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Our Project
This project focuses on activities for home gardening, uses for produce, and traditional cooking through H.O.P.E. Gardens in Wyoming, Michigan. The curriculum is oriented towards adults and methods they can use to be more sustainable at home. The goal was to create a curriculum with practices that adults can use in their everyday lives. Through this, they can bring back what they learned to their family, friends, and children.
Importance To The Community
This project is important because it can significantly promote sustainability. Living a sustainable lifestyle, including preserving food and water are important for communities struggling with access to healthy food and safe drinking water. It is particularly important that adults and potential parents in our society can set an example of what sustainability means. This can already be done with simple means, such as growing your own vegetables and using water sparingly. The goal of our project is to provide adults with basic information that will inspire them and help them understand and learn how to live more sustainably.
https://unsplash.com/photos/vrbZVyX2k4I
Wyoming Community
The city of Wyoming is located southwest of Grand Rapids with a population of roughly 76,501. It is the second-largest city in Western Michigan. Wyoming, Michigan is a friendly area and offers many activities for residents. This city is diverse, but it is still predominately white. The population is about 62.1% White, 22.9% Hispanic/Latino, and 7.8% Black or African American. In Wyoming, the adult residence with a high school degree is 85.2%, while only 20.7% of adult residents have a bachelor's degree or higher (Census Bureau). This education disparity can impact whether households can or know to make healthy, sustainable lifestyle choices (Zajacova).
Theme
We chose to center our activities around sustainable and traditional methods of living a farm-to-table lifestyle. In West Michigan, one in eight people is affected by food insecurity (Feeding West Michigan). Self-driven projects, such as growing a vegetable garden, making pots, or home canning can help with self-sufficiency and food security. In creating curriculums for adults, we considered the effect on their families. As head of household, adults can influence their spouses and children, as well as many others. By choosing to live a healthier, more self-sufficient lifestyle, adults can influence many others to do so as well.
H.O.P.E Gardens
H.O.P.E. Gardens stands for helping other people eat. The co-founders, Julie and Rich Brunson believe in helping others to overcome their struggles with food insecurity. They teach children and adults sustainable ways to grow food themselves. The founders struggled with food insecurity and understand how important it is to have access to healthy food. They hold community activities and work in schools to help children learn about gardening and having a healthy lifestyle. H.O.P.E. Gardens is located in Wyoming, Michigan.
Sample Curriculum
Canning Tomatoes - Farm to Table Lifestyle
Canning Tomatoes - Farm to Table Lifestyle
Benefits:
Homegrown canning product can increase a family's food security. Instead of buying staples at the grocery store like tomato sauce, tomatoes can be grown in a garden and canned if unused. Canning is cheap and easy, and is a good way to keep produces from going to waste.
(https://bonnieplants.com/how-to-grow/growing-tomatoes/)
Materials Needed:
Tomatoes
Glass jars
Stock pot
Canning tongs
Lemon juice
(https://wholefully.com/canning-101/)
(https://www.sustainablecooks.com/canning-whole-tomatoes/)
Process:
Sterilize jars and lids by putting them in boiling water; set aside
Score then boil tomatoes for one minute, then put in ice bath. Peel.
Pack jars full of tomatoes and add one tablespoon per pint of tomatoes.
Seal lids and boil in water 2-3 inches above top of jars for 85 minutes.
Check the next day for any leaks.
More Learning Activities
Getty Images
Getty Images
Home Gardening
Home Gardening
Home composting
(https://www.happysprout.com/gardening/diy-compost-bin-at-home/)
DIY Self-Watering Pot
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Jwsl_i_cs)
Growing Pest-Resistant Plants
(https://langslawncare.com/blog/outdoor-pest-control/10-plants-herbs-keep-pests-bugs-away/)
Uses for Produce
Uses for Produce
Cooking vegetables
(How To Cook Eggplant - Easy Recipes to Bake, Roast & Fry Eggplants (delish.com))
Growing Vegetables from Scraps
(https://www.ruralsprout.com/regrow-vegetables/)
Making Jelly
(https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/38410/strawberry-jam/)
(Stroud, V. Navajo Three.)
(Stroud, V. Navajo Three.)
Traditional Cooking
Traditional Cooking
Three Sisters Garden
(https://www.pbs.org/native-america/blogs/native-voices/meet-the-three-sisters-who-sustain-native-america/)
Herb Drying
(https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/dry/herbs.html)
Foraging
(https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79119_104319---,00.html)
Works Cited
Bonnie Plants. (2021). Tomatoes growing. Bonnie Plants. Retrieved November 9, 2021, from https://bonnieplants.com/how-to-grow/growing-tomatoes/.
Clarke, E. (2021). Well Plated. ELITE CAFEMEDIA. Retrieved November 9, 2021, from https://www.wellplated.com/sauteed-brussels-sprouts/.
Cook, S. (2021). Canned tomatoes. Sustainable Cooks. ELITE CAFEMEDIA FOOD . Retrieved November 9, 2021, from https://www.sustainablecooks.com/canning-whole-tomatoes/.
ELITE CAFEMEDIA . (2018, February 21). How to can tomatoes (without a canner). Pretty Prudent. Retrieved November 10, 2021, from https://www.prettyprudent.com/how-to-can-tomatoes-without-a-canner-2/.
Feeding America West Michigan. (2019, May 15). Food insecurity in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Feeding America West Michigan. Retrieved November 10, 2021, from https://www.feedwm.org/need/.
Getty Images. (2021). Retrieved November 9, 2021, from https://www.travelandleisure.com/style/shopping/how-to-start-vegetable-garden-at-home.
Johnston, C. (2015). Image of cans stacked on top of each other. Wholefully. Back To Her Roots. Retrieved November 9, 2021, from https://wholefully.com/canning-101/.
Stroud, V. (n.d.). Navajo Three. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
U.S. Department of Commerce. (2019, July 1). Wyoming City, Michigan. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved November 10, 2021, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/wyomingcitymichigan.
Zajacova, A., & Lawrence, E. M. (2018, April 1). The relationship between education and health: Reducing disparities through a contextual approach. Annual review of public health. Retrieved November 10, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5880718/.
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