A seed that flourished into a garden: CitySprouts’ 25th Garden in our 25th Year

Hesper Khong, Community Engagement Coordinator [TerraCorps]

With beloved care and resolute intention grounding our community, CitySprouts continues to branch beyond our humble beginning at one schoolyard garden to our 25th schoolyard garden for our 25th year. As CitySprouts commemorates our 25th rotation around the sun, we are excited to celebrate our 25th garden at the Cambridge Community Center (CCC)! Empowered by our mission of cultivating curiosity and wonder in students through their own schoolyard gardens, we’re grateful to expand our reach to another garden and nurture the development of youth in the Boston and Cambridge community. Every garden site has its own unique story and we invite you to savor the encounter leading to the CCC afterschool program’s inception, get a taste of the numerous activities youth experience, and relish in our future endeavors below.

Radishes sprouting under a bed of leaves

Youth getting garden beds ready with fresh soil

Digging up holes for seeds

And planting in new seedlings

What began as a small seed of wonder between two caring community members blossomed into an impactful afterschool program with over 30 youth participating annually. CitySprouts' partnership with the CCC sprouted through CitySprouts Senior Program Manager Alex Frank’s purposeful efforts to engage with folks at Cambridge networking events for afterschool programs. After hearing about Alex’s role at CitySprouts, the CCC’s Director of Out of School Time Programs, Rachel Kinch, zealously approached him to develop avenues for working together. With the CitySprouts Green Team looking to connect with more youth in the community and the CCC’s garden space and abundant afterschool youth membership, an intentional, reciprocal collaboration took root!

“[CitySprouts’] impact goes beyond beautiful plants and berries. You help create another space where our youth can learn, grow, and connect with nature.”

- Rachel [Director of Out of School Time Programs, Cambridge Community Center]

Snapshot of our garden’s columbine

Youth testing soil nutrient levels with Hesper

Flowers!

Since 2024, the afterschool program has flourished with the CCC’s continual support. Through hands-on gardening activities such as soil nutrients testing, bulb identification, ecosystem composition, and companion planting, youth are given opportunities to explore the outdoors and foster confidence in green spaces. Recently, as the season grows colder and the garden begins to wind down for winter, youth had the opportunity to practice identifying bulbs before digging in the dirt and planting them in preparation for the upcoming spring. On days where it’s too rainy to be outdoors, the afterschool Green Team provides an engaging indoor curriculum for youth to connect what they learn in the gardens through cooking lessons in the CCC kitchen. For instance, we recently used a mortar and pestle to make pesto with a bunch of basil, sprigs of oregano, a clutch of cilantro, and splashes of lemon balm right from our gardens! Taking turns to breathe in the herby green paste, the students were jumping with excitement to savor it with crackers; some went above and beyond with their very own creations.

Youth trying pesto we made together on crackers:

“Can I have more? I want to make a pesto sandwich!” - a youth who rated the homemade pesto a 1000/10

Being able to bring youth together in a garden bursting with potential has been possible through the support and commitment of folks like CitySprouts’ Senior Garden Educator Jordan Finkelstein. This is Jordan’s and my first year engaging with the youth at the CCC, so we’re also learning alongside them as we navigate ways to encourage their curiosity; it’s been a beautiful gift getting to know the children better and seeing them light up as we investigate the outdoors and make tasty treats together!

“Even after a full day of in-school learning, [youth] arrive at CitySprouts' program with thoughtful questions and enthusiasm. Earlier in the year, we used soil testing kits to determine nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous levels in the garden bed soil. Despite imperfect testing conditions (a busy streetside garden, cloudy soil solution, and shaky hands using pipettes for the first time), the CCC gardeners meticulously studied the results of their tests and asked great questions about soil composition. They demonstrated an interest in the science of gardening that reminded me the site isn’t just a garden - it’s an outdoor lab for young scientists”

- Jordan [Senior Garden Educator, CitySprouts]

Jordan helping the youth with scooping cooked apples into little tarts with whip cream on top:

Overview of CitySprouts’ three garden beds at the CCC

As our partnership continues to evolve, CitySprouts’ Operations Team has become more involved in caring for the garden beds in 2025; outside of weekly upkeep including weed removal and watering, CitySprouts’ Garden Operations Manager, Maddie Kartoz, and Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator (through TerraCorps), Stella Dzialas, have added a compost bin, mulch for the garden beds and its surrounding areas for youth to sit on, and additional signage.

“[CitySprouts’] dedication, expertise, and hard work has truly transformed our space into a vibrant and welcoming environment for our community.”

- Rachel

Throughout our collaboration, Rachel and the CCC community have been unwavering in their commitment to the youth’s development and the afterschool program’s growth and success. In 2024, CitySprouts was nominated for and received the Network and Love Impact Award by Rachel because she found our partnership and support of young people to be profoundly impactful. We are extremely grateful to be a part of the Cambridge community and are always looking for avenues to engage with our neighborhood. In addition to sending newsletters to youth’s family members and attending CCC events, such as the Fall Festival where we have hosted pickling booths, CitySprouts looks to expand our partnership with other programs in the center.

“Our partnership with the CCC is a perfect example of what a strong afterschool network can achieve. What began as a need for youth engagement in the garden has bloomed into a partnership that extends throughout both of our networks and the Cambridge community as a whole."

- Alex Frank [Senior Program Manager, CitySprouts]

Apple cider making at the CCC in 2024

Pickling booth at the CCC in 2025

Being able to celebrate CitySprouts’ 25th year with our 25th garden has been possible through our community’s deliberate time, effort, and care for the nourishment of future generations to come. Cultivating our partnership with the CCC is how CitySprouts is able to deepen our roots in Cambridge and extend our branches to more people in our neighborhood. We are immensely thankful our work is bolstered by a community that cherishes one another. Thank you for supporting us on this journey of growth from one seed to our 25th garden! As CitySprouts continues to nurture our current afterschool programming and partnerships, we also look forward to what the future brings as we continue to plant new seeds of community. Let’s get our foundation ready, dig an abundance of holes, and nurture what sprouts together!