth prefer seeking out their own solutions rather than accepting solutions from adults. If a project is meaningless, they often lose interest since increasingly they feel the need to be part of something important. Their peers have great significance, and belonging to a group may feel like a high priority. Encouraging friends to work together, and allowing for plenty of “hang time”, may ensure success with this age group.

What kinds of decision-making and planning can youth ages 12-18 dig in to?
You may find that it’s more difficult to get youth this age interested in your gardening project if they don’t have some decision-making power. “Why are we doing this garden anyway? What’s the point of me being here?” If the project has little meaning for them they aren’t going to stick with it or have a very good time either. Youth at this age can take most everything seven to eleven year olds have been doing to the next level. Think of ways to switch the traditional adult/youth roles: can young people be the project leaders and adults offer input and advice? Are there ways to genuinely have this connect to what is meaningful to teenage youth, with adults serving as their “coaches?”

Planning the Garden
•    Start at the beginning and bring young people up to speed.
•    Keep an open mind. Adults often make assumptions about teens, and teens often are frustrated about these assumptions and how they are viewed by adults. Begin with a clean slate, and listen to what they have to share. Increasing participation with teenagers often means starting with as few assumptions as possible.
•    Present more about where the idea for a garden project originated and not all great ideas you have! For instance: the community center wants to use the empty space between the building and the sidewalk for something that will benefit the community center. What are their ideas for what would be most beneficial for the community center and for the teens that routinely visit it?
•    Be sure the reason behind the project is a meaningful one. Are you beautifying a neighborhood, providing a resource for play or relaxation, growing produce for a local food bank, creating an entrepreneurship opportunity?
•    Lay all the cards on the table: communicate all the knowns and the uncertainties, and any restrictions that are known.

Deciding what the garden will be and what it will look like
•    Allow youth to generate their own vision of the what the garden will be: what will people do in the garden, who are those people, what types of plants will be grown, how will those plants be used, will the garden have a theme, how big should it be, what non-plant elements are needed.
•    Teenagers are increasingly able to think abstractly and will be able to focus on phases. What can we do this season, how can we build on it next season. What can we do with the budget we have? What can we do if we raise an additional $500? That said, everyone needs to see some results of their hard work. Consider working with teens to set up a framework that allows for some “instant gratification,” as well as opportunities to grow over time.
•    Teens may enjoy beginning with an internet search of what others around the nation are doing. You may want to provide a framework by giving a list of some sites to begin with.

Figuring out the details
•    Be available to support the final stages of planning but avoid jumping in with quick fixes or possible alternatives.

Funding, supplies, and donations
•    Don’t underestimate young people’s ability to work with a budget or generate creative fundraising ideas.
•    Give youth room to problem solve about these issues but be available for questions or to provide resources.

In the Garden
•    Installing the garden: Just like in the planning stage, involving youth from the beginning is important. Let them take the lead on organizing supplies, tools, and strategizing how to make things happen.
•    Maintaining the garden: Who decides what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and who will do it?
•    Does the garden need “leaders” or “rules?” How are they determined and enforced?
•    Encourage young people to create a medium through which decisions continue to be made. With adults, this usually looks like a monthly committee meeting. What works for teens? An on-line forum through which they share ideas? Meeting on Saturdays for pizza and talking about issues that arise? Encourage them to consider ways to build in opportunities for consistent and regular contact around decision-making needs that arise.
•    Uses of the garden: Are young people deciding what happens in the garden? Do they have a say on what happens to any consumables they grow?

Possible Activities
•    Conduct a needs assessment. If your garden project is a result of an expressed community need, allow youth to go to the source to figure out how that need was identified and why a garden might be a good solution. Provide support in terms of contact names and the opportunity to role play interviews but leave the questions up to them. If your project is the result of an area of land needing to be developed in some way, allow youth to decide if they can make use of it to support their program or interests or if they’d like to talk to other “stakeholders” about possible uses for the area.
•    During the planning stage provide resources: plant catalogs, transportation to visit other gardens, and introductions to people.
•    Provide an introduction to budgets and how they work and then transfer management to the youth in your program. This way they can be realistic in their planning and fundraising goals.
•    There are limitless opportunities for teens to connect with community members. Consider a fun forum through which teens get together regularly for pizza (or other food), while meeting with various community members that can contribute ideas, funding, enthusiasm, and different perspectives that teens will benefit and learn from.
•    One faith-based program makes sure that there were always the “four F’s” at every youth meeting, no matter what the activity is: fun, food, fellowship, and faith. Although the latter isn’t necessarily appropriate for every program, the first three F’s certainly can be. In addition, teens often welcome opportunities for altruism and generosity, and grow spiritually from the chance to care for others. Connecting service learning and community action to the project offers boundless possibilities for program offshoots.

Evaluation Toolkit Home | Evaluation Guidelines | Surveys | Interviews | Observation | Evaluation Links

Interviews are a terrific way of learning more detailed information from a smaller number of participants, and are often used as a supplement to surveys.  They can provide richness and meaning, since they are more open-ended in nature.  You may want to purposely select participants for interviewing that may represent varied perspectives.

Although there are different approaches to interviewing, here we are referring to informal, conversational interviews.

A successful interview:
• Relies on thoughtful questions, yet moves with the natural flow of conversation.
• Maintains maximum flexibility to go where the interviewee leads.
• Is based on thoughtful, probing, and yet, not leading, questions.
• May take time!
• Shouldn’t feel like an interview, but rather like a conversation!

An interview asks questions about:
• What a participant has done in a program.
• Skills acquired in a program.
• The participant’s feelings about him- or herself, and attitudes as a result of the program.
• Behavior that may change as a result of the program.
• What the participant believes are a program’s strengths and weaknesses.
• What the participant would change about a program.

Adapting the interview:
Consider allowing youth to give interviews as pairs.  They may be intimidated by interacting with a different leader and may feel more comfortable with a peer.  On the flip side, be wary of big groups.  Often the stronger personalities in the group will dominate and youth who are quieter won’t have a chance to share their feedback and ideas.

Invite a reporter or journalist from the local paper to interview the youth in your program. This is a great way to find out what youth think about the program and what youth have been learning about. You’ll get some great press out of the visit and also be able to stand back, observe, and listen.  Keep a note pad handy so you can jot down answers to questions and record memorable quotes.

Here are two sample interviews:
Interview Sample 1 (pdf)
Interview Sample 2 (pdf)

Back to Dig Art!

Additional Activities & Curricula
Environmentally-Friendly Art
Gardens, Music, and Drama
Curriculum Integration
Garden Arts Inspiration

Additional Activities & Curricula

Garden Scans
Make digital photo collages of plants using a flatbed scanner.  Create beautiful works of art that can also be used as a “record book” to document plant growth and seasonal changes.

Garden Journal
Make garden field journals – a great craft which can be used to explore the garden, to document plant growth and development, and to artistically portray the plants you discover.

Plant a Card
Learn how to make handmade cards, which when planted, sprout a green surprise.
NASA: Climate Kids

Garden Stepping Stones
DIY Stepping Stones

Sunflowers
This lesson plan uses sunflowers as the focus in combining gardening and the arts.
The Kennedy Center ArtsEdge

The Sunflower Project: Botany, Art, and Culture
Comprehensive arts curriculum for K-12.
Nebraska Statewide Arboretum

Art in the Garden Action Projects
Descriptions of potential projects youth could do for gardens and gardeners in their community.
Garden Mosaics

Towers ‘n Flowers
Using The Private Eye (a magnifying lens that fits against your eye), students go on a clue-gathering mission inside a variety of cut flowers to discover how flower forms differ, how they are the same, and how these forms help flowers reproduce.
The Private Eye

Monet Art Project
A lesson plan integrating local and art history with visual arts.
The Luther Burbank Virtual Museum

Flower Pounding
The natural pigments in flowers pounded into prepared fabric can make a unique piece of art. Find out which flowers are the best to use, which ones hold their color the best, special techniques, and more.
Dave’s Garden

School Garden Mural Project
Creating a mural can make an indoor garden come alive all winter long.
Life 123

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Back to Dig Art!

Adapt these activities to the age, interest, and skill levels of your group.

Leaf Print Casting (pdf)
Painted Leaf Prints(pdf)
Chlorophyll Prints(pdf)

Connections to NYS Learning Standards

Capturing the beauty and unique aesthetic qualities of plants in your garden can be easily done through the creative art of printmaking.  Printmaking works well in any season, since each time of year offers a new variety of patterns and forms in the plant world to print.  Also, experimenting with different printmaking techniques and styles will allow you to create infinite images with a single leaf.

A Little Printmaking History

• Can you remember the first print you ever made?  As newborn babies, we all made our first print in this world when our tiny feet were stamped at the hospital.
• Printmaking is a universal practice that is as common today as it was in ancient times.  It is not only an art form but a scientific tool for learning about and recording plants.  From the 13th-19th centuries, botanists, herbalists, and doctors used herbal prints for medical research and identification.
• The first medical text was called the “Herbals” and it contained prints of the different plants used by doctors, pharmacists and herbalists.  Printmaking was regarded as the most accurate form of documenting plants, since many botanists didn’t have the artistic training needed to draw them accurately.  The Herbals included medicinal recipes and related prints.  But plant prints weren’t the only prints included. One Italian herbalist described a formula for long life and included a print of a viper snake, which was an ingredient in that recipe.
• Benjamin Franklin was a printmaker by trade, and in 1739 he began printing a leaf on the back of paper currency, in order to deter counterfeiting.  His theory behind the leaf printing was that the veins on the leaves were too intricate to be duplicated by anything hand carved.  While his method proved to be successful, he developed a secret way to mass-produce a single leaf print from one casting.  Even to this day, his method remains a secret.
• With the development of color photography by the late 1800s, printmaking was abandoned by much of the scientific community.  However, it has remained an art form used by artists. The variety of techniques and mediums for printmaking developed over time has left today’s print maker with a vast selection of methods to choose from.

Did you know…
Tapa cloth is a cultural art from the South Pacific that uses printmaking to decorate cloth that was traditionally made from the paper mulberry tree.  To produce the cloth the moist, soft inner bark of the tree is beaten until it expands into thinner, wider sheets, which are then decorated using various natural dyes and pigments such as turmeric, leaves, sap, blood, soot, clay, and soil.  Printmaking patterns are then made by carving pieces of wood, which are inked and stamped onto the cloth to produce designs.  The art of decorating the tapa cloth with prints was very important—balance and symmetry were important aspects of the designs, which often included natural elements such as plants, fish, and shells.  The amount of cloth and the style in which it was decorated with prints, designated social factors such as status, wealth, and social rank.

Printmaking Project Ideas

• Create your own herbal registry:  Learn about the medicinal properties of some plants growing in your garden, make prints with them, and then document your prints with their herbal recipes.
• Make a printed garden harvest calendar:  Make prints of your garden harvest so the following year you’ll have a beautiful garden harvest calendar to refer to.
• Printing with nature’s own pigments:  Use a hammer to pound your plant prints and discover the natural printing properties of chlorophyll.
• Make a garden journal:  Start with printing the seeds you are going to plant in your garden and as the plants grow, document their development with prints and descriptions.  When the plants are at full maturity, select those best for printing and add their prints to your garden journal.  At the end of the season, you’ll have a fully documented garden journal with your plants’ growth from seed to harvest illustrated in beautiful prints and drawings.

Printmaking Techniques
The printmaking technique that will be used in printing garden leaves and materials is called relief printing.  In this printing method, the ink goes on the raised surface of the printing material.

Basic Printmaking Materials

• Inks:  There are oil-based and water-based inks.  Oil-based inks need to be mixed with linseed oil, poppy seed oil, or any other oil used for printmaking.  This reduces the stickiness and helps make sure that the object prints evenly.  Water-based inks tend to dry too quickly on the palette, to be useful.  But Graphic Chemical and Ink Company (www.graphicchemical.com) sell water-based inks that don’t dry up and won’t wash off.
• Palettes
• Pigment applicators:  Brayers, brushes, dabbers
• Printing materials:  Leaves, bark, pine cones, shells, and other natural objects found in or around the garden.

Procuring Natural Materials to Print
The garden is the best place to find a large variety of leaves, flowers, fruits, vegetables, small nuts, and even spider webs that can be printed.  Be sure to collect things on a dry day and be sure the dew has evaporated from the plants.  Leaves are much easier than flowers for beginners at printmaking or for younger audiences.  As you collect plants for printing, place them in small plastic bags.  In your garden journal, keep track of where you collected the plants, what were around them, etc.  List the names of plants collected.  Bring along a field guide if there are certain plants in the garden that you don’t recognize.

Your prints will depend on how you press your plants.  The easiest way to press them is with an old heavy phone book.  Pressing them for an hour is enough time to make them flat and ready for printing.

Flowers are difficult to press, because they won’t make an accurate print if not pressed first, but once pressed they often fall apart.  The best option is to press for only a few minutes.  For larger plants and flowers, remove the parts, press separately and join together again in the final printing stage.

Fruits and vegetables are best used fresh and cut in half to expose inner seeds and structures.  Make sure to blot them well to rid excess moisture before paint is applied.

Did you know that leaves can be stored in a freezer for up to a year?  They can be stored in plastic freezer bags and when taken out, will defrost quickly and will be ready for printing use.  This is one way to extend your printing activities into the winter months.
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Connections to NYS Learning Standards

Activity:  LEAF PRINT CASTING
Health, Physical Education, and Home Economics
STANDARD 2  Students acquire knowledge/ability necessary to maintain a healthy environment. Students develop community approaches which enhance and protect the quality of the environment.  Students create art for the garden like a bird bath, birdseed feeder, or path ornament.
STANDARD 3  Students understand and manage personal and community resources. Students preserve beauty of garden harvest.

Mathematics, Science, and Technology
STANDARD 1  Students use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design to pose questions and develop solutions.
STANDARD 2  Students access, generate, process, and transfer information using technologies.
STANDARD 4  Students understand and apply scientific concepts, principles and theories as they capture in concrete unique patterns and forms in the garden.
STANDARD 5  Students apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products. Students as a group plan and implement a school project.
STANDARD 6  Students understand and apply relationships and common themes that connect math, science, and technology. Use simple instruments.
STANDARD 7  Students apply knowledge and skills of math, science, and technology to address problems. Evident when students improve their environment.

English Language Arts
STANDARD 1  Students listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. Students collect data, facts, and ideas, discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations, and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources. Students access online reference materials.

The Arts
STANDARD 2  Students make use of materials and resources for participation in the arts. Students  can experiment with other art mediums besides concrete —  clay, crayon rubbings, photography, and drawing what you see through a magnifying lens.
Students make their own ink and print  designs.
STANDARD 3  Students will analyze visual characteristics of the natural environment and explain social, cultural, psychological, and environmental dimensions of the visual arts. Students respond critically to variety of works in the arts.
STANDARD 4  Students understand personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communications. Students explore concept of art made with nature.

Activity: PAINTED LEAF PRINTS
Health, Physical Education, and Home Economics
STANDARD 3  Students understand and manage personal and community resources. Students gather objects found in the garden like leaves, twigs, mosses, rocks, etc.

Mathematics, Science, and Technology
STANDARD 1  Students use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design to pose questions and develop solutions.
STANDARD 2  Students access, generate, process, and transfer information using technologies.
STANDARD 4  Students understand and apply scientific concepts, principles and theories.
STANDARD 5  Students apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products. Students as a group plan and implement a school project.
STANDARD 6  Students understand and apply relationships and common themes that connect math, science, and technology.  Students use simple instruments.

English Language Arts
STANDARD 1  Students listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. Students collect data, facts, and ideas, discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations, and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources. Students access online resources.

The Arts
STANDARD 2  Students make use of materials and resources for participation in the arts. Students  experiment and create art works in a variety of mediums. Students  can use painted prints of leaves and flowers along with fruits and vegetables.
STANDARD 3  Students will analyze visual characteristics of the natural environment and explain social, cultural, psychological, and environmental dimensions of the visual arts. Students respond critically to variety of works in the arts.
STANDARD 4  Students understand personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communications. Students explore concept of art made with nature.

Activity:  CHLOROPHYLL  PRINTS
Health, Physical Education and Home Economics
STANDARD 3  Students understand the kinds of resources available in their community and make informed decisions related to their own use. Students work with green leaf vegetables like kale & spinach, herbs like basil and mint and leaves from trees and shrubs.

Mathematics, Science, and Technology
STANDARD 4  Students understand and apply scientific concepts, principles and theories. Students learn about chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants, and the process of photosynthesis.
STANDARD 5  Students apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products. Students as a group plan and implement a school project.
STANDARD 6  Students understand and apply relationships and common themes that connect math, science, and technology. Use simple instruments.
STANDARD 7  Students apply knowledge and skills of math, science, and technology to address problems. Evident when students improve their environment.

English Language Arts
STANDARD 1  Students listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. Students collect data, facts, and ideas, discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations, and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources. Students access online resources.

The Arts
STANDARD 2 Students  experiment and create art works in a variety of mediums. Students  can try different leaves and paper or fabric materials to make journals, class books, or flags.
STANDARD 3  Students will analyze visual characteristics of the natural environment and explain social, cultural, psychological, and environmental dimensions of the visual arts. Students respond critically to variety of works in the arts. Evident when students look at photographs of Vietnamese artist Binh Danh.
STANDARD 4  Students understand personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communications. Students explore concept of art made with nature.
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Back to Dig Art!

Adapt these activities to the age, interest, and skill levels of your group.

Seed Mosaic Planter (pdf)
Stepping Stones(pdf)
Flower Mandala(pdf)

Connections to NYS Learning Standards

Mosaics are a great way to introduce more color into a garden, especially when plants stop flowering throughout the winter months. Pictures or designs made up of pieces of smaller materials, mosaics can be made with pretty much anything – new, old, recycled, or found materials such as tiles, beads, buttons, glass, and mirrors. Natural materials such as shells, stalks, and leaves found in the garden also work well for certain mosaic projects as long as they have been protected for exterior use.

Making an outdoor mosaic is also a great way to personalize a garden space and give it a unique look and feel. You can mosaic most anything in a garden – flowerpots and containers, paths and walkways, benches and tables, walls and fences, water fountains, and garden tools such as trowel handles and wheelbarrows. The design of the mosaic can be simply decorative or it can depict natural elements such as the very plants and insects that are found in the garden.

The mosaic making process is both a leisurely activity as well as productive endeavor.  After only a few hours of steady work, an incredible mosaic image emerges, thus making it an immensely satisfying activity that appeals to youth and adults alike.

The Benefits of Mosaic Projects

• Creating mosaics with young people can help to improve their self-esteem through empowerment, motivation, ownership, and inclusion.
• Working together as a group on a mosaic project improves teamwork and communication.
• Mosaics are a very versatile project — they can be an individual or collective enterprise, they can be simple or elaborate, or can be made from recycled and found materials.
• Children and youth will be interested in this art medium, which is similar to the collage technique. The materials allow for creativity and the results of a mosaic project are almost instantaneous.
• Youth and adults are all brought together in making a very original, important contribution to their community that because of its permanence is a continuous source of pride.

A Little Mosaic History

• Mosaics have been created and used decoratively throughout the world and since ancient times.
• The Romans popularized mosaics as an art medium – on indoor and outdoor walls, floors, ceilings, and in gardens.
• The Greeks created mosaics from pebbles that had been softened by the sea. They created pictorial mosaics that told a story, rather than being simply decorative.
• The world-famous Spanish artist Gaudi created mosaic installations in Barcelona, Spain using primarily recycled and found materials. He covered entire buildings from floor to ceiling with mosaic art. It since has become a world-renown public art installation that people flock to Spain to visit.
• Mosaics made from pebbles were important features in gardens in China. The Chinese made mosaic pathways that symbolized the natural world around them. Each pebble was precisely arranged to maintain the balance of Yin (feminine force of nature) and Yang (masculine force of nature) in the garden.

Mosaic Project Ideas

• Create a gift item such as a mosaic picture frame or mosaic jewelry box. Put a picture of your garden inside the frame or make seed jewelry from seeds collected in the garden to store inside the jewelry box.
• Create mosaic stepping stones for a decorative garden pathway.
• Create a mosaic mural in your community—put it in a prominent public place such as a garden or park, at a farmers market, or on the wall of a grocery store.
• Create a mosaic in your garden that features your school or organization’s name and logo.
• Create mosaic seating in the garden on benches and small stools.
• Mosaic terracotta pots and planters.

Mosaic Methods
There are two different methods that can be used in creating a mosaic. The direct method is when the mosaic is constructed directly on the base material, which is the site of the project. An example of a direct method would be creating a mosaic on a brick wall located in a garden.

The indirect method is when the mosaic is created on a base material offsite and then later installed onsite when it is convenient. An example of this would be creating a mosaic on a tile and then mounting the tile with concrete onto a wall. This method is useful because it allows you to make a mosaic indoors, so for example, you could make it during the winter and then install it when the weather warms up in the spring or summer.

Basic Mosaic Materials

• Nippers (specialized clippers used for cutting mosaic tile pieces)
• Trowel
• Palette knife
• Safety goggles
• Rubber gloves
• Dust mask
• Tesserae*
• Adhesive*
• Grout*

*Note about the materials:
Tesserae are pieces of ceramic, glass, stone, or other materials used to create a mosaic design.

• Try to re-use old or recycled materials as tesserae whenever possible, such as broken ceramic tiles, stained glass, mirrors, beach glass, china, and pottery.

Adhesives are used to help the tesserae adhere to the base material.

• For a plastic or metal base, use exterior tile adhesive.
• For a ceramic or concrete base, use exterior cement-based adhesive.
• For other projects, use acrylic adhesive or latex-based adhesives (often called mastic).

Grout is used to fill the spaces between the tesserae, adding strength and durability to the mosaic. Also, grout joints bring linear aesthetic quality to a design.

• All grout contains Portland cement. It is available in a range of colors and either sanded or non-sanded. Non-sanded is fine for most projects.
• Mosaics designed for outdoors must use water and frost-resistant cement and grout.
• Mix dry powdered grout with a small amount of water for a thick, smooth consistency similar to heavy mud.
• Mortar is a mixture of sand, Portland cement, and water that can be used as grout for exterior mosaic installations.

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Connections to NYS Learning Standards

Activity:  SEED MOSAIC PLANTER
Health, Physical Education, and Home Economics
STANDARD 2   Students acquire knowledge and ability necessary to maintain a healthy environment. Students develop community approaches to enhance the quality of their environment.
STANDARD 3  Students understand and manage personal and community resources. Students collect seeds and beans from gardens and other outdoor areas.

Mathematics, Science and Technology
STANDARD 1  Students use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design to pose questions and develop solutions.
STANDARD 2  Students access, generate, process, and transfer information using technologies.
STANDARD  3  Students understand math and become mathematically confident by communication and reasoning. Look at recurring patterns.
STANDARD 4  Students understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories as they identify, decorate with, and then plant seeds and beans.
STANDARD 5  Students apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products.  Students design and model a planter.
STANDARD 6  Students understand and apply relationships and common themes that connect math, science, and technology.  Students use simple instruments.
STANDARD  7 Students apply knowledge and skills of math, science, and technology to address problems. Students learn how to improve their environment.

English Language Arts
STANDARD 1  Students listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. Students collect data, facts, and ideas, discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations, and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources. Students use  books and online galleries for inspirational photos and ideas.

The Arts
STANDARD 2  Students make use of materials and resources for participation in the arts (sketches,  designing mosaic planters).
STANDARD 3  Students will analyze visual characteristics of the natural environment and explain social, cultural, psychological, and environmental dimensions of the visual arts. Students respond critically to variety of works in the arts.
STANDARD 4  Students understand personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communications. Students explore concept of art made with nature.

Social Studies
STANDARD 2  Students in their study of world history can explain some practices as found in particular civilizations and cultures  such as traditions, language and literature. Mosaic planters are a traditional Mexican art form used for harvest festivals and ceremonies.

Activity:  STEPPING STONES
Health, Physical Education, and Home Economics
STANDARD 2   Students acquire knowledge and ability necessary to maintain a healthy environment.
STANDARD 3  Students understand and manage personal and community resources.  Students participate in a school community service project. Students use tesserae (marbles, tiles, broken pieces of china, stones for mosaic stepping stones).

Mathematics, Science, and Technology
STANDARD 1  Students use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design to pose questions and develop solutions.
STANDARD 2  Students access, generate, process, and transfer information using technologies.
STANDARD  3  Students understand math and become mathematically confident by communication and reasoning.  Look at recurring patterns.
STANDARD 4  Students understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories. Colorful mosaic designs will help attract various types of small animals like birds and butterflies, which students can observe, study, and draw.
STANDARD 5  Students apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products.
STANDARD 6  Students understand and apply relationships and common themes that connect math, science, and technology.  Students use simple instruments.
STANDARD  7 Students apply knowledge and skills of math, science, and technology to address problems. Students learn how to improve their environment.

English Language Arts
STANDARD 1  Students listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. Students collect data, facts, and ideas, discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations, and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources.

The Arts
STANDARD 2  Students make use of materials and resources for participation in the arts (templates,  stepping stones).
STANDARD 3  Students will analyze visual characteristics of the natural environment and explain social, cultural, psychological, and environmental dimensions of the visual arts.
Students respond critically to variety of works in the arts.
STANDARD 4  Students understand personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communications. Students explore concept of art made with nature.

Activity:  FLOWER MANDALA
Health, Physical Education, and Home Economics
STANDARD 2   Students acquire knowledge and ability necessary to maintain a healthy environment. Students develop skills of cooperation and collaboration. Students work constructively with others to accomplish a goal in a group activity. Students will follow directions as they demonstrate responsible personal and social behavior as limits are set on where and how much material to collect.
STANDARD 3  Students understand and manage personal and community resources. Students use natural and found materials.

Mathematics, Science, and Technology
STANDARD 1  Students use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design to pose questions and develop solutions.
STANDARD 2  Students access, generate, process, and transfer information using technologies. Students can further transform their digital flower mandala photos into a  kaleidoscopic design.
STANDARD  3  Students understand math and become mathematically confident by communication and reasoning. Look at recurring patterns.
STANDARD 4  Students understand and apply scientific concepts, principles and theories. Students can observe a truly ephemeral flower mandala if done outdoors as it changes and degrades as it is exposed to natural elements.
STANDARD 5   Students apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs.
STANDARD 6  Students understand and apply relationships and common themes that connect math, science, and technology.  Students observe and describe interaction among components of simple systems and identify common things that can be considered to be systems (e.g., a  plant population).  Students use different types of models, such as graphs, sketches, diagrams, and maps, to represent various aspects of the real world. Students understand the interrelatedness of life on earth.
STANDARD  7  Students apply knowledge and skills of math, science, and technology to address problems. Evident as students improve their habitat.

English Language Arts
STANDARD 1  Students listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. Students collect data, facts, and ideas, discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations, and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources.
STANDARD 4  Students listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students talk about process of design and harvesting mosaic materials.

The Arts
STANDARD 2  Students make use of materials and resources for participation in the arts. Students  create a flower mandala.
STANDARD 3  Students will analyze visual characteristics of the natural environment and explain social, cultural, psychological, and environmental dimensions of the visual arts. Students respond critically to variety of works in the arts.  Evident when students discuss Andy Goldsworthy’s artwork.
STANDARD 4  Students understand personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communications. Students explore concept of art made with nature.

Social Studies
STANDARD 2  Students in their study of world history can explain some practices as found in particular civilizations and cultures  such as traditions, language and literature. Students learn that mandala is a Sanskrit word that roughly translates as “sacred circle.”

Introduction | Participate | Understand | Monitor | Adapt | Mitigate | Activities | Case Studies | Links | Downloadable PDF

Simple garden-based activities like organic gardening, composting, and growing your own food can play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and therefore assisting in the process of climate change mitigation. Find out more about the climate-related benefits of each garden-based activity below:

Organic Gardening:

Organic gardening is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint! Rather than using petroleum-based synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, try using organic practices that focus on soil improvements and integrated pest management. When the amount of humus in the soil is increased, carbon emissions are kept out of the atmosphere. But soil can release carbon rather than capture it, if left exposed. Because carbon is concentrated in the top layer of soil, it is then vulnerable to oxidation, which increases emissions. It is therefore important to keep gardens covered with growing plants – perennial gardens are ideal! Mulching is another important practice in organic gardening. Organic gardening reduces the need to purchase petroleum-based products which increase fossil fuel emissions during their production and transport phases.

Composting:

• Did you know that the average family produces a ton of greenhouse gas emissions every year just from throwing out their food and garden waste?

Garbage in landfill sites release methane, a very active greenhouse gas that has worse potential to warm the planet than carbon. Composting those wastes, on the other hand, locks up carbon from the atmosphere for decades.  Using homemade compost also eliminates those additional travel miles to the store for soil and fertilizers, products that have already been transported considerable distances.

Ecological Landscaping:

• Did you know that heating and cooling accounts for about 60% of a home’s energy consumption?

• Did you know that trees that are correctly positioned can save up to 25% of a home’s heating and cooling costs?

Through ecological landscaping, the right type of tree in the right position can reduce your heating and cooling costs substantially.  It’s a good idea to plant leafy species on the south and west sides of buildings for summer shade and warm winter sunlight, while planting evergreens on the north side and shrubbery against the building foundation to protect it from winter winds. Blocking the wind can make a big difference to your heating costs. A well-placed windbreak of trees can reduce wind velocity by 85%.  In addition, each shade tree absorbs about 50 pounds of carbon dioxide per year as it grows!

Growing Your Own Food:

• Did you know that the average food has traveled 2,000 miles before it ends up on your plate?

• Did you know that the average family creates more than 4 tons of greenhouse emissions just by the food miles from the food they buy at the grocery store?

Growing your own food in your garden helps to significantly reduce your carbon “foodprint”! Your food will be more fresh, nutritious and delicious too!

Related activities (pdfs):

Plant a Tree

Learning From the Past

Sustainable Gardening Practices

Understanding Carbon Food Prints

Steps to Sustainability

Engaging Youth in Citizen Science

About Vvi
Toolkit
Activities
Resources
Project Acknowledgments

About Vvi

A citizen science approach to preserving biodiversity and connecting with community.

Vegetable varieties investigation (Vvi) is a companion program to Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners (VVfG). It is a unique citizen science program designed to engage youth in horticulture.  Participants interview gardeners about their opinions on vegetable varieties, and submit their findings to an online database that serves as a nation-wide online library of vegetable variety data.  Contributing to this library supports science research and promotes biodiversity for healthy ecosystems, including our farms and gardens.  Findings reported by Vvi youth participants are used by gardeners, plant breeders, and horticulture researchers involved with Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners, a web forum that provides an avenue for gardeners to share their knowledge with a much wider community.

Anyone Can Contribute

1. Review and download the complete Vegetable varieties investigation (Vvi) Toolkit (pdf)
2. Conduct the Vegetable varieties investigation
3. Submit data to http://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu

Why participate in Vvi?
Youth will gain direct experience in:

• science research
• data collection
• interview skills
• sharing findings
• collaboration
• connecting with others in their community
• supporting biodiversity

“What vegetable varieties will grow best in my garden?”  Gardeners have been asking this question for centuries.  By conducting the Vegetable Varieties Investigation with youth, you will help uncover some answers for today’s gardeners and scientists, while providing a rich learning experience for your students.  You will also contribute to an online library of gardeners’ vegetable variety experiences which will serve as a tool for preserving knowledge and promoting biodiversity.

Preserving Knowledge and Promoting Biodiversity
Few gardeners grow everything, but collectively gardeners across the world grow hundreds of crops and thousands and thousands of specific varieties.  The knowledge gardeners have about vegetable varieties is astonishing, and plays a critical role in preserving biodiversity.  Through the Vegetable Varieties Investigation, youth use the interview process to gather gardeners’ opinions about specific vegetable varieties they have grown. Participants learn about traits of specific varieties of vegetables and find out why gardeners grow some varieties and avoid others.

Variety:  “The Spice of Life”
There are many different vegetable species, from asparagus and arugula to tomatoes and turnips, available for growing in home and community gardens.  A variety is a kind or form of a given species or crop.  For example, Jersey Knight and Martha Washington are varieties of asparagus, and Sungold and Brandywine are varieties of tomato.  While varieties of a particular crop species share many common characteristics, each has slightly different features.  These characteristics influence taste, yield, appearance, and also adaptability to environmental conditions like heat and moisture, and resistance to disease and pests.  Many gardeners pay careful attention to the varieties of vegetables they grow because of successes or difficulties they’ve had in the past with specific varieties or personal preference for a particular taste or appearance.

By sharing your findings via the Vegetable Varieties Investigation website, you and your students will contribute to an online library of vegetable varieties reviews that:

• assists scientists with understanding traits of specific vegetable varieties and how they perform in various regions and garden settings
• helps gardeners select appropriate varieties for specific growing conditions and desired outcomes
• compiles the experiences of gardeners from many locations and backgrounds
• serves as a tool for promoting biodiversity

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Toolkit

The Vvi Toolkit is meant to serve as a guide for your unique Vvi program.  Tailor the toolkit to your specific needs, resources, and interests by modifying materials accordingly.

In the downloadable version of the Vvi Toolkit (pdf) you will find:

• Is Vvi a good fit FAQs: See if Vvi is right for you and your youth audience. (Also available here as separate pdf)
• Learning Standards and Assessment (pdf) Learn more about how Vvi meets learning standards and engages students as citizen scientists. (Also available here as separate pdf)
• Time Commitment: See what kind of time you can expect to invest in your Vvi program.
• Advance Coordination: Find out what planning is needed to lay the foundation for conducting Vvi.
• Orienting Youth: Provide youth with the skills they will need to effectively carry out Vvi. This section contains links to activity topics including Biodiversity, Interview Skills, and Vegetable Varieties–everything you need to help prepare youth to collect quality data.
• Field Work:  Interview Day: See what you and your students can expect when you meet the gardeners. Includes links to all forms and materials required to collect and record data.
• Report Data: A critical component of Vvi is sharing the data you collect online. Find out how.
• Follow-up and Evaluation: Pursue student interests sparked by interviews, and gather feedback from all participants on the success of your Vvi program.

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Activities

Here you’ll find descriptions of and links to all of the activities created for use with Vvi.

You Be the Judge (pdf):  Students role play gardeners as they taste, assess yield, and read ease/reliability statements based on various blueberry varieties.  This activity can be adapted to other vegetables and fruit.

Produce Sort (pdf):  Using a number of crops and varieties within a single crop, students will sort produce to understand crop, type, and variety characteristics.

Defining Biodiversity (pdf):  As a group, participants will build a working definition of biodiversity.

Fact of Fiction (pdf):  Working in small groups, students explore the statement:  “Without biodiversity, none of our food could be produced.”

Biodiversity Collage (pdf): Students clip from magazines images that represent biodiversity to them. In addition to including images of nature and wilderness, encourage students to stretch – looking for signs of biodiversity in human and artificial environments.

A Favorite Meal (pdf):  Students describe their favorite meal and name ways biodiversity played a role in getting that meal to their plate.

Vegetable Varieties Matching Game (pdf):Participants are challenged to match a vegetable variety image to its name. Emphasis is on reasoning and whimsy, rather than correct matching.

Catalog Writers (pdf):  Students view a selection of photos of vegetable varieties.  They will choose one to write a description of and name, with the aim of capturing customers’ attention. Students are encouraged to use their imaginations as well as anything they already know about how things grow to accomplish the task.

Plants in Our Daily Lives (pdf): Students examine their surroundings for items and determine whether each item was derived from plants in some way.

Veggie Vote (pdf): Students open an envelope with profiles of three different varieties of a particular crop (either lettuce or beets).  They are given a scenario that requires them to select only one variety of the crop to grow.  Based on the information they have for each of the candidates, which “candidate” will they vote for and why?  Can students defend their choice well, and convince others to also “vote” for their candidate?

Interview Skill-Building and 3 Steps to a Great Interview (pdf): Students will learn interviewing skills in four parts; by 1. practice interviewing and being interviewed by a partner, 2. review ‘Postive Interviewing Skills’, 3. observe both effective and ineffective techniques modeled by an interview with the group leader, and 3. incorporate new skills into another practice interview.

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Resources

Interview-related

YouthLearn: Explore resources in digital story-telling, inquiry-based learning and youth media training.
Inquiry-Based Learning: How to develop an inquiry-based project.
The Pair-Share Technique: Incorporate collaborative learning.

Biodiversity

American Museum of Natural History Center for Biodiversity and Conservation:  Use search tool to find latest materials about biodiversity and our food supply.
International Development Research Center: Use search tool to find latest facts and figures on food and biodiversity.
Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity: The operational body of the protection of food biodiversity.
Sustainable Table: Explore why biodiversity is important.
Garden Mosaics: Connecting plants and elders to investigate the mosaic of plants, people and cultures in gardens.
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Project Acknowledgments