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Bloomin’ Butterfly Garden provides educational experience
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
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Greg Bowman, executive director of Goodness Grows, a faith-based food and farming ministry at Common Ground Church Community, watches as Julia Gregory, 7, waters plants. Also pictured are Jacob Bacvani, 3,and Leah Bacvani, 7.
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Tori Snyder, 17, one of the students in Kathleen Kromer’s Columbiana Educational Service Center class, is all smiles as she surveys sunflowers blooming in the Bloomin’ Butterfly Garden shaped like a butterfly at Goodness Grows ministry at Common Ground Church Community in Beaver Township. She wears a butterfly necklace to go with the garden theme. The garden features plants to attract birds, butterflies and bees.
Bloomin’ Butterfly Garden provides educational experience
By LINDA M. LINONIS
NORTH LIMA
The Bloomin’ Butterfly Garden has taken off at Goodness Grows, a faith-based food and farming ministry at Common Ground Church Community.
Meagan Zeune, Goodness Grows program director, credited Kathleen “Kitty” Kromer’s Columbiana Educational Service Center class for taking the unique project from planning to fruition. The high school students conducted research online to learn what plants would provide nectar and forage for bees, butterflies and birds native to northeast Ohio.
Christy Lake, Kromer’s assistant, said the project provided “an educational experience” for students because of the research they did, while planting involved physical activity. “It was a learning experience for them ... and will be rewarding as they go back and see the garden growing,” she said.
Zeune said Goodness Grows has been a job site for the special-needs students since last spring. She said it has provided “skill-building opportunities for the ESC class including planting seeds, transplanting, mulching and harvesting vegetables.”
Tori Snyder, a member of the class, said it was a “great experience” because she is a first-time gardener. The 17-year-old said she would be glad to do it again.
Tori and other class members mingled with other nature lovers and gardeners on Tuesday evening at the garden dedication.
Zeune said the garden transformed a previously mowed lawn area at Goodness Grows.
Now the slight hill provides a perfect place for the 12-by-12-foot garden in the shape of a butterfly in flight.
Stepping stones, which also offer access to the garden, form the butterfly’s body.
Zeune said the project was made possible through a $700 grant from Project Learning Tree, an environmental education program; Pollinator Live, a distance learning adventure; and U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture. She also credited Dan Burns, president of the Men’s Garden Club of Youngstown for help with plant research and design.
Greg Bowman, executive director of Goodness Grows, said Zeune “had the vision” for the garden project, which added an aesthetic element to the grounds while giving practical gardening experience to the students.
He said Goodness Grows is as an outreach of Common Ground Church Community, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA. Bowman said Goodness Grows partners with other organizations to improve food access to people in neighborhoods with no nearby grocery.
Bowman said Goodness Grows promotes community supported agriculture and operates City Fresh of Mahoning Valley to provide fresh and locally grown fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers to participating residents.
He also noted that a grant from Ohio Environmental Education Fund helped develop community gardens at Lincoln Park and Rockford Village in Youngstown and City Fresh.