Gardening and Horticulture

Organic Gardening / Communal Gardening / Therapeutic Gardening / The Institutional Garden / Professional Development

Through individual and group work, gardening programs cultivate the environment and create pleasing, aesthetic, and healthy spaces. Participants experience the land and begin to see themselves as partners in the natural cycle of life.
Gardening and horticultural groups provide participants with the skills necessary to work independently in their own gardens, with the emphasis being on organic gardening. Activities are modified to suit a variety of audiences - communities, institutions and interested individuals.
These programs have been operating successfully now for several years. Courses take place on a weekly basis at community centers and in institutions in the Jerusalem area and as training programs at the Shomera site in the Jerusalem Forest.

Organic Gardening –  organic gardens you create and enjoy

This program teaches the theoretical and practical aspects of home and communal gardening by having participants work together to design and cultivate plots full of herbs, vegetables and flowers. At the end of the program participants return to their homes and communities with new skills to establish and maintain gardens, thus contributing to their own development, to their families and to their surroundings.
Target audience: Interested individuals and groups

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Communal Gardening – a public garden that functions as a communal hub

This program increases involvement in one’s neighborhood through shared activities to cultivate a neglected public space. The project transforms the garden into a center for communal enterprise and for children’s learning about nature and the environment. The garden and programs are then maintained and managed by program participants.
Target audience: Populations identified by the local community center, including groups in at-risk neighborhoods

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Therapeutic Gardening – special needs participants add a helping hand

This program targets individuals with special needs. It enables them to contribute to the community through developing a public area. It places the participants in the unique role of giver, while simultaneously improving their dexterity and self-confidence. Particular emphasis is placed on assessing the needs and interests of each participant and incorporating them into the group, such that plants, tools and pace of work are matched accordingly.
Target audience: Various special needs participants, including those with physical disabilities, visual
impairments and light to serious mental disabilities

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The Institutional Garden – professionals and students upgrade the grounds

This program encourages municipal educational institutions to cultivate gardens in order to create a more pleasant and healthier learning environment. As an incentive, while Shomera staff work with students to clean and plant the gardens, municipal workers are engaged on and around the institution’s grounds, to remove hazards, to clean, and repair whatever is necessary. Being part of the process tends to encourage students to maintain and to take pride in their surroundings.
Target audience: Schools referred by the city’s education departments

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Professional Development – training for youth-at-risk

This program provides youth-at-risk with professional training in basic gardening, so that they can earn a livelihood from this profession. In addition to technical knowledge and experience, program participants are given practical advice on how to run an independent business, how to manage suppliers and customers, budgeting, and more. The program also includes a social component run by counselors who offer assistance and enrichment activities.
Target audience: Youth-at-risk, referred by the city’s welfare authorities

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