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February 20, 2013
Matt Reid | St. Joseph News- Press
GARDENING FOR A CAUSE
Sensory garden encourages community involvement By BROOKE VANCLEAVE St. Joseph News-Press
I
t might be a little early to be thinking about planting and gardening yet, but Grace Becker and Jamie Patton can’t wait to get their hands dirty. The two women are the brains behind a new community garden project at Northwest Missouri State University. They recently received a grant through the Missouri Natural Resources
Conservation Service to fund the creation of a community garden with raised beds that are childand handicapped-accessible. Ms. Becker is a graduate student working towards a Master of Science in agriculture. The idea started last May when she was searching for a thesis project. “It’s in a location where basically anyone can access it and utilize it for educational opportunities,� says Dr. Patton, associate professor of soil studies.
LEFT: Grace Becker, a graduate student at Northwest Missouri State University, measures for flag placement at the site of the new community sensory garden in Maryville. ABOVE: From left, Dr. Tom Zweifel and Dr. Jamie Patton hold the tape down for Carey Stroburg to take a measurement at the new sensory garden location at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville. The campus already has an in-ground vegetable garden that has provided produce to the local senior center and food pantry for the past four years. The new garden will include raised beds at 10, 20 and 36 inches to accommodate children, wheelchair-bound gardeners or volunteers who need to sit in chairs because of back problems. The grant also includes funding for a sensory garden. “A sensory garden has plants and structures that appeal to all five senses,� Ms. Becker explains. She says campus horticulturalist Rego Jones will select plants and flowers that will appeal to touch, sight, taste, sound and smell. In this way, the community will not only be able to view the garden, but they can interact with it. “There’s some easy ones, such as lemon geraniums, when you touch the leaves it smells very much like lemon. There will be pathways so that the community can access these beds from all sides. The whole idea is to actually touch, feel, get involved with the garden itself,� Dr. Patton says.
The benefits of having a community garden extend beyond simply providing locally grown produce. Dr. Patton says that while the raised beds are mainly for food production, the sensory garden will be an educational display. She and Ms. Becker want the garden to be a learning experience for anyone interested in nature or agriculture. “Educational opportunities just abound from these kinds of projects that are so much different than a traditional lecturetype educational situation,� Dr. Patton says. She hopes better accessibility will increase community involvement at the garden. In the past, work on the in-ground community garden was largely undertaken by volunteer labor from students and faculty in the agriculture department. With the new raised beds and sensory garden, anyone can enjoy the flowers and vegetables produced there, including children from Horace Mann Laboratory School and their families. The new garden will also provide “a centralized meeting place for organizations to get outside,� Ms. Becker says.
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“A lot of us have moved away from the farm and moved away from growing our own food. It’s a way to reconnect with our heritage and food production,� Dr. Patton adds. “It’s a lot of fun getting everyone out there to see what a piece of food really looks like. There’s always something to learn when we get people out in nature, and we’re not as familiar with those aspects of our lives as we used to be.� Although it’s still in its planning stages, Ms. Becker says the team will start putting down paver stones and raising beds as soon as the ground warms up. With spring quickly approaching, this could be sooner rather than later, allowing them to fi nish the project hopefully by early summer. Dr. Patton is eager to begin work, and hopes the community shares her enthusiasm for the raised beds and sensory garden project. “Any time you can get a suntan and grow some food, play in the water and the dirt, it’s a good day!� she says. Brooke VanCleave can be reached at brooke.vancleave@newspressnow.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SJNPVanCleave.
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