By Victoria Wiggins, Chair of Louisiana’s 4-H State Food and Fitness Leadership Board and Natchitoches Parish 4-H Jr. Leader Vice President
Introducing Victoria’s Educational Garden. The transformation from an abandoned lot to an educational garden provides a “Lot of Compassion” for our community where seeds of unity and sustainability will be sown.
A $20,000 grant was secured through Kids Gardening and Mr. Meyer’s Clean Day through the partnership of Natchitoches Parish 4-H, Natchitoches Parish School Board, Lisa Wiggins and myself. My mission to create a community garden was inspired through involvement with the State 4-H Food and Fitness board. The issue of food insecurity is real and food deserts are here in our community.
The nationwide grant supplied $20,000 to support local leaders looking to transform vacant lots into gardens to help grow compassion in their community. We were one of 10 projects accepted nationwide.
The Garden’s location is 15 School Drive, right behind East Natchitoches Elementary School. This Educational Garden services our entire community and is within walking distance of three schools: East Natchitoches, Weaver, and Saint Mary’s. The support from our community is astounding. This comes as no surprise, as the citizens of Natchitoches are amazing. We invite all interested to join us in developing this garden to help eliminate food insecurity in our community. Currently, Victoria’s Educational Garden has a covered pavilion, Christmas tree, 9 raised beds, with aspirations of adding a seed pantry, sensory garden, recycled garden, and educational events each month.
The current project hosted by 4-H is “Paint the Plank.” Paint the Plank is a competition between 4-H clubs and local organizations to help beautify our garden area by painting a plank for the garden’s fence line. The theme is “Gardening brings Compassion” The winner will be selected and announced at the 4-H Jr. Leaders March meeting. For more information on how to enter you may contact the 4-H office at 357-2224.
