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When Kevin Race saw a lawn converted to a meadow in the Outer Comstock neighborhood, he knew he wanted to bring better landscaping and planting to Syracuse parks. He pitched the idea at a Syracuse Urbanism Collective meeting.

“I just was like, ‘This has so many benefits. This would be a cool project to work on to try and do this in other areas of the city,’” Race said.

The Mini Meadows project, a subcommittee of Syracuse Urbanism Collective, is led by founders Kanischa Miller and Race, her self-proclaimed “partner in plants” project manager. It gathers community members to improve urban ecology and sustainability in local parks and gardens.

Founded this year, Mini Meadows is supported by the City of Syracuse Department of Parks, Recreation & Youth Programs, Le Moyne College Gardening Club, SUNY ESF students and community members.

Volunteers and community members pick up trash, fix broken park benches and plant new seeds. They also hope to install art projects, including sculptures, in their future work.

After discussing the state of different parks around Syracuse, the group decided on its first project, Loguen Park, due to its crossroads-like nature; it sits close to Syracuse University and downtown, representing a socioeconomically diverse area.

On Sept. 21, 20 volunteers installed over 300 plants at Loguen Park. Before this initiative, Loguen Park had no flower beds. Sod and grass covered the brick walkways. But with the help of a $2,000 grant from Syracuse Parks Conservancy, volunteers spent hours replacing sections of turf with plants native to Syracuse.

“The whole park hadn’t seen some love in a while,” said Peter King, a founding member and graduate of ESF.

Courtesy of Kevin Race

Mini Meadows works with the City of Syracuse Department of Parks, Recreation & Youth Programs to plant greenery in the area. They transformed the walkways of Loguen Park by replacing turf with flower beds and native plants.

Mini Meadows members and volunteers worked to revitalize the park over the summer, along with the September planting day. Race said the initiative was met with an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the surrounding neighborhood.

To draw more attention to their work in Loguen Park, Miller and other members talked with residents to learn about what they want to see developed. This feedback, along with word of mouth and social media outreach, contributed to their turnout at the park.

At the end of October, seven Mini Meadows volunteers partnered with the Syracuse Parks & Recreation Department to put down new soil and plant meadow mix at Perseverance Park in Downtown Syracuse. The wildflowers will bloom this spring and Mini Meadows will do further maintenance then.

With their first site project under their belt, Mini Meadows members have learned more about how planting and gardening benefit the soil. King researches different kinds of soil, plants and flowers that are native to Syracuse. New plants help organically bind soil so that pollutants, like lead, aren’t released by the soil, King said.

Mini Meadows wants to educate residents about native plants and pollutants that are found in soils, and what they can do to initiate change. Mini Meadows has learned about the environment from ESF and the Onondaga Nation.

“Once people learn a little bit more and get their hands in the ground and do some planting and stuff, it really makes you feel better about the state of the world,” Race said.

Beyond environmental impact, Mini Meadows also serves as a beautification project that makes the city more beautiful and enjoyable for people with its flower plantings, Miller said.

Especially with the distinct disparities between neighborhoods in Syracuse, Miller said the group wants to attract different communities who otherwise don’t typically cross paths in Syracuse. The project hopes to build a community in Syracuse for anyone who cares about the environment and being outside.

“The more we can make this a discursive point, where you break through to other types of people who you wouldn’t usually talk to, the more beneficial it is,” King said.

Miller said that, so far, the Mini Meadows project has been multi-generational, incorporating both young volunteers and people with decades of wisdom to sustain their work in these parks for the coming spring.

“We’ve learned a lot from what other people have done,” Miller said. “Having that personal relationship with the community, and with the neighborhood itself, helps us to be committed.”

Published on November 3, 2024 at 10:04 pm