Planting community gardens is a growing endeavor. In an effort to fertilize the enthusiasm of younger gardeners, the American Community Gardening Association has added another tool to its Web site. Rebel Tomato is an educational site designed to help high school and college-age students (and everyone else) start their own community gardens.
Rebel Tomato – accessible through www.CommunityGarden.org under the LEARN section – was created by the ACGA with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture Community Food Projects grants program. This site was created as a resource for people involved in youth gardening – garden leaders, educators, teachers and, most of all, youth themselves. It is designed to serve as a one-stop-shop for useful, interesting information about youth gardening, and features several interactive components that are designed to get people excited and talking about gardening. All information on the site is free of charge and can be adapted for use in any growing zone of the United States or Canada.
Rebel Tomato is divided into five basic elements:
Seeds: Understanding the benefits of gardening, getting involved with a garden and learning from existing gardens
Roots: A range of practical tools for getting started and building a garden project
Shoots: Detailed garden design tools and suggestions for planting lists
Fruits: Recipe collections for fresh produce and garden events planning guide
Harvest: Fundraising and volunteer recruitment tools, tips on how to keep a garden growing, conferences and internship opportunities
Rebel Tomato is the second educational site hosted by ACGA. The first, Garden Mosaics, targets school-age children and the elderly, integrating informal science education with intergenerational mentoring, cultural understanding, and community action. Both sites can be accessed through the ACGA’s Web site.
The development of this site was managed by ACGA, the design was built by Grip Technology, and site content was written and managed by Heide Martin. Content was also contributed by Scott Ulrich and the School Garden Wizard.
The American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) is a bi-national nonprofit membership organization of professionals, volunteers and supporters of community greening in urban and rural communities. The organization’s mission is to build community by increasing and enhancing community gardening and greening across the United States and Canada.
For more information about Rebel Tomato or to join ACGA, contact Vicki Garrett at vgarrett@communitygarden.org or at 1-877-ASK-ACGA.