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Oregon School for the Deaf garden feeds minds and families | statesmanjournal.com | Statesman Journal
Sixteen-year-old Heather Cropper of Cascade High School isn't flipping burgers or selling movie tickets this summer. Her summer job is much more of a hands-on experience.
Cropper works at Oregon School for the Deaf learning to garden and tend to crops. She is one of 10 vision- and hearing-impaired students spending their summer this way.
OSD partnered up with Marion-Polk Food Share five years ago and began in a small garden plot. Now, with a grant from Oregon Youth Conservation Corps, vision- and hearing-impaired students have an opportunity to gain job skills and work experience with two crews in five gardens.
The grant came at a perfect time, as this week marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Ron Hays, Marion-Polk Food Share president.
"It's a pilot, but it's turning out great," said Jordan Blake, the food bank's garden project manager.
Students applied and interviewed for a spot on one of the two crews — one for vision-impaired and one for hearing-impaired. For some, it was the first time they had written their name on a W-4 form, Hays said.
Students from the two crews bring different skills to the program. Vision-impaired students weed corn beds, plant seeds and trace stencils to later be cut out in the wood shop, said Matt Boyd, OSD Principal. The hearing-impaired participants make raised beds in the wood shop and build tipis for the tomato plants, among other things.
Youths work six hours a day, five days a week and are paid training wages.
Janna Johanson, 16, is a student at OSD and enjoys working in the wood shop. She signed to Boyd that this is her first gardening experience. She has learned how to differentiate between a plant and a weed and how to tend to the crops.
The six-week program will end Friday, but the work won't end there. Students started fall crops in seed blocks, two-inch-square soil pats filled with nutrient-rich compost, soil and cocoa. The seedlings will be kept safe in a donated greenhouse that the students put together late last week. The larger garden will be blanketed by a cover-crop come fall.
Master Gardeners volunteer at the garden and guide students in everything they need to know about gardening.
"Everybody supports," Blake said. Donations have ranged from money to supplies to time helping weed or plant.
The harvest is handed over to Food Share, where it is distributed to hungry families and food banks in Marion and Polk counties.
Food Share is associated with 20 gardens in the Salem-Keizer area. These gardens produce over 20 acres of fruits and vegetables.
Cropper said learning sign language has been her favorite part of the experience. "The heat is the hardest," she added.
Sixteen-year-old Heather Cropper of Cascade High School isn't flipping burgers or selling movie tickets this summer. Her summer job is much more of a hands-on experience.
Cropper works at Oregon School for the Deaf learning to garden and tend to crops. She is one of 10 vision- and hearing-impaired students spending their summer this way.
OSD partnered up with Marion-Polk Food Share five years ago and began in a small garden plot. Now, with a grant from Oregon Youth Conservation Corps, vision- and hearing-impaired students have an opportunity to gain job skills and work experience with two crews in five gardens.
The grant came at a perfect time, as this week marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Ron Hays, Marion-Polk Food Share president.
"It's a pilot, but it's turning out great," said Jordan Blake, the food bank's garden project manager.
Students applied and interviewed for a spot on one of the two crews — one for vision-impaired and one for hearing-impaired. For some, it was the first time they had written their name on a W-4 form, Hays said.
Students from the two crews bring different skills to the program. Vision-impaired students weed corn beds, plant seeds and trace stencils to later be cut out in the wood shop, said Matt Boyd, OSD Principal. The hearing-impaired participants make raised beds in the wood shop and build tipis for the tomato plants, among other things.
Youths work six hours a day, five days a week and are paid training wages.
Janna Johanson, 16, is a student at OSD and enjoys working in the wood shop. She signed to Boyd that this is her first gardening experience. She has learned how to differentiate between a plant and a weed and how to tend to the crops.
The six-week program will end Friday, but the work won't end there. Students started fall crops in seed blocks, two-inch-square soil pats filled with nutrient-rich compost, soil and cocoa. The seedlings will be kept safe in a donated greenhouse that the students put together late last week. The larger garden will be blanketed by a cover-crop come fall.
Master Gardeners volunteer at the garden and guide students in everything they need to know about gardening.
"Everybody supports," Blake said. Donations have ranged from money to supplies to time helping weed or plant.
The harvest is handed over to Food Share, where it is distributed to hungry families and food banks in Marion and Polk counties.
Food Share is associated with 20 gardens in the Salem-Keizer area. These gardens produce over 20 acres of fruits and vegetables.
Cropper said learning sign language has been her favorite part of the experience. "The heat is the hardest," she added.