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The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Garden to feed community

    Both Hammond residents and students are invited to get dirty and healthy through the Community Garden project.

    Located near Woodland Park Elementary School on a 100 by 100 foot lot of grass, the garden allows for fellowship and growth with a strong family focus. The garden has been available to the community for over a year.

    “We want to be healthier and live healthier. We want to provide healthier experiences for our children so that they can grow up happier and more productive in our community,” said Donna Bliss, member of the Healthy Communities Coalition and chair of the Community Garden project. “Sometimes these things aren’t available to certain people, and through Health Communities Coalition, I can be a participant in something that gives value back to the community as a whole.” 

    Community members are invited to participate either through volunteering or through setting up their own plant bed free of cost. 

    “They don’t have to purchase the ground or the plot, but they would have to build their bed,” said Bliss. “If you want a plot, you come in and add some sweat and time.”

    Bliss encouraged students to get involved either through working in the garden or mentoring children in healthy living.

    “It would be great if a group of young adults at Southeastern picked up this project and mentored younger children,” said Bliss. “It’s a place for everyone to be out there, experience nature, the garden and physical activity and each other.”

    According to Bostic, Southeastern students volunteered to help clean up the garden as part of the Big Event community outreach last Saturday.

    In addition to the monthly Garden Day for community members to help work on the plot, Bliss encouraged anyone interested to attend an informational meeting in April.

    Though Bliss coordinates the operations and upkeep of the garden, Dr. Mary Bostic, professor of industrial technology, owns the lot and was influential in the startup two years ago. In addition to her own funds, Bostic received physical and monetary support from Troy Built and City of Hammond Grants department. The first crop of vegetables was tilled and harvested December 2013.  

    “I was contacted by Donna Bliss, and we made an agreement for her to assume the upkeep of the property and to have complete access to continue garden activity,” said Bostic. “They have more than lived up to my expectations. All the gardening is done by Donna and her groups, and I have simply stood back and admired her work.”

    More recently, Bliss has received donations from local business and community members to help purchase soil and to build the first boxes. They raised soil boxes instead of the ground. 

    “The interest meeting is for anyone who is interested in what we’re doing, to get involved and learn without any commitment,” said Bliss. “If you can come to an information night, it’s less commitment and you can ask questions.”

    Bliss and Bostic are organizing a variety of children’s activities for the summer which may include gardening, crafts, rock gardens and science activities, such as the study of wild flowers, poison plants identification, birds and other small animals.

    For more information on the Louisiana Healthy Communities Coalition, visit healthylouisiana.org. For more information on the garden, contact Bliss at 985-415-2169 or [email protected]

    “No person is an island,” said Bostic. “We are a part of our community, and if we do not work to make our community better we betray ourselves.”

    community garden

    The Community Garden is located on a 100 by 100 foot lot of land, owned by
    Dr. Mary Bostic, professor of industrial technology. 
    Courtesy of Donna Bliss

     

     

     

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