Silver Award Spotlight: Community Garden Rain Barrel and Compost!
Sometimes one person’s trash can become another’s treasure. In this case, Girl Scout Cadette Lillian turned repurposed and donated materials into silver with her Silver Award project, “Community Garden Rain Barrel and Compost!” During this project, Lillian renewed a community garden at Fort Story by creating a rain collection and compost system to support the garden.
A rain barrel is a water tank which is used to harvest and store rain water runoff, typically from rooftops through gutters. Rain barrels have many benefits including the later use of rain water, reduced water usage, and self-sufficiency. Collected water has many uses from watering gardens, agriculture, flushing toilets, in washing machines, and washing cars. Compost is made from mixing decomposing food and plant waste with soil. Things like fallen leaves, sticks, fruit and vegetable peels, and eggshells are all examples of compostable materials. Compost gives the soil more nutrients and helps plants grow stronger.
Lillian explained her process. “I started by getting donations for gutters to install a rain barrel for the Fort Story Community Garden. Lines Seamless Gutter donated the gutter. After getting the materials I needed, I installed the rain barrel, researched the importance of it, and made a sign summarizing my research. The residents of Fort Story use the rain barrel to water the community garden plots.”
With volunteer support and donations from her community, her next step was to develop an area where residents could create their own compost.
“After completing the rain barrel, I started getting supplies to rebuild the compost bins at the garden,” Lillian said. “Pallets to make the compost bins were donated by London Bridge Greenhouse & Nursery and the Fire Defense of Virginia. Additional wood was donated by Fort Story residents. I started by taking down the old compost bins and recycling the usable wood. I worked on building the new bins for five days in total. When I finished, I attached signs letting residents know where to put the compost.”
Throughout her project, Lillian learned a lot about making the world a better place. She also said she really enjoyed getting hands-on experience with power tools and building. Congratulations, Lillian!
