Growing Healthy Soil
Beginners Guide to Growing
WORKSHOP
SATURDAY, MARCH 26TH 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Walnut Way Center
2240 N 17th St
LEARN SAFE GARDENING PRACTICES
COMPOSTING
SOIL SAMPLING
BASICS OF GROWING FRUIT
Join us our 1st Growing Healthy Soils gardening workshop of the year! We will cover safe gardening practices, composting, sampling your soil for contaminents, and a brief session on growing fruit in backyard gardens. Learn the benefits of growing fruit, fruit tree & bush types for Milwaukee, a Campus walkabout, and fruit identification. Receive resources and literature on growing. *Educational activities for children are available while adults & teens attend the workshop. Contact Nate for more info.
THIS WORKSHOP IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY
“GROWING HEALTHY SOILS FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES PROJECT”
Urban agriculture and gardening in Milwaukee is a thriving movement. Many organizations and individuals are actively involved in community and backyard gardening. With this in mind, it’s important to understand risks associated with gardening, specifically lead contamination in soil. Walnut Way has partnered with Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, and UW Madison on the Growing Healthy Soils for Healthy Communities Project.
Lead exposure remains a serious problem in low income, African American and Latino communities nationally. Milwaukee, itself, has 4 times the childhood lead poisoning prevalence compared to the rest of the state. Research has shown soil to be a signficant exposure pathway to lead poisoning for young children and adults through inhalation and ingestion. Although recommendations promote building raised bed gardens and adding soil amendments like compost to reduce the risk of lead exposure, little is known about the success of these recommendations taking hold in the community. Additionally, current state and local policy and procedures related to environmental soil testing and clean up may inadvertently create barriers for residents engaged in gardening.
Based on lessons learned in our pilot project, there are 3 areas of focus in this project: 1) to demonstrate the effectiveness of soil and landscape interventions to improve soil quality, 2) to expand environmental health literacy, education and access to soil testing, and 3) create awareness of environmental policy necessary to sustain real change. The project will focus its work in Lindsay Heights and the Kinnickinnic River areas of Milwaukee.
