Urban gardens project promoting health and social well-being

Abstract

The present article aims to demonstrate the experience of the Nucleus of Agroecology Studies
of the Cerrado Mineiro (NACEM) in the implantation of a vegetable garden in a nursing home
for the elderly in the city of Monte Carmelo / MG. The project was promoted through the UFU
/ Community Integration Extension Program (PEIC), which contributed to the installation and
maintenance of the garden. The urban gardens recreate the notion of city-countryside unity
and reinvent the multifunctionality of the landscape. Working in a community garden helps in
the integration between members of the same community, reduces the stress of urban life,
combats sedentariness. It is a noble way to use unused spaces. The proposal aimed to promote
changes in values, habits and changes in attitudes with planting the garden and through
environmental education using awareness with the participation of teachers and students of
the University, community volunteers and the elderly, involved in the action. We can see that
the project obtained social and economic benefits in an indirect way, making the core students
interact with the elderly in the nursing home. Activities of inclusion of the elderly with the vegetable
garden were carried out and also the commercialization of the production of the garden
for the community, collaborating also with the quality of the feeding of these.