“You need to prove to a young mom why this new lifestyle is better than Taco Bell, if at the end of the day her kids’ bellies are full and it’s cheaper.” — LuAnn Oros
Community gardens are created in low-income and low-access neighborhoods to give families direct access to healthy foods and create a sense of community. But many of these gardens fail because gardens are overgrown, full of weeds and members fail to properly care for the plants.
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The Big Green Truck Delivering sustainable garden solutions
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Section 1: Framing the Problem 2
Introduction
Contents
10 12 14
External Research Talking to Experts Statistical Support
Section 2: The Solution 20 22 28
Identity The Site Handouts and Print Materials
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Sources
Framing the Problem
1
Over 17 million families were food insecure in 2010. Food deserts are concentrated areas short on access to healthy food—fresh produce and meat —even while convenience stores and fast-food outlets flourish. 26% of people living in St. Louis city from 2007–2011 were below the poverty level.
25% Rural 75% Urban
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Source: The Great Plains Growers Conference Source: United States Census Bureau
Highlighted green areas represent low-income and low-access communities in the St. Louis area.
LuAnn Oros
Hannah Reinhart
Washington University in St. Louis Community Service Office Consultant on Hunger and Homelessness
Community Development Coordinator at Gateway Greening
Oct. 16, 2013
Oct. 23, 2013
“We don’t need to invent anything new here; we need to go back to the post-great depression lifestyle where everyone had their own gardens at home and helped their neighbor. The problem is much simpler. It’s about getting back to a way of life that’s been lost.”
Evelyn Jagoda Amir Fellow, Camp Sprout Lake
“Kids need a connection to the land and to work. Creating a garden inherently has an element of selflessness. The act of building and adding to the world we live in is something that all humans can do. Only by teaching these values to children at a young age will we change the world.”
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“We provide groups interested in creating community gardens with criteria to meet in order to partner with us to create a garden and give them resources. If we don’t meet them, they don’t get either. I wish we had more time to be at the gardens in person, but this is difficult to do because it’s hard to pin down the garden leaders and get them to show up.”
“It’s about getting back to a way of life that’s been lost.” 13
USDA Top 10 States with Highest Food Insecurity 2010–2012
1. Mississippi 2. Arkansas 3. Texas 4. Alabama 5. North Carolina 6. Georgia
7. Missouri 8. Nevada 9. Tennessee 10. Ohio
Poverty rate of 15.8% 920,118 individuals below poverty level
Smartphone Ownership by Age and Income January 2012
We chose to create a website instead of a mobile app because approximately 25% of our target audience owned smartphones. Websites are accessible through schools, libraries, and home computers so the majority of our audience could access the information.
Source: Nielsen
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The Solution
2
This garden is completely overgrown. It needs to be weeded, cut, fertilized and replanted.
The Big Green Truck is a mobile and web-based service to help maintain community gardens and provide recipes for produce grown (on-site). The truck service is essentially a garden consultancy, traveling to gardens to educate members on garden maintenance and on healthy cooking. The web component allows for scheduling of the truck to come to your garden, meal-planning and budgeting with home-grown produce, and obtaining educational resources for plant disease and produce growing seasons. We empower families to grow their own food by providing them with the knowledge and tools necessary to ensure ongoing success. Our selection of seeflings and recipes allow families to plant and eat fresh produce every season.
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Our staff helps maximize community garden efficiency and profuctivity. Onsite visits from The Big Green Truck offer assisstance with planting and maintenance and organize educational community programming.
on the 1 Click produce you are growing in your garden
What can I cook with my vegetables?
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2
Click on a recipe that includes your produce
off 3 Check ingredients you
total 4 Estimated price of the
already have in your kitchen
ingredients you still need to purchase
of closest 5 Map grocery stores to where you live
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When should I plant my seeds?
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1
Choose whether you’re searching for a fruit, vegetable or herb
2
Scroll through the list of produce to find the specific food you’re looking for
3
The chart shows the sowing, growing, and harvesting season for the selected produce
I can easily schedule the truck to come to my garden.
The easy-to-use calendar allows you to schedule The Big Green Truck to come to your community garden or school. Simply choose the desired date and time if the truck is available. Then choose your garden if you’re already registered or fill out the New Garden form. You can choose to get an email confirmation of your appointment or a phone call from us 24 hours before to remind you.
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Recipe cards are available to take home from the truck or print from the website for community members to use at home. Families who do not have a computer at home can also have access to the information on how to cook with their produce.
How Do I Keep My Plants Healthy? Symptom
Vegetable
Alternia Leaf Spot
Water-soaked, angular, target-like sports on leaves.
Crucifer, Cucurbit, Onion
Aster Yellows
Stunted plants with yellowed leaves; off color & flavor
Carrots, Lettuce
Anthracnose
Small lesions on leaves & fruit; lower veins turn black
Bacterial Wilt
Plants wilt & die, transmitted by cucumber beetles
Cucurbit
Common Smut
Silver galls turn black & break open to expose black spots
Corn
Downy Mildew
Yellow spots; white-purple downy growth on undersides
Cucurbit, Onion, Squash, Crucifer
Early Blight
Dark brown spots on leaves, leathery with rings
Potatoes, Tomatoes
Fusarium Wilt
Leaves are lifeless, curling and brittle, yellow or brown
Rotation
Sanitation Resistant Varieties
Control Insects
Beans, Cucrbit, Peppers, Tomatoes
Cabbage, Cucurbit, Potatoes, Tomatoes
Internal Cork
Dark, hard, corky spots develop in roots
Sweet Potatoes
Late Blight
Water-soaked, brown spots on leaves, petoiles with mold
Potatoes, Tomatoes
Moasaic Virus
Stunted plants, distorted leaves & fruit, blotchy pattern
Beans, Cucurbits, Tomatoes
Root Knot
Stunted, galls on roots, appears deficient in nutrients
Carrots, Tomatoes
Scab
Rough, raised corky area across tuber surface
Potatoes
Seed Decay & Damping
Roots & stems rot; young seedlings topple over
Septoria Leaf Spot
Circular spots with brown borders & gray centers
Tomatoes
Verticillum Wilt
Vines yellow, wilt & die branch by branch
Potatoes, Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant
Beans, Tomatoes
Rotation:
Sanitation:
Plant Resistant Varieties:
Rotation is a technique whereby plants within the same botanical family are not planted in the same place year after year. Rotate related plants on a three-year schedule. This limits nutrient deficiencies and reduces the incidence of insects by eliminating hosts and interrupting their life cycles.
Bleach tools and containers with a 10% concentration to kill any dieseases or virus, wash hands before handling plants, refrain from watering leaves of plants, mulch the soil surface under plants, weed around vegetable plants, limit insect populations, use sterile potting mixes for starting seeds, choose healthy seedlings, don’t work in the garden when conditions are wet, promptly remove plant residues when plants are spent, and don’t compost diseased plant matter.
When puchasing plants or seeds, look for abbreviations, such as VFTNA, standing for Verticillium Wilt, Fusarium Wilt, Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Nematodes, and Alternaria. Gardeners can also help by saving seeds from plants that are not affected by disease. in a few generations, they may be completely resistant to certain diseases.
Organic Fungicides: Neem Oil is used on Septoria, Alternaria, Early Blight, Anthracnose, and Powdery Mildew. Copper may be used for Alternaria, Early Blight, Anthracnose, and Downy Mildew. Fungicides are a preventive measure. Coat leaves before excessively wet or humid weather, or unseasonably cool summer temperatures.
Organic Fungacide
Gardening Schedule - St. Louis Seed Basil Beans Beets Broccoli Brussel Sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower Carrots Cucumbers Eggplant Kale/Collards Leeks Lettuce Melons Okra Onions Peas Peppers Potatoes Pumpkin Radishes Spinach Summer Squash Sweet Corn Sweet Potatoes Swiss Chard Tatsoi Tomatillo Tomatoes Turnips Winter Squash
January
February
March
April
May
June
Plant seeds indoors Transplant indoor seeds outside
July
August
September
Sow seeds directly in soil
Harvest period
Growing period
Last spring or first fall frost
October
November December
PDF handouts are available on the website to print and give to community members. The handouts are in black and white for costeffective printing. They explain the growing schedules for the most commonly planted produce and explain ways to spot plant disease.
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Photo Sources Page 3: Flickr Page 4: Greenville Community Gardens Page 13: Weber State University Page 18: Flickr Page 25: City of Oakland, CA
This book was made by Becca Shuman at Washington University in St. Louis in the fall of 2013. It uses Vista Slab and Whitney typefaces.