Truly Living Well Camp

By Susan Mittleman

Atlanta, GA – This Friday concludes the inaugural session of the first urban-farm camp in Atlanta. Truly Living Well manages four-acres of land in the Wheat Street Gardens, across from the Wheat Street Baptist Church and the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta's historic 4th Ward. WABE News has more on this unique camp smack dab in the middle of downtown Atlanta.

Between the sounds of chickens, sirens and the swell of the hot summer heat, children's voices can be heard singing camp songs .. of a slightly different variety.

Camp TLW is an arm of Truly Living Well, a four-acre urban farm based downtown at the Wheat Street Gardens, in the Old Fourth Ward. Once a housing project, now it's a pastoral setting tucked between historic black churches and the chaos of the city.

Camp Director Amakiasu Shabaka-Ford says the camp's unique environment is a fun and educational way for kids 6-14 to spend their summer learning about organic farming and growing their own food.

"Because the garden is such a rich place for children to learn. And I'm talking eveyrthing. There's math, writing, spelling, reading there's literature. There's science of course. It's wonderful and it's a teacher's heaven."

And it's heaven for kids who live in the city and like to play in the dirt.

"My name is Gillian, I'm 11, I really like it here, It's a lot of fun. Learning about the different plants and things."

Mornings are spent outside, singing and drumming along with activities around the garden.

They learn about soil, and "bugs" good and bad.

What are you most excited to see grow here?

"Everything! I'm not sure what I like most... everything's awesome. It's amazing. It's sooo cool...it's so pretty and I love all the fruts and vegetables. But I have to say my favorite are the pomegranites."

That was 8 year old Jetimisan, 10 year old Matari, 11 year old Gillian and
10-year old Tsemaya, who later showed me her garden bed design, one of the camp projects.

What's in your garden?

"Corn, tomatoes lettuce and flowers it's in the shape of a flower."

They also learn about water conservation and build and decorate their own rain barrels.

"What are rain barrels for?

To save for the plants!"

Like any summer camp, there's time for play, art, and swimming.

Shabaka-Ford also encourages the kids to take time to be quiet each day.. something many people living in town don't seem to do.

"They're looking for a sit spot, their own little quiet space that they can call their own, their own private sanctuary in the garden that they'll return to every day, hopefully before we start the day. just to encourage reflection and peace.

Assisting Shabaka-ford is 24 year-old Nicole Bluh who works as a counselor and has been with truly living well farms for 2 years. She leads kids in everything from moving their bodies to raking compost and harvesting beets for the farm's Friday market.

Just two weeks of camp makes is tricky for the children to see much of the fruits of their own labor .. but Shabaka-Ford says they've planned for that.

"We pre-planted some things for them, but they'll start some things on their own. We're planning an event at the end of the last session where all the campers can come see what they grew at the end of July."

There are still two more sessions before the summer ends, and the camp can accommodate between 25-45 children.

Visit the "Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture" website for more information.