Cuestiones del medio ambiente: Ann Arbor Farm and Garden invirtiendo en educación y sostenibilidad

Descripción general

• Fundada por Mildred Hague Matthaei (esposa del Regente de la UM Frederick Matthaei, por quien los Jardines Botánicos de Matthaei llevan el nombre), Ann Arbor Farm and Garden ha estado enriqueciendo a la comunidad de Ann Arbor/Condado de Washtenaw desde 1914. Comenzó como una rama de Woman’s National Farm & Garden con el objetivo de empoderar a las mujeres para que se mantengan a sí mismas, se ganen la vida en el hermoso y siempre cambiante aire libre y para ayudar a las mujeres rurales a ganarse la vida de manera justa con sus productos y artesanías.
• El grupo ha distribuido $650 mil de fondos localmente desde 1947 para apoyar a personas y grupos con el interés y la pasión compartidos por la jardinería, el medio ambiente y el poder de las flores/plantas para apoyar la salud mental y física. El grupo ha proporcionado más de $150 mil en becas.
• Algunos de esos proyectos incluyen:

1. AA Farm & Garden se asoció con Matthaei y realizó una caminata especial del centenario de Peony Garden en 2022. Donó $ 15K a la dotación en apoyo de Peony Garden.
2. La primera incursión en la financiación de jardines escolares fue Agrarian Adventure en Tappan Middle School en 2004, incluido un invernadero. Desde entonces, se han establecido muchos jardines escolares locales: incluyendo la Escuela Intermedia Tappan, Apple Playschool, la Escuela Primaria Haisley, la Escuela Primaria Dicken, la Escuela Intermedia Lincoln, las Escuelas Comunitarias Ypsilanti, la Escuela Secundaria Comunitaria Ann Arbor. Gaffield Children’s Garden en Matthaei Botanical Gardens, incluida una subvención de $ 15K en 2009 de los ingresos de Garden Walk.
3. Terapia floral para pacientes en Mott Hospital: AAF&G fue pionera en la terapia hortícola, y los miembros del grupo aún se ofrecen como voluntarios con los pacientes para crear arreglos florales con flores de su jardín para alegrar sus habitaciones.
4. Esperanza creciente, Ypsilanti. La ex alcaldesa de Ypsilanti, Amanda Edmonds, recibió becas Farm & Garden y, más tarde, subvenciones para la organización sin fines de lucro que ella fundó. Estos ingresos ayudaron a financiar casas de esperanza, señalización, un techo verde y pasarelas.
5. 4-H/Centro Juvenil del Condado de Washtenaw (huerta, árboles frutales): en asociación con varios otros grupos locales, un grupo de jardineros maestros del condado de Washtenaw y voluntarios de la comunidad han trabajado juntos para planificar, enseñar y ayudar a los estudiantes en sus jardines. Los estudiantes plantan, cuidan, cosechan y cocinan en los patios con la guía de los jardineros. Más de 40 tipos de verduras y 10 hierbas crecen en los jardines, incluyendo acelgas, pepinos y ajo, y los estudiantes crean recetas con los productos.

• Martha Lowry, miembro de la junta de Ann Arbor Farm & Garden, dice que el principal evento para recaudar fondos para subvenciones es Garden Walk (realizado por primera vez en 1991) el «segundo sábado de junio», y también recaudan fondos a través de subastas silenciosas y presentaciones públicas. El paseo destaca jardines notables en toda la comunidad y permite que el público los recorra. El grupo planea continuar brindando subvenciones y apoyo para jardines en todo el condado de Washtenaw.

Transcripción

David Feria: Este es 89 one WEMU, y yo soy David Fair con otra edición de Temas del Medio Ambiente. Les traemos esta serie de conversaciones locales sobre el medio ambiente en el condado de Washtenaw todos los miércoles. Hoy vamos a echar un vistazo a la primavera. Ya ves, es sólo un mes de distancia ahora. Hay tantos lugares de belleza sin restricciones en todo el condado. Y en muchos de estos espacios, encontrará que el embellecimiento también sirve en las áreas de preservación y sustentabilidad. Una de las organizaciones que ha estado otorgando subvenciones para desarrollar, mantener y sustentar algunas de estas áreas es Ann Arbor Farm and Garden. Nuestro invitado de esta mañana está aquí para hablar sobre la génesis de la organización y su creciente impacto en la comunidad. Martha Lowry se desempeña como oficial en la Junta de Jardines y Granjas de Ann Arbor. Y muchas gracias por hacer tiempo hoy, Martha.

Marta Lowry: Oh, es un placer estar aquí. Gracias por invitarme.

David Feria: Si bien Ann Arbor Farm and Garden se volvió completamente independiente en 2017, no estoy seguro de que mucha gente se dé cuenta de que ha sido parte de la comunidad desde 1947. ponerse en marcha?

Marta Lowry: Soy relativamente nuevo en la organización y tuve que profundizar para responder esa pregunta. Un grupo de mujeres en Pensilvania, en realidad eran estudiantes de la Escuela de Horticultura para Mujeres en Pensilvania, se juntaron y decidieron que querían tener un grupo que pudiera ayudar a las mujeres a usar la horticultura para ganarse la vida. Y ahí empezó la organización nacional. Y luego, en 1926, nació el capítulo de Michigan, y la mujer que lo inició fue Clara Ford de ascendencia Henry Ford. Y una de sus áreas de enfoque fue la creación de puestos respetables al borde de la carretera, lo que me pareció fascinante porque ahora hay muchos de esos en Michigan, y crecí con ellos, y pensé que era genial. Y luego, en 1947, como mencionaste, Mildred Matthaei, que era la esposa de Frederick Matthaei, que era regente en la U de M… [

David Fair: Should be familiar to anyone who’s walked through the Botanical Gardens.

Martha Lowry: Oh, absolutely. And ever since then, she began the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and began the Ann Arbor branch. And we had the first scholarship of $300 that was awarded to a U of M student at that time. So then, we had the Ann Arbor branch, and it was in existence until 2017 when the group decided that they really wanted to go independent. And the reason for that was because they wanted to focus locally. Up until that time, a lot of the money that was raised was sort of dedicated to projects–national projects or state Michigan projects. And the folks here really wanted to be able to focus locally and really contribute all the money that they were raising to local efforts. So, it’s partly around financial: supporting nonprofit gardens and farmers and students of horticulture through grants and scholarships. And so, our mission today is to promote and support local gardens and farms and environmental stewardship through education, community service, grants, and scholarships.

David Fair: How do these additional freedoms that go along with declaring independence play out specifically in terms of investment in the community?

Martha Lowry: Well, it’s really, you know, it’s allowed us to focus, I would say, all of our grant and scholarship money that we earn through our fundraising to go to local farms and gardens. And so, for example, we awarded seven grants. One was to Community High School, and that was to add some additional outdoor learning space. Growing Hope is an Ypsilanti organization that we’ve had actually a long standing relationship with, and we gave them some money as well to assist with training and growing some more marketing garden spaces. And some folks well know about friends of Greenview and Pioneer Nature area. And this year, they’re focused their funds on ecological burning and plants, wildflowers, planting wildflowers for pollinators. That’s a big part of what they’re doing.

David Fair: 89 one WEMU’s issues of the Environment and our conversation with Ann Arbor Farm and Garden board member Martha Lowry continues. You’ve mentioned just a few of the projects that you’ve been supporting over the years, and the difference that it’s starting to make in the community. Fundraising has allowed the Ann Arbor Farm Garden to pump some $650,000 in total back into the community. It’s allowed for partnerships to develop, as you’ve mentioned, and including with Matthaei Botanical Gardens and investment and the endowment that preserves, maintains, and grows the beloved peonies garden. I believe $15,000 was the amount your board sent their way last year. How are the decisions made on where to grant money throughout the community and where they’ll do the most good, be it education or sustainability or beautification?

Martha Lowry: Yeah, that’s a great question. And we have a process that begins in November. And on our website, we have an application, and any organization that is a 501c3 nonprofit or any student who is in an accredited program that aligns with our mission can apply. So, it’s really open to anyone. And we don’t do a lot of publicizing. We haven’t needed to, but it’s, you know, it is open to everyone. Then we have a committee that reviews. We have a scoring system that highlights different aspects of the, I guess, the programs that would be the money would be used for. And then, we do that analysis, and we try to spread the money out, so that everybody can get something as long as their application, etc. aligns with our mission. And then we notify them. And what we ask in return for organizations that receive grants is that they provide a couple of people to work on our big fundraiser, which is the Ann Arbor Annual Garden Walk in June and then to come back and tell us a little bit–just a short presentation–about how they used the money and what the impact was. And that’s probably the best part of our team sharing how our funds have been used and have helped the community.

David Fair: Once again, this is Issues of the Environment on WEMU and we’re talking with Martha Lowry from the Ann Arbor Farm and Garden. And you mentioned that annual garden walk. It is a community favorite. It is your biggest fundraiser. The years that you’ve done it, what has been your favorite part of that walk each year?

Martha Lowry: Oh, my gosh. Every part of it.

David Fair: Every part of it.

Martha Lowry: I know. But I guess, you know, the first year when I came back, I volunteered. One of the first things I did was volunteer at a garden walk. And working with the team is a lot of fun. These gardens are amazing, and it is really fun to see the people, families, older folks coming in and just enjoying being outside and really appreciating the beauty and the work that went into these gardens. And it’s local, so, you know, it’s your neighbor that might have a garden that we’ve never looked at. We also have had some of the gardens at Matthaei and the Arboretum highlighted, so we really try to showcase all different types of of gardens. And, in fact, this year, we’re going to have a farm on the tour. So, they’ll be seven locations, and one will be a farm.

David Fair: And, again, that will be on the second Saturday in June. And my sense of what you’re talking about is that it builds community. And with that in mind, I think one of the more innovative and thoughtful and mindful programs is the flower therapy program offered by Ann Arbor Farm and Garden. That has had a long standing relationship with Mott Children’s Hospital, but other organizations in the area as well. What exactly is flower therapy?

Martha Lowry: Uh, this is really interesting. Actually, somebody in our Michigan branch sort of came up with the whole idea of horticulture therapy. Her name was Alice Wessell Burlingame. And it is basically, you know, people who are just stressed or maybe having some health issues using therapy to help people through kind of the process. You know, it’s calming. It’s just, you know, kind of invigorating. So in Ann Arbor, we started this program at Mott’s, as you said, and we would have volunteers from our group go twice a month, September through May, to Mott’s Children’s Hospital. And we brought with us flowers that were donated from a number of different folks in Ann Arbor, from Busch’s to Kroger’s to Plum Market and Norton’s Flowers. So, we would bring them in, and then we would work with patients and their families to create. So, it’s the whole, like, creative process, and it’s hands-on. And then, the children would get to take them back to their rooms, and the staff at the hospital, as well as the participants, really, really appreciated it. And we did that for 40 years until COVID hit.

David Fair: Are you back to doing it now, or are you still on hiatus?

Martha Lowry: Yeah. What we’re doing now is we had to pivot, so we now, the same group of folks, needed a different location, and we create our own bouquets. And then, we’ve been dropping and delivering them to different social service organizations. So, they go to Ronald McDonald House, Safe House, and Alpha House, and we do that once a month. So, we’re continuing it, and we’re staying in touch with Mott. As soon as we can go back, we will. But we haven’t gotten the green light yet.

David Fair: Well, I think we’ve been able to highlight the fact that Ann Arbor Farm and Garden is touching a whole great number of aspects of our community, and hopefully more people will become aware and more involved. Thank you so much for the time today, Martha.

Martha Lowry: Oh, thank you so much for inviting us.

David Fair: That is Martha Lowry, an officer on the Ann Arbor Farm and Garden Board and our guest on Issues of the Environment. It is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and we bring it to you every Wednesday. I’m David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.

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