Garden therapy: LINC learns community gardening for the health of children, families

At the moment, the freshly churned garden bed was surrounded by adults — LINC Caring Communities coordinators and their staff — kneading the soil with seeds and seedlings.

But it was easy to imagine where this hot August training day at Kansas City Community Gardens was leading:

Kids. Lots of them. Getting their hands dirty and their hopes high for an autumn harvest of their making for their schools and their home tables.

“That’s the heart of why we do this,” said Hannah Ebling-Artz, KCCG’s Schoolyard Gardens director.

Ebling-Artz knows what LINC Caring Communities Coordinator Andrew Smith knows from years of watching what gardening does for kids.

Children in LINC’s before- and after-school programs are going to be planting seeds, tending and watering — and watching — ready to be thrilled when those first green shoots sprout.

“Gardening is really therapeutic,” Smith said. His students at Pitcher Elementary in the Kansas City Public Schools “like to touch things, like to watch things grow from a seed and transform into a plant and they’re able to eat it.”

Kansas City Community Gardens School Gardens Coordinator Mackenzie Haas, in green with the garden hose, demonstrates watering at the fall workshop for LINC Caring Communities coordinators and staff Aug. 10.

LINC now has community gardens at 28 of its Caring Communities sites, making it one of the largest partners within the KCCG’s network of some 230 school gardens throughout the Kansas City area.

LINC’s role is “special,” Ebling-Artz said, “because (LINC coordinators) are all out in the community at schools every day, so it’s a really natural partnership for (LINC) to lead gardens and connect with the community.”

LINC Caring Communities Coordinator Stacey Garcia came away from the workshop with lessons on planting, garden spacing, watering strategies and a “cheat-sheet” handout complete with garden layouts, schedules and video links from KCCG.

She’s imagining LINC’s garden at Garfield Elementary in KCPS can become a hub of healthful community activity.

“My goal is to have people trading vegetables and making it more accessible and making sure kids don’t miss out or not have access to fresh produce and vegetables,” she said.

Garcia grew up in Kansas City’s Northeast Neighborhood where she says she knows the reach of poverty and the scarcity of healthy food and grocery stores.

“That’s why it really hits home for me,” she said.

Kansas City Community Gardens School Gardens Director Hannah Ebling-Artz hands out seedlings for planting.

That’s the kind of enthusiasm for community gardening that KCCG’s Schools Gardens Coordinator Mackenzie Haas said carries the KCCG and LINC partnership.

“Honestly, just the passion that these LINC coordinators have for the garden and for inspiring students is really magical to me,” she said. She expects coordinators like Garcia will “inspire” children and their families, “getting them out and having hands-on experience that is really important.”

After-school gardens give children a new life skill, Smith said.

And, added Ebling-Artz, it’s what children deserve.

“Kids deserve to know where their food comes from,” she said. “They deserve to be involved in it and most importantly they deserve access to really fresh, good food that they want to grow.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC writer