New Garden Benefits Youth

Summer gardening is keeping the youth busy at the Muskingum County Juvenile Detention Center.

A project a year in the making, the new garden is giving at-risk kids in the community an opportunity to learn life-skills. In their efforts, the kids aren’t just growing plants, they’re growing as individuals.

“We’ve had several kids who want to come work in the garden, it’s a reward for them, but the responsibility that they learn out here carries into the detention facility, and it’s my hope that it carries on with them for the rest of their lives, if you see any kid who worked on a farm, done a 4H project, the values that they learn by doing those things, it carries with them,” said Juvenile Probate Court Judge, Eric Martin.

Local organizations from across the community donated their time and money to help with the project, and tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini are just some of the fresh veggies filling the courtyard. Martin said seeing changes in the kids is the most rewarding part.

“It’s small changes, it’s responsibility, it’s maturity, it’s having them talk about the success out here, again it’s learning that a hard days work pays off and there’s a reward at the end,” Martin said.

Martin said he hopes to continue the garden into the future.