Environmental Science students from the class of 2012 spent the morning harvesting crops from the Charlie Buffone Garden on Aetna street. The garden is a community garden managed by Oak Hill CDC. Produce from the garden is donated to neighborhood residence.This past summer members of the WA community tended to the garden and ES students will spend some time here harvesting as well as using the garden as a means for studying agriculture in Massachusetts. Soil for the garden came from Worcester residents’ yard
compost, which is formed at the Worcester Recycling Center on Ballard street. The class has asked the question what can be grown in state? On Aetna street tomatoes, corn, squash, beans, peppers, cabbage, eggplant, lettuce, pumpkin, cucumber, herbs, and more can grow. What
nutrients do these foods supply? What are the benefits of planting corn, beans, and squash together? Where did this practice originate and why? What conditions are needed for the plants to grow? What type of
soil? The soil for the garden came from Worcester residents’ yard compost, which is formed at the Worcester Recycling Center on Ballard street.
Climate change has been addressed as a major environmental concern by the class, how does producing food in this manner effect
carbon dioxide emissions (the primary
green house gas -GHG-), aslo known as our
carbon footprint. Click on the agriculture page above for more information on agriculture and the lessons the Buffone Garden has to offer.
September 17, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Today at the garden I saw some of the different kinds of foods that could be grown in New England. I also learned that locally, it can be used. The food is given to the elderly, helping them, and is also picked by the people around the garden. The vegetables and fruits are also for the people who plant them. To see a garden in the area that it was in was kind of out of the ordinary, and Inever knew there was a garden there until today. There were tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans, sunflowers, squash, corn, pumpkins, lettuce, cabbage, brocolli, and other vegetables and fruits in the garden. There were also bees & ladybugs in the garden, helping to pollinate the plants. I saw that some of the plants need very close attention and constant care because some of the plants were growing out of there boundaries. Some plants also needed different caring systems then others, like fences and sticks to hold up plants. I also learned that lettuce can regrow if you cut them from the bottom, as well as if the seeds of the sunflowers are replanted.
September 17, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Today at the garden I saw some of the different kinds of foods that could be grown in New England. I also learned that locally, it can be used. The food is given to the elderly, helping them, and is also picked by the people around the garden. The vegetables and fruits are also for the people who plant them. To see a garden in the area that it was in was kind of out of the ordinary, and I never knew there was a garden there until today. There were tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans, sunflowers, squash, corn, pumpkins, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, and other vegetables and fruits in the garden. There were also bees & ladybugs in the garden, helping to pollinate the plants. I saw that some of the plants need very close attention and constant care because some of the plants were growing out of there boundaries. Some plants also needed different caring systems then others, like fences and sticks to hold up plants. I also learned that lettuce can regrow if you cut them from the bottom, as well as if the seeds of the sunflowers are replanted.
September 17, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I thought the trip across the street to the Community Harvest was very interseting. I had drove by it a lot and was interested by the big sunflower plants and things that I saw in there. I had always wondered what was done with the planted fruits and vegetables. Now I realise the food goes to the neighborhood people, elderly homes, and people in need. In 6th grade we read a book about a community that was brought together by a community farm. Everyone in the community had a block to garden in and everyone really enjoyed planting there. I was very suprised by some of the plants I saw. I didn’t knwo that peppers grew around here, and I also didn’t know that cabbage heads could get that large. I also noticed that a lot of the tomatos were dead on the ground, which means they could ahve used to be picked earlier. OTher than that the garden was very nice and I enjoyed going there for the first time.
September 25, 2008 at 1:52 am
All fruits and vegetables supply a great amount of nutrients. We need them in our daily diet in order to survive and be very healthy. It is recommended to eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Just like the vegetables that we picked in the Buffone Garden, all vegetables supply vitamins and minerals: like vitamins A, B, and C. Vegetables also supply the rite amounts of Carbohydrates and sugars we need in our diets. Known as “The three sisters” corn beans and squash always grow together and are very beneficial. They are beneficial because they were known as a “sustainable system” which provided long-term soil fertility and a healthy diet to generations. It originated from a Iroquois legend and was spread vastly throughout native american farming societies.
In order for all plants to grow they need certain conditions. They need proper sunlight just the right amount of water, and good fertile soil.