Food Project turns Lynn’s Munroe Street green

LYNN – A piece of empty open space on Munroe Street got a makeover last week as the Food Project and student volunteers showed city residents that gardens can grow in a concrete-dominated urban environment.Essex Agricultural High School student Rory Cowher and seven Food Project volunteers spent school vacation week beautifying a patio with an urban garden outside of the non-profit organization’s Munroe Street office, part of an eagle scout project for the student.Cowher organized the project from the bottom up, taking measurements and studying sunlight in the winter time, and actually breaking ground on the gardens last week while students were out of school.The small patio area will contain seven garden beds and two picnic benches all crafted by the students.”The project has two parts, to be a kind of clean up of that area and also to be a demonstration that you really can grow a garden in the city,” said Food Project Director Melissa Dimond.The property is owned by Oasis Development, a real estate company that also houses the Food Project at a reduced price. Diamond said the garden project was a way of giving back to Oasis, which has taken a vested effort in attempting to beautify that area of the city.The Food Project has undertaken several garden projects in the city, including one that is located behind the Ingalls Elementary School, and Dimond says they are hoping to plant in another vacant area of Munroe Street this summer.The goal of the organization is to create a healthy community through the use of fresh grown produce and volunteerism. The Lincoln, Mass. based non-profit helps thousands of teens each year volunteer through agriculture and features several satellite locations in urban Boston areas, including Lynn.As a sophomore at Essex Aggie, Cowher, a Middleton native, is studying landscape design and horticulture.