Hi all.

So as you may have seen, Gary says that the garden idea does have ties to SW Tulsa because of Eugene Field Elementary, which started the Global Gardens program. (http://www.global-gardens.org/). 

So going along with that idea...in my mind, the article would mainly focus on what good community gardens can do at schools, especially schools in lower-income areas. Proponents of community gardens offer up many benefits: in terms of education, gardens at school are a form of student-centered learning that gives kids a hands-on science experience. 

Gardening programs also give kids a better understanding of nutrition and where food comes from. This is important in "food-poor" areas especially, where low-income families tend to eat very unhealthy food because it's the least expensive. The skill of growing one's own food is indispensable in this case, because homegrown produce is even cheaper than McDonald's but it's many times more nutritious. What we eat goes a long way in preventing widespread health problems in Oklahoma, like diabetes and heart disease. (If you hang out around Kendall-Whittier park, which is in a notoriously poor area, and see the proportion of overweight and obese kids in the grade school classes, this will really hit home.)

Gardens are also community centers where people must work together cooperatively. Supporters argue that gardens do foster a sense of community and investment in the local area, motivating students (or any gardeners) to change their community for the better.

I think it would be a good idea to basically profile the Global Gardens program because of it's great success, and I think that I could get in contact with Heather Oakley (the director and a Eugene Fields teacher) about this fairly easily. 

It would also be good to include information about the Brady Heights Community Garden (though it's not associated with a school) because it is in North Tulsa. I think that'd be good because of all the (often true) stereotypes about N. Tulsa. Yes, it is poor, and that's why they need the garden there. Yes, it is a rough area, but they are positively impacting the community by planting and growing food together in the middle of the neighborhood. Leah and Justin Picard started that garden and I think they'd be happy to be interviewed.

Another source I would suggest is a report made by the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture published in 2006. It's called Closer to Home: Healthier Food, Farms and Family in Oklahoma, A Centennial Report. I have a copy of this, for the record.

Finally I'd probably interview some people from the Tulsa Community Garden Association for their take on the benefits of gardening.

I'd also like to find out more about what Russell Burkhart is doing with Indian Health Care Resource Center to start more gardens around the city. And I think it would be cool to have a breakout box with tips and resources for starting a garden.

-Danielle