Clements Garden

Project Proposal
Aysia Goss & Faye Wang
Purpose
 The general topic of our Capstone project is in regards to public physical health and

nutrition. We feel as though planting a garden would be a great representation of the importance

of having a source of healthy, nutritious foods even if it is on a small scale. Furthermore, our

Capstone projects address the idea that healthful foods are less accessible in areas of certain

demographics, especially low-income African American communities and our garden is an

example of how we can possibly fix that.

Expectations
Besides gaining more enhanced knowledge of agriculture and gardening, we hope to gain

a new perspective in regards to the difficulty and feasibility of creating community gardens not

only at our school but in communities where health and nutrition is actually a severe problem.

Funding
Annies Grants For Gardens

Annies offers Grants for Gardens donations to schools and other educational programs that help
build school gardens. Since 2008, theyve directly funded more than 295 gardens, because they
believe that gardens help connect kids to real food. Grants are issued annually.

Amounts Awarded: $5,000.00 to $2,500.00

American Honda Foundation

Funding for youth education, specifically in the areas of science, technology, engineering,
mathematics, the environment, job training and literacy.
The 2018 Youth Garden Grant is an award designed to support school and youth educational
garden projects that enhance the quality of life for students and their communities. Any nonprofit
organization, public or private school, or youth program in the United States planning a new
garden program or expanding an established one that serves at least 15 youth between the ages of
3 and 18 is eligible to apply. The selection of winners is based on demonstrated program impact
and sustainability
Home Depot
The Home Depot Foundation offers grants, up to $5,000, to IRS-registered 501c designated
organizations and tax-exempt public service agencies in the U.S. that are using the power of
volunteers to improve the physical health of their community. Grants are given in the form of
The Home Depot gift cards for the purchase of tools, materials, or services.
The primary goal is to provide grants and volunteer opportunities to support the renovation,
refurbishment, retrofitting, accessibility modifications, and/or weatherization of existing homes,
centers, schools, and other similar facilities.
Fundraiser
Online funding

Designs
1. African Circle/Keyhole Garden

Materials

a. bricks/rocks
b. Composter
c. Compost
Used in Africa where some of the soil is of very low nutritional quality. They add a few

rusty broken up tins at the bottom of the keyhole system to provide iron for the plants,

they also add wood ash to provide potassium for their growing system and layers of

carbon based materials such as cardboard and paper and green waste
The raised bed is filled with soil, which slopes gently away from the central compost

basket. The compost basket gets watered, and this slope directs the moisture out from the

basket and through the bed. The water carries nutrients from the decomposing compost

material, thereby feeding the soil and irrigating it at the same time.
African keyhole growing systems would be an integral part of providing a resilient and

long lasting food supply in a future with little or no oil. These systems also provide
 intensive low carbon local food production within a limited space due to the levels of

warmth and fertility that they are able to generate

2. Conventional Garden

Materials

a. Soil
b. Fertilizer
c. Seeds
d. Compost
e. Things to create a frame (wire, wood, etc.)
f. Tools (shovel, hose, etc.)

Sustenance
FFA can help
Volunteer opportunities
 Provide incentives to help tend to the garden
Environmental Science
FFA classes
Floral Design

What to Grow
Herbs
2-4 weeks to start seeing signs of life
Beans
8-10 days
Root vegetables
Beets
Leafy Greens
Collard
Kale
Spinach

Potential Problems & Solutions

Animals and Insects
Garden covering
Certain flowers prevent insects from destroying the corps
Marigold, mint
Weather
Garden covering
Human interference
Try to enforce rules
Create schedule for tending to garden

Potential Club/Class Endorsements

FFA
Floral Design
National Honor Society
African Student Association
AP Environmental Science
analyze the flow of matter and energy through trophic levels using various
models, including food chains, food webs, and ecological pyramids
 influencing factors. The student evaluates the effect of a variety of environmental
factors on community and world health. The student is expected to:
assess the impact of population and economy on community and world health;
analyze the impact of the availability of health services in the community and the
world; and
describe a variety of community and world environmental protection programs.
Health
relate the nation's health goals and objectives to individual, family, and
community health
examine the relationship among body composition, diet, and fitness
analyze the relationship between health promotion and disease prevention
identify, describe, and assess available health-related services in the community
that relate to disease prevention and health promotion;
Health information. The student applies technology to analyze and appraise
personal health. The student is expected to:
generate a personal-health profile using appropriate technology such as stress
reduction, body fat composition, and nutritional analysis; and
explain how technology can influence health.
Health information. The student researches and analyzes information in the
management of health promotion and disease prevention. The student is expected
to:
investigate various sources in the community that promote health and prevent
disease; and
design health promotion materials

Abstracts
The presence of food deserts, or parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other

healthful whole foods which are usually found in impoverished areas, in African American

communities have proven to very dangerous to the health and livelihood of the individuals that

live in these communities. There are many factors that have attributed to the introduction and

unfortunate continuance of food deserts in Black American communities, however the ones that

have most directly and most significantly contributed to this health crisis are the lack of

government and corporate involvement in these areas, the lack of health education, and the

promotion of unhealthy lifestyle for the youth and adults in these communities. While these three

factors are very crucial to understand in order to evaluate solutions to this problem, more abstract
concepts must be taken into consideration such as cultural, environmental, and deep rooted

historical elements. Furthermore, the negative side effects of food deserts must be examined

before even beginning to determine a solution. The most significant side effects seen as a result

of the presence of food deserts in these communities are obesity, diabetes, and other nutrition

related diseases such as hypertension. These are problems that are difficult to eradicate on a large

scale due to the severity and prolonged presence of obesity and diabetes seen throughout the

African-American community as a whole. By taking all these factors into consideration, steps

can be taken towards eradicating food deserts in low-income African American communities in

addition to the negative side effects that have plagued these areas for years. Furthermore, once a

solutions can be found for African American communities, the same plan can be modeled for

nutrition deprived areas all over the world.

Even though we are all acutely aware of the need for us to eat our apples and carrots, the

distant nature of the risks associated with malnutrition often results in the deprioritization of

proper nourishment due to factors such as inconvenience, high costs or poor taste. Yet the loss of

significance of nutrition has been shown to have noticeable impacts on long-term health.

For groups at the extrema of the population, nutrition is even more critical to the

regulated maintenance of their overall wellbeing. For example, early childhood is undoubtedly

one of the most pivotal stages of growth for the body. During this time, a childs biological

systems are still in development and are in need of massive amounts of nutritional support,

leaving young children prone to prematurely stunted growth when their diets are insufficient for

the total nutrients required during that specific stage of life. Thus, not only do many
malnourished children fail to reach their full mental and physical capacity, they are also noted to

experience more severe health problems later on in life, indicating that childhood nutrition has

lasting effects well through adolescence and adulthood. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the

immediate effects of malnutrition are much more prominent for the elderly. In fact, during the

aging process, nutrition is one of the key factors for effective prevention of serious disease as

well as for alleviating the symptoms of chronic illnesses (migraines, joint pain, etc.).

Furthermore, for populations who are already affected by disease, proper nourishment is even

more important for recovery and disease management. Medical treatment is an extremely costly

and tedious process, and although nutritional intervention cannot replace actual medicine, an

appropriate diet regimen can be the perfect complement for facilitating treatment.

For decades, the United States has been operating on a medical system based on

treatment of health problems after they arise; every year, millions of dollars are spent funding

research and technology for the developments of cures to chronic diseases. Yet what the

American healthcare system is lacking is a proper balance between disease treatment and

prevention. Improved nutritional focus would be a vastly beneficial step towards finding this

balance and catalyzing progress in the international medical community as well.