Summer in the City

Category: Garden Resource Program

A taste of gardening

On my first day volunteering at Summer in the City, I was given two choices: gardening at Vandalia Gardens or going to Glazer Elementary to tutor and play with children. I chose to garden in Detroit, as I figured I would try something new. After designating drivers, we took off for the gardens!

After arriving and introducing ourselves to the owner of the gardens, Mama Leslie, we received our instructions. Before beginning any type of garden work, we cleaned up the area around a park that was adjacent to the gardens. Then, the real work began. We started off pulling out weeds, and before we knew it, the area around the plant beds looked neat and clean. It was amazing how we had turned a piece of land that had been an eyesore to navigate through into visible pathways woven between the plant beds.

We set plants, which would later produce string beans, green beans, squash, cabbage and basically any other thinkable vegetable into several beds. The bed of spearmint smelled exceptionally good. During some break time, we got to get a taste of the mulberries from the Gardens' mulberry tree -- a very exciting and fulfilling adventure. The mulberries tasted sweet and were definitely refreshing.

Overall, I felt accomplished knowing I could help that particular neighborhood and the community while having fun. It was nice to have a different setting to volunteer in. Better yet, I got to taste and learn new things!

Category: Garden Resource Program

Fresh produce in Detroit? Yes!

I heard about Summer in the City through a bunch of my friends and knew I had to check it out. Today was only my third day volunteering with the program and what a day it was. This day was dedicated to garden work in west Detroit on Outer Drive. SITC works in conjunction with D-Farms and the Garden Resource Program and from the representatives in those groups I learned that west Detroit has a lot of fresh produce. D-Farms creates vegetable gardens throughout the Detroit area to help with the lack of vegetation.

This morning, some friends and I weeded around tomato plants with hoes and small rakes. It was hard work, especially because it was a hot day, but the finished product was amazing. In the afternoon, I helped paint garden boxes. By using red, yellow, green, orange, black and white paint I helped decorate the boxes with Adinkra (West African symbols) and designs of our choice. At the end of the day, we completed a huge amount of work and almost finished six boxes. Everyone's creativity really shined!

Through SITC, I have met so many fantastic people. I've heard their stories and have asked many questions regarding our daily projects. I've even met a boy from France! Hello Eddy!

Thank you to Mike Goldberg for choosing me as Blogger of the Day and for being awesome!

Category: Garden Resource Program

Volunteers build community with gardens

My name is Andrew Goddeeris. I'm a recent Renaissance High School graduate, current University of Michigan student and a lifelong Detroit resident. This is my first summer volunteering with Summer in the City and already the experience has proven invaluable.

Today a group of fellow volunteers from the University Prep and Oak Park meeting sites ventured down to three community gardens located at West Grand Boulevard and Hancock. The gardens, featured last year in O Magazine, supply the surrounding community with food but were in need of some extra care. We weeded rows of vegetables and planted flowers in an effort to increase the yield of the garden and improve its aesthetics.

While the sun blazed, the temperature soared and the radio blasted a questionable mix of '80s rap and Motown classics, we worked tirelessly to make a difference in this small nature haven. It would have been easy for us to simply give up in the face of such grueling physical activity, but while our peers were sleeping or watching TV, we recognized the positive impact our work was having on not only the gardens but the embattled city of Detroit and pressed on.

In a city littered with abandoned lots and open space, community gardens are becoming increasingly popular as a means of producing food and expanding the green space that helps offset the carbon emissions contributing to the sweltering temperatures we were faced with today. Equally important, they serve as a rallying point for a community and contribute to the sense of neighborhood that is so characteristic of Detroit communities.

As we leave Summer in the City today and go about our normal lives we can all feel a sense of accomplishment for what we've done and look forward to more days of positive community involvement to come.

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Category: Garden Resource Program

Raised planting beds make urban garden safe

Today, Summer in the City traveled to the Urban Home Community Garden on Philadelphia north of the New Center area and helped redo its garden. For three years, this garden has yielded vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, collard greens, kale, lettuce and spinach that were tended by kids in the neighborhood under the volunteer organization Central Detroit Christian.

This year, however, when the team did its annual checkup of the garden it found very high and dangerous levels of lead in the soil. This put the vegetables at risk of being contaminated because the roots could absorb some of the lead from the ground. It also became too hazardous for the children to work in the gardens because inhaling or accidentally ingesting contaminated dust and dirt could lead to lead poisoning.

Despite these setbacks, CDC was determined to make its gardens safe. Wednesday, Greening of Detroit teamed with CDC and removed most of the cabbage, lettuce and spinach from the gardens. Today, we joined with the two organizations and redid their gardens so it would be safe to grow and tend plants for the children. First, we created raised beds, which are enclosed beds within a wooden frame above ground, and then transplanted broccoli into some of them. We also laid some woodchips in paths between the beds to prevent some of the dust from unsettling around the kids.

It felt good to help the garden and its impact on the community was almost instant. As we were finishing our work, a woman and her children walking by stopped to thank us. She lives in the neighborhood and her children helped out with the garden a lot. She was afraid that because of the lead problem her family wouldn't be able to continue planting in the gardens. It was really cool seeing her and her kids happy that they could still work in the gardens. Her appreciation was more than enough payment.