YOUTH GARDEN PROJECT

About the Project

"How we eat determines how the world is used." - Wendell Berry

On nearly one acre of City parkland in SW Corvallis, the Youth Garden Project teaches teens to grow healthy food naturally for distribution to the hungry.

Working on any particular aspect of production from preparing soil to harvest and delivery, teens learn a wealth of skills and knowledge not encountered in the classroom. At the same time, they apply academic knowledge to real work experience.

For many, the Youth Garden Project provides a unique community service opportunity that is safe, stimulating, and educational. And all are empowered by the reality that they can make a difference.

During the school year YGP offers Service Learning opportunities to area schools and youth service agencies. In the peak growing season teens provide the work force to tend, harvest, and deliver produce.

Vegetables, herbs and flowers grown in the Youth Garden are given back to community. YGP Participants gather, package, and deliver produce to local soup kitchens, food banks, shelters, and community members in need. South Corvallis Food Bank estimates that YGP provides 90% of their fresh produce!

Behind Youth Garden Project work lies the philosophy that if students understand how healthy food is produced, they are more able and likely to make healthy decisions for themselves and their community.

Agricultural theories and techniques are incorporated into curriculum and into practice at the Youth Garden Project. These include ideas such as companion planting, crop rotations, composting, cover-cropping, drip irrigating, encouraging soil ecology, and creating native buffers for beneficial insects.

By practicing and teaching these ideas, the Youth Garden Project provides a model of sustainable agriculture within an urban setting.

To register for a Youth Garden program, click here.
To volunteer at the garden, click here or call the CEC office at 753-9211.