Visitors to Camden Street Learning Garden will notice something new upon arrival. Posted throughout the Garden are “Education Stations” —interactive sites where guests can find opportunities for reflection, activities, and information that give a whole new meaning to the “Learning” in Learning Garden.
These Stations, including those at Geer Street Learning Garden in Durham, were funded by a Public Benefit grant from the Triangle Community Foundation. The purpose is to provide greater enjoyment of these community spaces, and to offer self-guided tours through the Gardens, even when staff are unavailable to lead them.
There are twelve Stations scattered over the one-acre Camden Street Garden, and nine in Geer Street’s quarter-acre space. They cover everything from plant needs and measuring growing space to the temperature inside a greenhouse. Other stations share how rain cisterns work to the benefits of community gardens and the valuable contributions of pollinators.
Each Station includes a section on food miles, looking at where food comes from, and a comparison between the distance food travels if it is grown locally or out-of-state. There are also “Food for Thought” questions to get visitors thinking about the larger impact of each Station’s topic and ways to engage. QR codes link to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s YouTube channel, website, or other community resources for more information.
“I hope that people will walk away with curiosity about the space,” says Ayn Corrigan, Agriculture Education Manager for the Food Shuttle. “That they’ll think about the Garden in a different way, or just have the opportunity to engage with the space in a playful way while learning something different.”
The Education Stations were developed and produced for a 3rd to 5th grade reading level. Corrigan says the Gardens are now looking forward to ways to bring in small school groups for field trip opportunities, but that is still something for the future.