If the kids at Boys and Girls Clubs of Coastal Bend didn’t care, the organization’s new community garden would be covered in watermelons.
Invited to diversify their crops, the children opted for a wide selection, including a lemon tree, a pomegranate tree, tomatoes, radishes, peppers, cucumbers, corn and sunflowers.
“I really like it, for sure,” said 11-year-old Naylin Banda. “What strikes me is that we don’t just grow vegetables here. We also grow herbs.”
Banda particularly likes two plants that grow in the garden: beans, which remind her of the Mexican dishes she often eats with her family, and basil, which reminds her of the herbs she has read about in books.
Club members of all ages participate in gardening activities.
“It also brings joy to little children,” Banda said.
The club received a $60,000 grant from Humana to support a community garden and healthy habits in Coastal Bend, part of the $1.5 million the company has donated to clubs across the country. The new garden was celebrated with a grand opening event on Thursday afternoon.
“What we try to do is teach (kids) about vegetation, plants, soil and all these other things,” club CEO Kim Barrientos said. “So we worked with the (Coastal Bend Food Bank) and their education and nutrition educators. Then we also partnered with Grow Local South Texas, which added an educational component.”
Produce grown in the garden will flow back to Boys and Girls Club children through snacks at the club and fruits and vegetables sent home to families.
One of the objectives of community gardens is to combat food insecurity.
According to Feeding America, 90,570 people faced food insecurity in Coastal Bend in 2019. This includes 31,500 children. Projections indicate that in 2021, 7.3% of children in Nueces County had very low food security.
In a traditional community garden, community members can reserve a plot for their own cultivation activities. In Corpus Christi, the First United Methodist Church’s Garden of Grace operates in this way, offering more than 30 plots.
Garden of Grace is administered by Grow Local South Texas, and the group offers tips for gardeners at the site.
According to the American Community Garden Association, successful community gardens need a group of interested people, sponsors, plans to involve children, organization and space.
In addition to the Humana funds, Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo donated $1,000 to the Boys & Girls Club garden as part of the Mayor’s Community Garden Restoration Program, funded by a donation from Reliant Energy.
Funds have been channeled to other local community gardens over the past year.
Community gardens can encourage participants to eat healthy fresh fruits and vegetables, engage in physical activity and revitalize communities, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Other community gardens, such as the Boys & Girls Club garden, function more as educational spaces.
Grow Local South Texas has spent the past school year visiting the club, as well as similar initiatives at West Side Helping Hand, Garcia Center Community Garden, and Mary Grett Transition Center.
Grow Local South Texas operations and development coordinator Michelle Kish said bi-weekly lessons focus on organic gardening and soil science.
“It’s great to show kids where their food comes from and how to relate to their food and healthy foods,” Kish said. “They’ve responded very well to it. They’re always happy to get out into the garden, especially once it’s well established.”
Composting and watering are particularly popular, Kish said.
At the Boys & Girls Club garden, children picked crops to fill a space that had been a garden years ago, but had been neglected. Gill Garden Center built the garden, with raised beds and garden tubs, to accommodate the designs of the children.
At Thursday’s grand opening, attendees decorated rocks to add to a well in the garden.
For refreshments, the Boys & Girls Club teens prepared radish dip, pesto and a squash dish with produce from the garden.
Gathered in the garden on Thursday, Alanya Vega, Aiden Rodriquez and Abel Garcia, all 13, named sunflowers as their favorite part of the garden. They said they liked the garden.
“It’s just fun,” Garcia said.
Olivia Garrett reports on education and community news in South Texas. Contact her at olivia.garrett@caller.com. You can support local journalism by subscribing to the Caller-Times.
After:This community garden restored with the help of Mayor Guajardo, Reliant
After:TAMU-CC art students design and install living sculptures of native animals on campus
