Yash Chaudhary

Honors 4280

Professor Diane Van Buren

20th April, 2017

Reflection

In the past few months I have gained valuable experience in site restoration and organized

planning. Our class has gotten the opportunity to work on the vacant lot on Forest/Bellevue, and

on 7736 Helen Street. We have worked numerous times with Keep Growing Detroit to pack

seeds both in class and outside of class. During our site clean-up, we removed debris and shrubs

from the walkway, allowing for an easier path to navigate the sidewalk, which prior to our work,

was completely covered by shrubs and waste. However, after some restoration, we were able to

clear out this waste, and clean the area. Lastly, we will complete the restoration by placing

flowers to make a small flowerbed using bricks that were collected from the clean-up, to give a

refreshing new look to the site.

The work we did this semester opened my eyes to how we can turn something as useless and

unappealing as a vacant lot into a beautiful and modern community gathering environment,

which is also self-sustaining. I believe this class is immensely helpful in helping students

understand the value in community service, and how we play a role in shaping our surroundings.

I will be practicing the idea of urban farming at my own home in the future, where my family

and I already have a large vegetable garden. I plan to perhaps purchase a pavilion in the future

and implement solar in our yard.

Such steps, although small, are the necessary ones to change our communities unused spaces

into eco-friendly urban farming centers. These would not only have socioeconomic benefit, but

also have cultural benefit as the idea of urban farming would start to become comfortably

ingrained in our societies. Over time this will expand to all of those around us, and lead to a

better future for the next generations across the world.

Through various presentations and meetings with different organizations, I found that there are

also others engaged in the same goal: Making societies healthier, self-sustaining, and happy

while also preserving our environment. Conclusively, I would highly recommend this course to

others in the future.