Laura Ferari waters bird house gourds as part of the Carroll Outdoor Research and Education program.
Image Credit: Terry Serio, University of Maryland Extension, Carroll County
A group of adults with developmental disabilities from Target Community and Educational Services, Inc., stood in a greenhouse picking cherry tomatoes, some popping a few tomatoes in their mouths to eat.
“The rule is, they can eat them if they pick them,” said Terry Serio, a food supplement nutrition educator at the University of Maryland Extension, Carroll County Office.
Serio, along with her program assistant and volunteer Master Gardeners, work with groups like the one from Target in the Carroll Outdoor Research and Education Center at the Carroll County extension office.
Carroll Outdoor Research and Education, also known as CORE, began in 2006 when extension educators Steve Allgeier and Serio created a weekly program to introduce adults with developmental disabilities to gardening and nutrition. In its first year, the program worked exclusively with adults with developmental disabilities from CHANGE, Inc. Word of the project spread throughout the county, and the next year the gardening and nutrition program expanded, Serio said. Instead of just one class with CHANGE, Inc. per week, the program began to host four weekly classes with different groups: CHANGE Transitional, CHANGE Vocational, Target Community and Educational Services, Inc., and The Arc Carroll County.
Serio said the groups range in size, with anywhere from three to 10 people participating in each session. During its first two years, the program utilized a garden outside the Life Skills Center at the extension office, but space was limited and there wasn’t enough sunlight, Serio said. She said after the second year the program got permission to use land on the Gesell property for its garden. The site on the Gesell property was named Carroll Outdoor Research and Education Center, and the group was renamed CORE students.
The entire Extension office staff helped to set up the new garden, Serio said, and Bryan Butler, an agriculture agent at the University of Maryland Extension’s Carroll County Office, donated a high tunnel to the group to be used as a sort of greenhouse. Now Serio runs the CORE program, along with Master Gardeners who volunteer to work with participants in the garden. They share the garden space on the Gesell property with the Master Gardener’s “Grow It, Eat It” program.
CORE students participate in their gardening and nutrition program for one hour each week from the end of February to the Beginning of October, Serio said.
During the first 30 minutes of the program, they work in the CORE Center garden, planting, maintaining and harvesting different crops. The students grow tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, onions, potatoes, beans, pumpkins, squash, watermelons and more. They also maintain compost and vermicompost plots on the property. Serio said working in the garden teaches the CORE students different life skills, while giving them an opportunity to have fun outside.
“It’s a chance for them to get out and learn something and do some work,” she said. “Everybody comes because they want to — it’s all voluntary. There’s nobody standing around not doing anything.”
After working in the CORE garden for 30 minutes, the groups spend the next half an hour inside the Life Skills apartment at the Carroll County extension building. In the apartment students learn about nutrition, and have the opportunity to try a healthy snack made with produce they harvested from the garden. They also use a room in the apartment to hang up and dry out the herbs they grow, so they can be used in snacks later. Extra vegetables and produce from the garden are stored in the apartment’s freezer, and are used to make healthy dishes throughout the year.
During a session with the garden club from The Arc, Serio shared a snack made with potatoes grown in the CORE garden.
“We harvested four boxes of potatoes this year,” she said. “So what is our snack today?”
“Potato salad, that’s my favorite,” said Karin Wright, one of the participants who attends the program weekly with others from The Arc.
The potato salad was made with potatoes, tomatoes, onions, peppers, celery and basil, along with a little mustard and light mayonnaise. As the group tasted the snack, Serio asked if anyone knew why the tomatoes in the salad were so healthy.
“They have vitamin C,” Shannon Smith answered.
Smith has been with the program since it began, Serio said, and she is always excited to learn and loves to answer questions.
At the end of program, participants each take home their own binder, filled with recipes, nutritional information and pictures from their time spent in the garden.
Master Gardener Susan Villiere said she has learned a lot during her four years volunteering with the program. She especially enjoys seeing how much fun the participants have and how much they learn.
“They can see they are an important part of the garden,” Villiere said. “They’re growing it, cooking it, eating it. You can see the growth in the clients as the days go by.”
Pat Driver, who works in the CORE garden with a group from Target Community and Education Services, Inc., said she came to like gardening so much that she has started her own garden at home. Driver grows tomatoes and peppers, and she said she is hoping to expand her garden to grow carrots and lettuce, too.
Jesse Shaffer, another CORE student who visits with the group from Target Community and Educational Services, Inc., said the program has helped him to think outside the box.
“Gardening has helped me because I never used to eat any vegetables before I became a part of this,” Shaffer said.
Now he can’t get enough, and he loves to take home vegetables grown in the garden.
“He’s always asking for seconds,” Serio said, laughing.
