A Garden on the Move - Forging New Partnerships

Situation:
A research-demonstration garden that needed to be discontinued or relocated.

Response:
None of the parties involved with the garden wanted to discontinue it, so it needed to be relocated. After some quick brainstorming, investigating, and discussion the garden was relocated from the NW Iowa Research and Demonstration Farm near Doon to the Lyon County Fairgrounds in Rock Rapids.

ISU Extension has long partnered with the NW IA Research Farms - educating about agricultural practices, crops and products as well as home vegetable and flower garden practices, crops and products. New partnerships were made this year and old partnerships strengthened as the home demonstration garden was moved.

The partners in this venture include: Iowa Ag and Home Economics Experiment Stations, ISU Extension, ISU Horticulture Department, ISU Research and Demonstration Farms, NW IA Experimental Association, and the Lyon County Fair Association.

People from the NW IA research farms, Lyon county, Rock Rapids, and ISU Extension worked together to break ground, prepare soil, plant, tend and nurture the garden along.

Results:

• People working together on a project that would benefit all involved, and the community at large.
• New and different working relationships among parties involved.
• A garden that gets more traffic and visitors than it ever did in its previous location! Many people drive by the garden to look; some even get out and walk through the garden. Some are trying produce from the garden.
• A garden that provides on the spot educational opportunities. For example, on several occasions as I volunteered time to weed and water at the garden, people stopped to look around and see what was growing in the garden. We talked about how to use various vegetables, as well as talk about the beautiful flowers on the summer squash, eggplant and okra.
• An outdoor classroom. Extension staff are exploring ways to use the garden as an outdoor classroom with adults and children. In this first year, approximately 61 children and 9 adult chaperones participated in "what's growing in the garden" - part of barn tours that were being conducted during the Lyon County Fair. An evening tour of the garden was also held during the county fair with ISU Horticulture and ISU Extension staff assisting research farm staff. Approximately 69 people "listened, looked, tasted, and questioned." A tour of the garden with HeadStart students is planned for early September.
• Community volunteers interested in working in the garden in the future.
  

The change in location of this demonstration garden has been a positive in many ways. There are so many possibilities for the future - using the garden as an educational site, educational tool, a way for people to come together and work together. We will be exploring various ways to use the produce - to introduce people to new or different vegetables, to help feed the hungry, etc.

Contact:
Denise Wyland
Nutrition and Health Field Specialist
ISU Extension
710 North 2nd Ave. East, Suite 103; PO Box 348
Rock Rapids, IA  51246-0348
Phone 712-472-2576; Fax 712-472-2578
E-mail dwyland@iastate.edu

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