The NACD Urban Agriculture Conservation (UAC) grant is allowing KCD to expand our support for community gardeners in South King County through community focused education events. KCD recently used those funds to host a workshop on Integrated Pest Management for New Roots Seattle gardeners. KCD’s Community Agriculture program and volunteers from King County Master Gardeners developed and presented this workshop based on gardeners’ feedback on their needs for support in their community gardens. Speakers at the event provided knowledge on common garden pests in our region, how to identify them, and when and how to take action. The overall focus of the workshop was to equip community gardeners with knowledge to manage gardens that are more resilient to pests and to make an informed decision about what actions to take in their gardens.
The workshop was attended by 56 community gardeners and their families, as well as live translators that interpreted the workshop into four different languages! Additional translated printed materials on garden management were also provided. Attendees participated with enthusiasm, providing questions that were interpreted to the workshop speakers. Gardeners were also able to bring pest damaged plants from their gardens so that the workshop speakers could identify the pests and recommend solutions.
Community gardens are an integral part of an urban food system and providing this knowledge for community members that rely on food gardens is an important step to supporting a robust and sustainable urban food system. Our aim in partnering with organizations like New Roots Seattle is to provide knowledge to gardeners that they will be able to share with other gardeners and their communities. New Roots’ mission is to engage low-income families in urban agriculture, nutrition education, and navigating healthy food access. Workshops supported by the UAC grant, like our recent integrated pest management workshop, are helping create educational infrastructure and enable knowledge sharing that supports New Roots Seattle’s mission.
