About eight years ago, Rick and Lisa Roszkowski set out to keep a neighborhood initiative called Cherry Street Community Garden alive in Milwaukee’s Midtown neighborhood.
The Roszkowskis created a nonprofit called Bloom MKE to steward the garden, and have added several more to the program.
Cherry Street Garden overflows with life and color. There are more than 30 raised beds, bordered by fruit trees, murals, benches and a brand new brick path cutting through the middle.
Lisa Roszkowski says that’s because most of their gardeners are over 60.
“Roughly 90% of our gardeners at this garden have some kind of mobility challenge – the knee, or a back issue, or a cane, a scooter. It’s a little overwhelming if they can’t participate fully in the garden,” she says.
This morning is about sparking interest in the next generation of gardeners – first and second graders to be exact.
The Roszkowski's are partnering with a nearby summer camp to do that.
“I think I hear day campers coming,” Lisa Roszkowski says.
They’re part of PEAK Initiative’s Pathfinder Camp, which takes place three blocks away, at Tiefenthaler Park.
PEAK’s mission it to nurture teamwork and listening skills – through art, music and today, gardening.
“When we got introduced to PEAK and this 6-week summer camp program, we said, 'We can certainly take all of these kids and give them nutrition education, science education,'” Rick Roszkowski says. “How plants grow — and those kinds of things — and that sort of leap-frogged into the composting initiative.”
The campers come bearing gifts – a wagon’s worth of food left over from breakfast and lunches served at camp. The blueberries, watermelon rind and other foods would otherwise be pitched in the garbage. Today, they’re feeding the compost.
The kids make themselves comfortable on a rainbow, colorful parachute spread beneath the shade of cherry trees.
“We talked about the four things plants need to grow, do you remember one of them? Raise your hand,” Lisa Roszkowski says.
“Soil,” one camper proudly replies.
The Roskowskis have about an hour to entice the campers to consider soil, bugs and worms, and of course the compost they’re helping to create.
“So who here has thrown something in the compost bin while they were at PEAK?” Roszkowski asks.
Before you know it, Rick Roszkowski has rolled over wheelbarrows full of composting stuff.
“I have little tools. If you want you can move things around and examine what’s here and tell us what you see,” he says.
Some kids hesitate, but many pick up a tool and investigate. “I see a worm. Can I pick it up?” a courageous camper asks.
Then it’s time to explore the garden.
“Anybody want to go pick in the kids garden? Do you want to come with me? Do you want to pick the cherries? You know where they are,” Lisa Roszkowski says.
Some kids nibble lettuce, but most gravitate to watering the garden plot created just for them.
Neighbor Santana Webb is here to help. Cherry Street Garden has been part of her life since she was 5. By age 9 she had her own garden plot.
Now an upcoming Rufus King High School senior, she still gardens, and is proud of what she’s helped create with the Roszkowskis on this two-city-lot oasis.
“Gardening is definitely not just an overnight thing," Webb says. "It has to build up over time to get to where it is. And they have definitely put in the work and they’ve definitely looked out for everybody. So, it's really an honor to be working with them in the garden because they definitely take time and they take pride in what they do. And they make sure everybody is heard."
Who knows, maybe one or two of these campers will feel the same one day.
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