HARVESTING RAINWATER TO GROW GARDENS & COMMUNITIES: Strengthening Partnerships Through Collaboration.

WHO WE ARE: THE GARDEN KITCHEN We empower Pima County residents to build community wellness and make healthier choices through food, fitness, and gardening education. The Garden Kitchen™ is a community-based seed-to-table nutrition education program located in the heart of South Tucson, AZ As part of the SNAP-ED program, we work primarily with low- income adults and families to eat healthier on a budget WE VALUE : Access to healthy & affordable food for all Collaboration with other community organizations Sustainable environmental practices Providing meaningful opportunities for volunteerism

WHAT WE DO: Free Demonstrations Cooking Gardening Physical Activity Community events Community Partnerships Direct Education Train-the-trainer System and Environmental changes Coalitions Our Vision : A Healthier Pima County

RAINWATER HARVESTING: THE INSPIRATION We aim to empower participants to increase their food security through gardening: Water is a critical issue in desert gardening Supplying water for a garden can be costly To teach participants how to increase the sustainability of their gardens, our own system would need to be repaired Reduce our own dependence on municipal water sources by utilizing harvested rainwater

RAINWATER HARVESTING: THE PLAN Spring sought out a University of Arizona’s (UA) Green Fund mini- grant to support our project – Funding would be used to make repairs to our existing cistern, train student and community volunteers on its use, and teach classes to our community participants about water sustainability Acquired additional funding through a separate UA Green Fund grant to support a paid student externship – We recruited an experienced undergraduate student to co-lead the implementation of this project with Garden Kitchen staff Reached out to another community agency, Watershed Management Group, to help out with this project But, as is usually the case, plans change…

RAINWATER HARVESTING: THE PROJECT Watershed Management Group (WMG) staff quickly determined that repairing the system was not a viable option – it would have to be totally replaced So, the early stages of the project revolved around updating budgets and researching the best methods for switching out the system WMG was instrumental in this phase of the project: their direction was invaluable to this process This allowed our organizations to work more closely and find common ground for continued collaboration Finally, we were ready to demolish the old system and start anew…

REMOVING THE OLD CISTERN

RAINWATER HARVESTING: BEYOND OUR EXPECTATIONS Working closely with WMG helped us to forge a close collaboration, leaders in their organization identified the Garden Kitchen as a partner site for future educational outreach efforts! Partnership between the Garden Kitchen, Watershed Management Group, and the UA College of Education was born Student-driven water sustainability plan Education of program participants and a number of students on the importance of sustainability “Edible Canopy” project collaboration with City of South Tucson, Trees for Tucson, and other South Tucson partners

RAINWATER HARVESTING: LOOKING FORWARD – AT THE GARDEN KITCHEN Begin implementation of our site-wide water sustainability plan this year: establishing earthworks, increasing native planting to help retain water Development of a graywater plan and system to utilize water lost from commercial kitchen equipment Continued engagement of students and community members to support the goals of food security and sustainable environmental practices Expansion of rainwater catchment at the Garden Kitchen and integration of collected water into drip irrigation system used to water demonstration garden

RAINWATER HARVESTING: LOOKING FORWARD – IN THE COMMUNITY Support of the El Paso and Southwestern Greenway project’s expansion into the City of South Tucson Development of water catchment systems, fruit tree planting, native plants Expansion of South Tucson’s “Edible Canopy” is underway: one community partner was so inspired by these projects that they plan to plant over 20 fruit trees throughout their campus! We’ll use our experiences to help implement sustainable watering practices, like rainwater harvesting and graywater usage, at that site Future collaboration with Watershed Management Group, Trees for Tucson, and UA College of Education

LESSONS LEARNED: COLLABORATION IS KEY – There’s no way we could have gotten this far on our own: reaching out to other agencies allowed this project to truly exceed our expectations BE FLEXIBLE – Our project changed a lot along the way, which made for some stressful days, but it allowed us all to learn and grow throughout the process and the final result was a success

LESSONS LEARNED: THINK “BIG PICTURE’– What started as a summer project to increase our own sustainability has become an important feature of our gardening program GET CREATIVE WITH FUNDING – The funding for these projects has come from a variety of sources: use your connections to find money for your project

LESSONS LEARNED: KEEP A RUNNING LIST – Always have projects and action steps ready, that way when opportunities arise you are ready for them (but remember, you may have to tweak your plans!) ENGAGE MANY STAKEHOLDERS– Our project has already reached a variety of stakeholders, and yours will too! Make sure to remind funders, students, community members, etc. of WHY this project matters to THEM

THANK YOU! Visit: for more informationwww.thegardenkitchen.org Phone: (520) Jacqui Stork, Program Coordinator – Jennifer Parlin, Senior Program Coordinator –