TRAVERSE CITY -- When gardeners at the Grand Traverse Area Children's Garden begin planting their seeds next spring, a new pavilion and patio will be part of the grounds.
In conjunction with the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, the children's garden received an $80,000 matching grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as part of the Access to Recreation in Hull Park program.
Access to Recreation, a three-year initiative to strengthen communities to achieve its mission of providing recreational opportunities for people of all abilities, will fund the building project.
"This is a pretty big deal for us," said Susan Kuschell, director of the children's garden where a ground-breaking ceremony is planned for 10 a.m. Tuesday on the site adjacent to Hull Park, behind the Traverse Area District Library on Woodmere Avenue.
"We will be able to build a much-needed pavilion with a storage area and an outdoor patio area that can be used as a place to teach nutrition," said Kuschell, noting that new features will include a small greenhouse, new pathways and a grill and pizza oven.
"We will also be relocating the present special-needs garden and several other gardens will be changed to allow for easier access," said Kuschell, who plans to include new programs in the garden that attracted more than 100 young gardeners last summer. This summer's growing season was cut short when building delays forced the garden's closure.
"It was such a shame to see the garden not being utilized this summer, but we are anxious to get started again next spring," said volunteer Maxine Meach, who noted that the garden is one of the free things that parents and groups can do with children in Traverse City.
"They can come and garden, and learn, and they enjoy it," Meach said.
Taking care of and learning about the plots of flowers and vegetables is not only popular with the young gardeners, but also with the adults who bring them there.
"Many parents recognize the need to get children away from the computer and into the outdoors. We give them a place to do this," said Kuschell, who plans to implement a Roots to Mouth program where children will be able to experience growing and then eating their own vegetables.
"This gives them a real sense of value when they see the fruits and vegetables come to fruition," said Kuschell, who along with some 40 volunteers, keep the garden growing by mentoring young gardeners.
Plots are planted and maintained by children's groups including the Boys and Girls Club, Munson Hospital's Children's Hospice, Probate Court kids, preschoolers, homeschoolers and 4-H as well as individual families.
"This is a wonderful program and this grant will help us continue to grow," Kuschell said.
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