Cooking Healthy
Our year-round Cooking Healthy Programs, held monthly, feature a nutritious and healthy approach to traditional dishes passed down through generations. Each class offers participants the opportunity to explore innovative ways of preparing healthy foods while learning the origins and nutritional value of freshly-grown, plant-based ingredients. Click the button below for more information. Classes are $10, scholarships are available upon request. A listing of all upcoming classes is under the events tab.
Sowing & Reaping
This year-round garden focused programs covers (1) Volunteering Saturday Mornings in the garden, an informative, instructive time with Ashley Hadley, BCG's Garden Coordinator and Volunteer Instructor. each Saturday she provides guidance on why and how to perform the immediate needs in the garden. Examples of what you might be doing are sowing seeds, reaping the harvest, amending soil, pruning, and constructing beds, all with an eye on maximizing the health and environmental needs for the plants. Volunteers are required to sign up for each Saturday mornings. 2) Year-round Garden Programs (Garden Education (ages 17+). Along with Ashley, we also bring in instructors to cover topical garden programs/workshops. All programs focus on you becoming your own food source and expanding your green thumb confidence.
Both programs require you to signup and is listed under the Events tab. Click the button below for more info on both Sowing & Reaping programs.
Garden Education - Adult (17+)
Our year-round Garden Education programs highlight several topical garden-to-health programs. Our Garden Coordinator, Ashley Hadley, along with other professional instructors cover garden topics focused on you becoming successful as your own food source, whether it's on your back porch, patio, garden, or in your home. You’ll learn how, when, and what foods thrive in your garden space, and how to cultivate an environment that supports high-nutrition, pest-free planting.
Each program requires you to RSVP. and is listed under the Events tab.
Garden Education - Youth
Our youth-focused garden-to-health programs are designed to nurture strong connections between the living plant-based foods, we grow and their unique benefits to our body's wellbeing and life. Programs are developed to be fun, and reinforce real-world, in-school skill development and subjects. Students learn how, when, and what foods thrive in certain environments. This program is customized and usually is not on the Beauty's Community Garden's grounds.
Example: We developed an 8-week. interactive garden program for the Boy's & Girls Club, that culminated with the youth, eating what they grew, on their pizzas. If you have an interest in discussing a youth-program for your school, class, gathering, contact [email protected].
Food Desert to Beauty
This project centers around growing and creating a holistic garden experience. Through a garden and nutrition lens, we are addressing the root causes to HEALTH. Beauty's Community Garden, with community partners, is developing projects focused on expanding access and education, while promoting pride of community.
Food desert communities, like Independent Heights, where Beauty's Community Garden resides, have higher rates of sugar diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Do you know Why? Some of the major contributions to these results include limited access to a grocery store with fresh fruits and vegetables in the community. Often times these stores are outside of the community, resulting in many residents needing transportation to access. Food deserts also have a higher per capita of convenience stores and fast food restaurants. These establishments contribute to a diet high in salt, sugar, and processed foods.
This Food Desert to Beauty project currently has three primary areas of support:
Enrichment to Beauty's Community Garden takes place in one of 40+ food deserts in Houston alone. Our vision is to develop Beauty's Community Garden as a community space to support our wholistic vision for the garden.
The Green Seedling Magazine - A quarterly fun-filled, STEAM educational quarterly magazine for the whole family. It is the concept of Beauty's Community Garden and Community Partner PEACE through PIE.The purpose behind Green Seedling is to:
- inform, challenge and inspire you to be your own plant-based food source,
- learn about what your body needs to be healthy, and to be
- expose the reader to the emotional and physical benefits, a diet rich in fruits, veggies and herbs provides.
Each magazine builds on the previous quarterly edition, while focusing on how to care for plants sown during the season.
Sign up to get your digital copy by going to the Green Seedling tab on the Web menu or clicking here and fill out the form on the Green Seedling page.
The Green Seedling Magazine is one of the projects with partner PVAMU College of Agriculture and Human Sciences Cooperative Extension Program. This project is supported by Be Well™Acres Homes. Be Well Acres Homes is an initiative of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in collaboration with Harris Health System, Memorial Hermann Community Benefit Corporation, UTHealth School of Public Health, and more than 30 community organizations united together with residents of Acres Homes.
As part of this project, Beauty's Community Garden also contributes to the:
- creation and improvement of community gardens in schools and public spaces throughout the Acres Homes Community.
- provides garden instruction every quarter within the Acres Homes community too.
Historic & Cultural Roots
This project uses the garden and our community to celebrate, educate and explore the unique and rich history and culture of the Independent Heights district. Did you know that Independent Heights was the 1st African American Municipality in Texas?
This program focuses on events and experiences that expand our lens, with a goal to uncover true back stories, framing what we think we know today around our local history, culture, ethnicity, and the people who have contributed to our community.
One of our Historic & Cultural Roots events is the annual MLK PEACE through PIE Social & Fundraiser. This annual event, slated, this coming year on Saturday, January 14, 2024, jumpstarts our fundraising campaign that supports all Beauty's Community Garden's year-round programs events and project. There will be unique sponsorship, volunteer and in-kind opportunities available for those interested in the work Beauty's Community Garden does.
The other programs slated throughout the year are: Black History Month programming in February. and Juneteenth celebration in June.