The Gift of Good, Sustainable Food

 In Blog

Finally, the earth has warmed in our corner of the world, and plants are poking up their green, leafy heads. Soon, it will be time for gardeners to plant seeds.

Soon, it will also be time for Ellie Figueroa to once again teach little children about the joys of growing their own food.

Ellie is a sustainable food and farming student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a 2013 graduate of Holyoke Community College. I wrote about her for HCC’s Career Focus magazine last winter, when it was hard to imagine planting anything.

I was taken with the passion that such a young person had for organic, sustainable gardening and proud that HCC had inspired Ellie to take her sustainability studies to children on a volunteer basis.

Ellie was still at HCC in the spring of 2013, when she and another student, Lauren Lemire, piloted the Children’s Garden Project at the West Springfield Boys and Girls Club. They planted a vegetable garden there with the children and gave them knowledge on gardening and soil science to go with it. Children got their hands dirty, growing – and then harvesting – vegetables from tomatoes to radishes. They learned about plants, soil, food and nutrition, waste, energy and community.

Since then, Ellie has developed The Children’s Garden Project into a full-fledged project offered at three locations for children in Holyoke and West Springfield. And she is in the process of developing an organization to oversee the project; she seeks help in the form of donations of garden supplies, monetary donations and even partner organizations. Learn how you can help her at www.thechildrensgardenproject.org.

Ellie’s work began at HCC, specifically in a class taught by Kate Maiolatesi, chair of the sustainability studies program. Kate so motivated Elli that one class resulted in Ellie’s vision for the garden project and her clear career focus in sustainability.

HCC’s sustainability programs – two associate’s degree and five certificate offerings – cover ground from sustainable agriculture to sustainable forms of energy and prepare students for a range of careers – from farming to policy making.

Since the first graduates earned their degrees in 2011, they – like Ellie – have transferred to four-year schools to further their studies in sustainability. Others work for wind and solar firms, doing weather audits on homes, and one started his own small energy company in Vermont.

Ellie says she started the garden project because she wants to teach children the concepts she was learning so that, in 15 years, they will be educated voters willing to take action to support sustainability.

“The idea behind sustainability is it’s sort of education for life,” she says. “It’s us making a better world for everybody, and that concept just appealed to me so much.”

Indeed, Ellie and her friends are making a better world.

Thank you Ellie for passing on your education. Our best wishes for the success of The Children’s Garden Project!

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