BROOKINGS – An Eagle Scout project will give people who have disabilities a way to do some gardening in Brookings this summer.
Seth Smith, 18, is a Boy Scout with Troop One who designed and built four raised garden beds at the Douglas Chittick Community Gardens, located at the northeast corner of Medary Avenue and the Highway 14 bypass. The project helped the Brookings High School senior earn his Eagle Scout rank, which was presented to him in a Court of Honor ceremony Saturday at First United Methodist Church.
The beds also earned an A.B.L.E. (Ability, Belief, Leadership and Effort to Achieve Access for All) award presented by the Brookings Committee for People who have Disabilities for meeting the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The beds were designed to be accessible, said Dan Brettschneider, director of Parks, Recreation and Forestry for the city of Brookings.
The Community Gardens have 550 garden plots, with each plot measuring 20 feet by 25 feet. Like all the plots at the Community Gardens, the four raised plots are available for the public to rent for the growing season.
“Be nice to make sure they’re rented for the summer,” Brettschneider said.
The four raised plots are $25 each, plus tax, “so it’s a great deal,” Brettschneider said. They’re first come, first served, and a water source will be available to all the plots.
“In the construction process, we tried to make sure that they would be able to grow anything that they’d desire,” Smith said.
Gardeners can grow flowers or vegetables, Brettschneider said.
“It’s a pilot project, so we’ll see how it goes,” Brettschneider said. “At the beginning of the season, we’ll send out a letter to all the people who rent garden plots at the site. We’ll have some stipulations in there, of how to take care of your garden bed.”
The seed was planted when Smith went to a Master Gardener conference the summer before last.
“Judy McLaughlin thought it would be a cool Scout project and my mom relayed it to me. And that’s when we started working on the idea,” Smith said.
“I do cabinetry during the summer as an apprentice thing. I’d never done any work with concrete, though,” he said.
The project was important to him.
“I really enjoyed my time in Scouting. I wanted to just do something for the community that I thought would help everybody, and when I heard this, I thought it would be challenging. And it just fit, timing and everything,” Smith said.
The planning process was “quite extensive,” Smith said.
He took inspiration based on a design by Ohio State, but there was a problem.
“My first design was pretty small,” Smith said. “When I brought it to the Parks and Rec department, they said we should make it bigger. The design changed as we brought more and more groups to look on it, including the Master Gardeners and the Committee for People who have Disabilities in Brookings.”
The latter group was involved because Smith and Brettschneider wanted the raised beds to be accessible. The CPD reviewed the plans and made sure accessibility requirements were followed.
Al Kruse, a Parks and Rec superintendent, worked with Smith to come up with a game plan, Brettschneider said.
“It had to fit in the space by the gardens that was available,” he said.
“Al really helped with dimensions and process,” Smith said.
The planning group of Shari Thornes, Nancy Hartenhoff-Crooks and Holly Tilton Byrne “were instrumental in making sure all the dimensions were correct,” Smith said. “They also helped with material, thoughts on how it should be done in order to increase accessibility to the maximum. And they were very supportive, too.”
Donating money or materials to the project were Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield 3-Point Play program, Brookings Optimist Club, Brookings Kiwanis Club, Brookings Lions Club, Lowes and Rental Depot.
Total cost of materials was around $3,200, Brettschneider said.
“It was a great collaboration between multiple groups,” Brettschneider said.
The planning process started in January 2016 and ran right up until construction started around June 1, when the concrete was poured.
“We spent two days prepping, then one day on pour and then we spent three days building the boxes and putting them in,” Smith said, adding the building process took the whole month to complete.
He got some help digging from his brother, Grayson, as well as help from friends.
“The Minors and the Millers were helpful,” Smith said.
Laying the concrete “was the most challenging part and that was definitely fun,” Smith said.
Smith learned a lot on this project.
“First, we learned a lot about concrete and a lot about the disability diameters and measurements that we have to take. With the wheelchairs, I didn’t think the space needed was so high, so I found it pretty shocking,” Smith said.
“I liked meeting with everybody, too. Got to meet a lot of people and bounce some ideas off of the Committee, and I thought that was a good time; I got to learn a lot. A lot about the project, but also about the type of committees we have in the process of getting things done with the city,” Smith said. “Just getting everybody on board with things and try to clearly demonstrate the potential for the project.”
“It’s a great project, and Seth is a perfect example of how we can improve our community through collaboration with the various organizations like the Boy Scouts,” Brettschneider said.
To rent a plot or for more information, call Parks and Rec at 692-2708.
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
