Participation In Gardening Research Articles

Hands-On Gardening in Childcare Centers to Advance Preschool-Age Children’s Fruit and Vegetable Liking in Semi-Arid Climate Zone

Hands-on gardening is linked with healthy eating behaviors, increased outdoor activities, and overall well-being, all contributing factors to preventing obesity. Although these positive associations are widely established for adults and school-aged children, little evidence can be found on how such relationships may extend to early childhood, especially in the preschool years (3–5 years). One recent study conducted in North Carolina (NC) showed that participating in hands-on gardening significantly increased preschoolers’ accurate identification of fruits and vegetables (FV) and FV consumption compared to children who did not participate in hands-on gardening, but no association was found between participation in hands-on gardening and the children’s liking (eating preferences) of FV. FV identification and liking during the early years may lead to lifelong healthy eating behaviors and preferences, making hands-on gardening a critical health intervention in early childhood environments, especially in childcare centers where a majority of the 13 million children in the United States between the ages of 0 and 5 spend most of their waking hours. This research aimed to investigate how hands-on gardening in childcare centers may impact preschoolers’ (3–5 years old) FV knowledge (identification) and liking in a semi-arid climate zone with a high concentration of Hispanic families by conducting experimental research with eight childcare centers and one hundred forty-nine children (n = 149) in Lubbock County, located in West Texas. The findings showed changes in average liking scores are generally positive in the experimental group of children who participated in hands-on gardening (compared to the control non-gardening group), implying an improved liking. The findings indicate that the benefits of hands-on gardening in childcare centers for enhancing healthy eating preferences are evident even in a semi-arid climate zone, where high temperatures and limited rainfall present significant gardening challenges. This research underscores the importance of integrating hands-on gardening into childcare programs, highlighting its potential as an effective obesity prevention strategy not only within the US but also in other regions with similar environmental constraints.

Analysis of the Contribution of Home Gardens to Household Food Security in Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Addressing food security is one of the national priorities in South Africa, enshrined under the country's constitution, yet there is a growing percentage of households struggling to meet their food requirements. Food insecurity and malnutrition remain severe problems in rural communities and can be addressed through home gardening. This study aimed to assess the contributions of home gardens to food security in Limpopo Province. This study employed a quantitative research methodology. A total of 2043 rural households were selected using multistage stratified random sampling. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) was used to measure household food insecurity levels of home garden participants. Results showed that 46% of participants were food secure, 24% were severely food insecure, 17% were moderately food insecure and 13% were mildly food insecure. The results from the endogenous switching Poisson regression model showed that gender, household size, wage/salary, access to land, agriculture-related assistance and market distance had a positive influence on household food security of home garden participants. On the other hand, employment status and receiving any social relief had a negative association with household food security of home garden participants. The results also showed that employment status had a positive influence on the food security of home garden non-participants, while education, access to land, wage/salary and age had a negative influence. The results from average treatment effects (ATEs) showed that households that participated in home garden production had a negative and significant (p-value < 0.05) impact on household food insecurity. This study concludes that involvement in home gardening improves food security. Household food security can be enhanced through agricultural training and skills enhancement directed at increasing participation in home gardening in rural areas, thus addressing income and food security challenges. Agricultural education needs to be introduced and facilitated at school levels so that an understanding of food systems, nutrition and food security can be attained from younger age groups.

PEOPLE’S REASONS NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN COMMUNITY GARDENS IN DISADVANTAGED NEIGHBORHOODS OF ROANOKE, VIRGINIA

Although community gardening provides numerous environmental, economic, health, and social benefits, public involvement and support are still not at the desired level for their permanency in cities. While there are numerous studies regarding people’s motivations to participate in community gardening, empirical research is very limited for people’s reasons not to participate in community gardening. For increased involvement and public support, knowledge about people’s reasons not to participate in community gardening is important. Using a survey instrument, this research identified people’s primary reasons that negatively influence their participation in community gardening in five disadvantaged neighborhoods of Roanoke, Virginia. Descriptive statistics, T-test, and factor analysis procedures were used at a 95% significance level. Results showed that the statements associated with “theft and damage”, “difficult access”, “too much effort”, and “no personal interest” were the main reasons not to participate in community gardening. Based on these, this research brings design and maintenance recommendations for the increase of more successful community garden projects. In the long term, this can contribute to the long-term survival of these landscapes in cities by providing higher public involvement and support for community garden projects.

Home gardening in Singapore: A feasibility study on the utilization of the vertical space of retrofitted high-rise public housing apartment buildings to increase urban vegetable self-sufficiency

In land-scarce cities, high-rise apartment buildings may provide vertical spaces for natural-light home gardening along corridors, rooftops, balconies as well as façades. The vertical space can improve not only urban environmental sustainability but also food security. Using an experimental approach, we investigated the food production potential of a high-rise public housing apartment building based on different gardening systems, food crops, and sunlight availability. A gardening prototype system for building corridors was shown to increase the unit area yield of corridor gardening by fivefold compared to a commercial trough planter system. Additionally, this commercial trough planter system was mainly for leafy vegetable production, whereas the gardening prototype system for corridors is also suitable for climbing crops, such as legumes and cucurbits. Nevertheless, because of the limited space along corridors of the apartment building and the relatively low-light levels on average, corridor gardening was estimated to meet only 0.5 % of the demand for vegetables of the residents living in the apartment building. Rooftop gardening with shallow growing medium (depth < 15 cm) was estimated to meet 3 % of demand, and façade gardening 43 %, given the larger space available. Although the vegetable production potential in this study was estimated based on a particular typology of public housing apartment buildings in Singapore, our results showed that vegetable production in public housing apartment buildings is feasible, and home gardening can produce a substantial amount of vegetables for consumption if well deployed. Governments of highly urbanized cities may wish to invest in better home garden designs for high-rise public housing apartment buildings and encourage residents’ participation in home gardening, which would increase high-rise greenery coverage and improve urban food system resilience. Future studies should also investigate the environmental sustainability and food safety aspects of home gardening in highly urbanized cities.

A pilot randomized controlled trial of group-based indoor gardening and art activities demonstrates therapeutic benefits to healthy women.

BackgroundThere is mounting anecdotal and empirical evidence that gardening and art-making afford therapeutic benefits.ObjectivesThis randomly controlled pilot study tested the hypothesis that participation in group-based indoor gardening or art-making activities for one hour twice a week for four weeks would provide quantifiably different therapeutic benefits to a population of healthy women ages 26–49.MethodsA population of 42 volunteers was randomly assigned to parallel gardening or art-making treatment groups. A total of 36 participants initiated the treatment protocol and 32 (Gardening n = 15 and Art n = 17) received the interventions and completed all assessments. Treatments included eight one-hour group-based gardening or art intervention sessions. Self-report psychometric assessments were conducted for anxiety, depression symptomatology, mood disturbance, stress, satisfaction with discretionary social activities, and quality of life measures. Cardiac physiological data were also collected. Outcomes were measured at baseline, during, and post-intervention.ResultsEngaging in both gardening and art-making activities resulted in apparent therapeutic improvements for self-reported total mood disturbance, depression symptomatology, and perceived stress with different effect sizes following eight one-hour treatment sessions. Gardening also resulted in improvements for indications of trait anxiety. Based on time-course evidence, dosage responses were observed for total mood disturbance, perceived stress, and depression symptomatology for both gardening and art-making. However, gardening or art-making did not have an apparent influence on heart rate or blood pressure or result in marked improvement for satisfaction with discretionary leisure activities.ConclusionThe data did not support the hypothesis of differential therapeutic benefits of gardening and art-making for healthy women. When taken together, group-based gardening or art-making can provide quantitatively measurable improvements in healthy women’s psychosocial health status that imply potentially important public health benefits.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03266120.

Food, Diversity, and Cultural Identity

The Rainbow Community Garden is a place for new immigrant and refugee families in Winnipeg to grow their own food. Using the Rainbow Community Garden as a case study, this paper contributes to ongoing discussions about community gardening by applying an anthropological lens to the multilayered meanings of agriculture in urban environments. This paper is focused on the benefits and challenges of community gardening in the context of new immigrant and refugee experiences. Through a literature review and interviews with gardeners, the role of food and community gardens as a means of facilitating cross cultural interactions, providing culturally appropriate food for new immigrants and refugees, and expressing cultural identity is brought into emphasis. I draw on Strunk and Richardson’s (2019) concepts of the material, imagined, and community’s garden, to reflect on the different ways in which the community garden is used and experienced by immigrant and refugee gardeners. The main conclusion of this research is that, in the context of new immigrant and refugee participation in community gardening, a garden is not only the physical soil, vegetables, and flowers, but also an important place for practicing one’s culture and for engaging in meaningful cross cultural interaction that is beneficial in adjusting to a new life in Canada.

Determinants of home gardening participation among rural households: evidence from Ingquza Hill Local Municipality, South Africa

The participation of rural households in home garden production, which is a premise of income and food security, is very low. Therefore, this study investigated factors influencing rural households’ participation in home gardens from Ingquza Hill Local Municipality, South Africa. This is against a background where literature and development circles suggest that household home gardens can significantly improve food security and household income. Despite the fact that home gardens are a source of income and food security, rural households’ participation is claimed to be very low, suggesting several factors worth explaining. The study used cross-sectional survey data from rural communities of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (n = 200), to estimate participation drivers. The initial sample was stratified into two groups; home gardeners and non-home gardeners. For home gardening participants, a census was carried out due to their limited numbers. For non-participants, convenience and purposive sampling was used focusing on households with similar socioeconomic characteristics and close to participants for pairing purposes. Using stratified purposive convenience sampling, two homogeneous mutually exclusive strata were created (stratum “A”; “HGs participants”: n = 87 and stratum “B”; “HGs non-participants”: n = 113) for an independent analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Regression results revealed that home garden participation was influenced by gender, education, household income, extension services, access to arable land, and credit access. This paper concluded that education, household income, access to extension services, and access to arable land were the major factors capable of positively influencing household participation in home gardening. In contrast, gender and access to credit were negatively associated with household participation in home gardening. Therefore, the paper calls for government policies and intervention programs targeting home gardening to improve rural household participation in home gardens.

Factors Correlated with Home Gardening in Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Background: In addition to increasing access to fresh and affordable produce, home gardening enhances food security. This notwithstanding, there is no evidence of studies that have investigated factors correlated with home gardening in Gauteng Province (GP), South Africa. The present study investigated home gardening across the GP. Methods: Retrospective data of residents of GP (n = 30002) collected by the Gauteng City Region Observatory were used. A binary logistic regression was employed to determine factors correlated with home gardening. Results: Overall participation in home gardening was low (12.37%). If a respondent was a resident of the poorest areas, resided in a house received under the Rural Development Programme, had a borehole/well as the main source of water, belonged to a social club, received a social grant, was >65 years, and rated his/her health as poor, then they were more likely to participate in home gardening. Factors that were negatively correlated with home gardening included if the respondent rented from private individuals and if the respondent’s health status prevented him/her from doing daily work. Conclusion: The low participation levels in home gardening observed suggest the failure of the current policies geared at fostering home gardening in the province. Policy makers and relevant authorities should target identified groups to improve participation in home gardening.

Joy of gardening: a hospital-based cooking and gardening program.

Nutrition interventions aid in implementing healthy eating. Garden-enhanced nutrition intervention programs have been conducted in schools. We sought to assess feasibility of a hospital-based cooking and gardening program. The cohort study implemented a 3-week integrated cooking and gardening program in the United States (Seattle, WA). We recruited participants with ages 8-15years from ambulatory clinics. We conducted three 3-week series hospital-based cooking and gardening program. Children and parents were given pre- and post-program (1year) surveys. The surveys assessed child participation in food preparation and gardening, strengths and weaknesses of the program, and identified parents' opinions towards sustaining healthy behaviors. Eighteen children participated in the hospital-based cooking and gardening program. At 1-year follow-up, 78% of participants were gardening at home and 100% of participants were cooking at home. Novel approaches to combat obesity are needed. A hospital-based cooking and gardening program is a novel intervention to consider for nutrition education.

The Associations Between Seven Different Types of Physical Activity and the Incidence of Fracture at Seven Sites in Healthy Postmenopausal UK Women.

ABSTRACTThere is a paucity of information on associations between specific types of physical activity and fracture risk at different sites in otherwise healthy postmenopausal women. Therefore, we examined risk of fracture at seven different sites associated with seven different types of physical activity in the population‐based prospective UK Million Women Study. A total of 371,279 postmenopausal women (mean age 59.8 years), rating their health as good or excellent and reporting participation in walking, cycling, gardening, doing housework, yoga, dance, and sports club activities, were followed for site‐specific incident fracture through record linkage to national databases on day‐case and overnight hospital admissions. Cox regression yielded adjusted relative risks (RRs) and, because of the large number of statistical tests done, 99% confidence intervals (CIs) for fracture at seven different sites in relation to seven different physical activities. During an average follow‐up of 12 years, numbers with a first site‐specific fracture were as follows: humerus (2341), forearm (1238), wrist (7358), hip (4354), femur (not neck) (617), lower leg (1184), and ankle (3629). For upper limb fractures there was significant heterogeneity across the seven activity types (test for heterogeneity p = 0.004), with gardening more than 1 hour/week associated with a lower risk (RR = 0.91; 99% CI, 0.86 to 0.96; p < 0.0001), whereas cycling more than 1 hour/week was associated with an increased risk (RR = 1.11; 99% CI, 1.00 to 1.23; p = 0.008). For fractures of the lower limb (including hip) there was no significant heterogeneity by type of activity, with significant approximately 5% to 15% reductions in risk associated with most activities, except cycling. For hip fractures, there was no significant heterogeneity by type of activity, but with significant 15% to 20% reductions in risk associated with walking for 1 hour/day and participating in yoga and sporting activities. Physical activity is a modifiable risk factor for fracture, but the effects differ between different types of activities and different fracture sites. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Women participation in rooftop gardening in some areas of Khulna city

Khulna is the largest city corporation in the southwestern region of Bangladesh where rooftop gardening is gradually gaining popularity among the city dwellers. The main purpose of the study was to assess the extent of participation of women in rooftop gardening in Khulna city and to explore the relationship between each of the selected characteristics of women and their extent of participation in rooftop gardening. Primary data were collected from randomly selected 92 women during the period of 20 March to 10 April, 2018 at Rayermahal, Khalishpur, Daulatpur and Maheshwarpasha areas under Khulna city. Most (94.57%) of the women had medium participation, 3.26% had high participation, and 2.17% had low participation. Considering four aspects, the women had higher participation in preparatory stage (Participation Extent (PE) = 59.87%) whereas it was least in harvesting stage (PE = 34.06%). Considering the twenty issues under four aspects of rooftop gardening, the highest participation by the women was in watering the garden (PE = 88.04%) and no participation was in marketing (PE = 0%). Among ten selected characteristics level of education (P&lt;0.05), agricultural training, attitude towards rooftop gardening, and knowledge about rooftop gardening (P&lt;0.01) had significant positive relationships with participation of women in rooftop gardening. By designing women friendly extension approach for rooftop gardening barrier free participation of the city dwelling women should be fostered.&#x0D; Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 44(2): 327-337, June 2019

Gardeners’ Past Gardening Experience and Its Moderating Effect on Community Garden Participation

Studies on participation in community gardens have revealed that gardeners’ participation is driven by functional and emotional motives. Most studies, however, have failed to recognize gardeners’ diverse characteristics. To fill this research gap, this study examined the moderating effect that variations within gardeners has on their participation, particularly as in the case of past gardening experience. The data for this study were obtained through a survey administered in three plot-based community gardens in Austin, Texas. Results revealed that increased gardening experience bolsters the effect of emotional motivations on garden participation, while no effect was shown in the relationship between functional motivations and participation. The importance of gardeners’ past gardening experience on emotional motivations is discussed as it relates to sustained participation in gardening.

Impact of first and second eye cataract surgery on physical activity: a prospective study

ObjectivesTo investigate the impact of first eye and second eye cataract surgery on the level of physical activity undertaken by older adults with bilateral cataract.DesignProspective cohort study.SettingThree public ophthalmology clinics...

Air Pollution and Physical Activity Epidemiology: Are Long-Term Benefits of Physical Activity on Health Modified by Exposure to Air Pollution?

Introduction: Physical activity amplifies respiratory uptake and deposition of air pollutants in the lung, which may augment acute harmful effects of air pollution during exercise. We aimed to examine whether long-term benefits of physical activity on morbidity and mortality are moderated by long-term exposure to air pollution levels in an urban setting.Methods: 57,000 subjects (50&amp;#8211;65 years) from the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health cohort, were recruited in Aarhus and Copenhagen between 1993 and 1999, when they reported data on lesiure-time and utilatarian physical activity. We linked the cohort to Danish natiowide registers to extract data on overall- and cause-specific mortality, incidence of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. We used modeled NO2 levels (high/medium/low) at the residence at the cohort baseline year as proxy for air pollution exposure during physical activity. We modeled assocaition of participation in sports, cycling, gardening, and walking with the above mentioned health outcomes by Cox regression, and introduced NO2 (low/medium/high) as an interaction term.Results: Of ca. 53,000 subjects, 5,534 died until 2010, 1,151 developed asthma and 3,225 COPD until 2013, 2,936 developed MI and 4,353 stroke until 2015. Participation in sports, cycling, walking and gardening was associated with reduced risk of premature mortality (18-22%), as well as with incident asthma (15-18%), COPD (15-19%), MI (9-15%), and stroke (10-18%), and these were not modified by NO2.Conclusions: Increased exposure to air pollution during exercise in urban setting does not outweigh beneficial effects of physical activity on the risk of premature mortality, respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity.

Effects of Leisure-Time and Transport-Related Physical Activities on the Risk of Incident and Recurrent Myocardial Infarction and Interaction With Traffic-Related Air Pollution: A Cohort Study.

BackgroundPhysical activity enhances the uptake of air pollutants, possibly reducing its beneficial effects. We examined the effects of leisure‐time and transport‐related physical activities on the risk of myocardial infarction (MI), and whether potential benefits on MI are reduced by exposure to traffic‐related air pollution.Methods and ResultsA group of 57 053 participants (50–65 years of age) from the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health cohort reported physical activity at baseline (1993–1997) and were linked to registry data on hospital contacts and out‐of‐hospital deaths caused by MI, until December 2015. Nitrogen dioxide levels were estimated at participants’ baseline residences. We used Cox regressions to associate participation in sports, cycling, walking, and gardening with incident and recurrent MI, and tested for interaction by nitrogen dioxide. Of 50 635 participants without MI at baseline, 2936 developed incident MI, and of 1233 participants with MI before baseline, 324 had recurring MI during follow‐up. Mean nitrogen dioxide concentration was 18.7 μg/m3 at baseline (1993–1997). We found inverse statistically significant associations between participation in sports (hazard ratio; 95% confidence interval: 0.85; 0.79–0.92), cycling (0.91; 0.84–0.98), gardening (0.87; 0.80–0.95), and incident MI, while the association with walking was statistically nonsignificant (0.95; 0.83–1.08). Recurrent MI was statistically nonsignificantly inversely associated with cycling (0.80; 0.63–1.02), walking (0.82, 0.57–1.16), and gardening (0.91; 0.71–1.18), and positively with sports (1.06; 0.83–1.35). There was no effect modification of the associations between physical activity and MI by nitrogen dioxide.ConclusionsBenefits of physical activity on both the incidence and the recurrence of MI are not reduced by exposure to high levels of air pollution.

Community gardening, community farming and other local community-based gardening interventions to prevent overweight and obesity in high-income and middle-income countries: protocol for a systematic review

IntroductionThe worldwide prevalence of overweight/obesity has continued to rise over the last decades. To reverse this trend, public health authorities are exploring cost-effective interventions, especially in high-income and middle-income countries....

Physical Activity, Air Pollution, and the Risk of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Physical activity enhances uptake of air pollutants in the lung, possibly augmenting their harmful effects on chronic lung disease during exercise. To examine whether benefits of physical activity with respect to the risk of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are moderated by exposure to high air pollution levels in an urban setting. A total of 53,113 subjects (50-65 yr) from the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health cohort reported physical activity at recruitment (1993-1997) and were followed until 2013 in the National Patient Register for incident hospitalizations for asthma and COPD. Levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were estimated at subject residences at the time of recruitment. We used Cox regression to associate physical activities and NO2 (high/medium/low) with asthma and COPD, and then introduced an interaction term between each physical activity and NO2. A total of 1,151 subjects were hospitalized for asthma and 3,225 for COPD during 16 years. We found inverse associations of participation in sports (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 0.85 [0.75-0.96]) and cycling (0.85 [0.75-0.96]) with incident asthma, and of participation in sports (0.82 [0.77-0.89]), cycling (0.81 [0.76-0.87]), gardening (0.88 [0.81-0.94]), and walking (0.85 [0.75-0.95]) with incident COPD admissions. We found positive associations between NO2 and incident asthma (1.23 [1.04-1.47]) and COPD (1.15 [1.03-1.27]) hospitalizations (comparing ≥21.0 μg/m3 to <14.3 μg/m3). We found no interaction between associations of any physical activity and NO2 on incident asthma or COPD hospitalizations. Increased exposure to air pollution during exercise does not outweigh beneficial effects of physical activity on the risk of asthma and COPD.

“This is Way Better than Cheetos!”: Changing Children’s Eating Behavior Through Garden and Kitchen-Based Nutrition Education

ObjectiveTo increase children’s consumption of healthier foods through hands-on garden and kitchen experiences.Target AudienceThe children participating in the Olivewood Gardens program are primarily from National City, CA where 50% of the children are overweight or obese. Approximately 76% of students qualify for free/ reduced price lunch and 80% are Hispanic/Latino. In National City, the rate of hospitalization due to diabetes is more than twice the rate of the county average.Theory, Prior Research, RationaleDiets high in fruits and vegetables are associated with lower risks for chronic diseases and can prevent obesity. Studies show that garden-based nutrition education can significantly increase children’s knowledge of, preference for, and consumption of fruits and vegetables.DescriptionOlivewood’s children’s program brings 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders from local schools for sequential visits to the gardens each year for hands-on gardening, cooking, and science/nutrition lessons.EvaluationOlivewood administers an annual pre and post program assessment to participating students to measure changes in attitudes, behavior, and knowledge of food. Results show that repeat exposures to garden-based nutrition education encourages “adventurous eating” and increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. Teachers and parents observed a positive influence on food choices observed at school and at home. Results indicate that children are eating more fruit and vegetables and are more adventurous eaters as a result of participating in the program.Conclusions and ImplicationsRepeated participation in hands-on gardening and cooking experiences increases children’s consumption of healthier foods. Developing familiarity with fruits and vegetables encourages children to become “adventurous” eaters.FundingNone ObjectiveTo increase children’s consumption of healthier foods through hands-on garden and kitchen experiences. To increase children’s consumption of healthier foods through hands-on garden and kitchen experiences. Target AudienceThe children participating in the Olivewood Gardens program are primarily from National City, CA where 50% of the children are overweight or obese. Approximately 76% of students qualify for free/ reduced price lunch and 80% are Hispanic/Latino. In National City, the rate of hospitalization due to diabetes is more than twice the rate of the county average. The children participating in the Olivewood Gardens program are primarily from National City, CA where 50% of the children are overweight or obese. Approximately 76% of students qualify for free/ reduced price lunch and 80% are Hispanic/Latino. In National City, the rate of hospitalization due to diabetes is more than twice the rate of the county average. Theory, Prior Research, RationaleDiets high in fruits and vegetables are associated with lower risks for chronic diseases and can prevent obesity. Studies show that garden-based nutrition education can significantly increase children’s knowledge of, preference for, and consumption of fruits and vegetables. Diets high in fruits and vegetables are associated with lower risks for chronic diseases and can prevent obesity. Studies show that garden-based nutrition education can significantly increase children’s knowledge of, preference for, and consumption of fruits and vegetables. DescriptionOlivewood’s children’s program brings 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders from local schools for sequential visits to the gardens each year for hands-on gardening, cooking, and science/nutrition lessons. Olivewood’s children’s program brings 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders from local schools for sequential visits to the gardens each year for hands-on gardening, cooking, and science/nutrition lessons. EvaluationOlivewood administers an annual pre and post program assessment to participating students to measure changes in attitudes, behavior, and knowledge of food. Results show that repeat exposures to garden-based nutrition education encourages “adventurous eating” and increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. Teachers and parents observed a positive influence on food choices observed at school and at home. Results indicate that children are eating more fruit and vegetables and are more adventurous eaters as a result of participating in the program. Olivewood administers an annual pre and post program assessment to participating students to measure changes in attitudes, behavior, and knowledge of food. Results show that repeat exposures to garden-based nutrition education encourages “adventurous eating” and increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. Teachers and parents observed a positive influence on food choices observed at school and at home. Results indicate that children are eating more fruit and vegetables and are more adventurous eaters as a result of participating in the program. Conclusions and ImplicationsRepeated participation in hands-on gardening and cooking experiences increases children’s consumption of healthier foods. Developing familiarity with fruits and vegetables encourages children to become “adventurous” eaters. Repeated participation in hands-on gardening and cooking experiences increases children’s consumption of healthier foods. Developing familiarity with fruits and vegetables encourages children to become “adventurous” eaters.

Exploring barriers to home gardening in Ohio households

Scholars have noted that race and ethnicity, socio-economic status (SES) as well as other socio-demographic factors may limit participation in local food systems based on the historic and structured patterns of inequalities that remain in communities promoting alternative agriculture and food (agrifood) activities. However, few empirical studies have examined the barriers which prevent people from participating in local food system activities. This paper uses survey data from the 2008 Ohio Survey of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Issues to consider whether barriers such as interest, time, financial resources, geography and space impact the participation of households in home gardening. Results from logistic regression show that SES, the availability of space and housing type are important factors which limit or enable household participation in home gardening. This paper contributes to our understanding of the barriers that prevent households from participating in home gardening, a form of food system localisation that, while a potentially powerful way to transform the agrifood system, has been underexamined in its own right.

Health behaviors and perceptions of cancer survivors harvesting at an urban garden.

To gather information about perceptions of personal health behavior change in cancer survivors following participation in an urban gardening program. This qualitative study used focus groups of adult cancer survivors with an open-ended question thread format. Data were transcribed and analyzed by identifying, coding, and categorizing primary patterns/themes. Four overarching themes were identified: (1) greater dietary intake of produce; (2) improved mental and physical health; (3) enhanced sense of community and social support; and (4) challenges to long-term maintenance. Perceptions of positive behavior changes associated with harvesting at an urban garden targeting cancer survivors may inform future community and health promotion interventions aimed at improving adherence to evidence-based lifestyle behavior guidelines for cancer survivorship.