Healthy HeArts Community Gardens

Using vacant lots, in collaboration with Virginia State University, gardens of vegetables and flowers are planted and tended by area students and residents. Volunteers learn skills of organic gardening while transforming overgrown lots from trash gathering eyesores to lovely and productive landscapes. The students use the vegetables to learn to prepare wholesome and tasty meals, to address local hunger needs, and to learn skills of marketing and management. Entries are made into the Virginia State Fair each year. In collaboration with art classes, outdoor ponds, bird baths, vegetable signs, scare crows and other designs are created.