It takes a community to build this garden. Geo Dome popping up at Unity Gardens.

Ed Semmler, South Bend Tribune
·4 min read
Volunteers from the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center work on the framing of a new Geo Dome that will become a year round learning lab and growing center at Unity Gardens in South Bend.
Volunteers from the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center work on the framing of a new Geo Dome that will become a year round learning lab and growing center at Unity Gardens in South Bend.

SOUTH BEND ― A group of six to 10 volunteers from the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center were busy Monday at work fitting together the jigsaw puzzle of a geodesic dome that Unity Gardens plans to use as a year-round classroom and grow center.

The volunteers are former prisoners who are on their way out of the system and asked to volunteer for the project after visiting the Unity Gardens hub at Ardmore Trail and Prast Boulevard on the northwest side of the city a few weeks ago.

More: 'It is bigger than me': South Bend's Sara Stewart wants everyone to have fresh, free food

Seeing a display on the proposed dome and its intended uses during an open house got people excited about providing labor for the project, said Greg Burns, who handles community engagement for the Re-Entry Program.

“These guys asked if they could do this, and many of them have construction and gardening experience,” Burns said while Re-Entry volunteers were busy assembling the dome under the direction of a small construction business that travels the country building and coordinating the assembly of domes for Colorado-based Growing Spaces.

Many of the domes are built for non-profit organizations such as Unity Gardens, but others are purchased by families who want to grow their own produce throughout the year, said Steve Stouffer, owner of Gecko Remodeling.

Six to 10 volunteers from the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center have provided the construction labor to build a Geo Dome project at Unity Gardens in South Bend. The facility will be capable of growing food throughout the year, but its main purpose is to serve as a learning lab for area students.
Six to 10 volunteers from the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center have provided the construction labor to build a Geo Dome project at Unity Gardens in South Bend. The facility will be capable of growing food throughout the year, but its main purpose is to serve as a learning lab for area students.

The domes, which range in size from 15 feet in diameter up to 42 feet, are manufactured in Colorado and shipped to sites around the country where Stouffer and sometimes community volunteers spend about a week putting the color-coded puzzle back together.

A Geo Dome is the latest project at Unity Gardens in South Bend. The organization provides learning opportunities while also growing a couple hundred thousand pounds of free produce each year for anyone in the community.
A Geo Dome is the latest project at Unity Gardens in South Bend. The organization provides learning opportunities while also growing a couple hundred thousand pounds of free produce each year for anyone in the community.

Sitting on concrete piers, framed with thick timbers and then skinned with three-fourths of an inch polycarbonate panels, the domes are built to last for decades, being capable of withstanding golf-ball size hail and 100-plus mile an hour winds, Stouffer said.

More: Unity Gardens offers free gardening classes for six weeks

The Unity Gardens 42-foot dome will be off the grid using a solar array provided through a $10,000 grant from South Bend’s Energy Assistance and Solar Savings Initiative. In addition, a massive water tank inside the dome will help regulate the inside temperature throughout the year.

And fish living inside the tank will provide the fertilizer used for the plants growing inside, said Sara Stewart, executive director of Unity Gardens.

Mason Naval, 19, Christian Bump, 21, and Joslynn Funnell, 21 weed one of the many plant beds at Unity Gardens in South Bend on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023.
Mason Naval, 19, Christian Bump, 21, and Joslynn Funnell, 21 weed one of the many plant beds at Unity Gardens in South Bend on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023.

Though the project is intended to grow some food, it’s mostly intended as part of the organization’s educational outreach efforts, Stewart said. “We hope to host hundreds of classes a year,” she said, pointing out that most of the activity at Unity Gardens occurs when kids are out of school for the summer.

Besides the estimated $10,000 in volunteer labor from the Re-Entry Center residents, the $160,000 project was made possible by a $80,000 donation from retired business owner Jerry Thoma and the grant from the city as well as another $3,000 from the Whole Kids Foundation, Stewart said.

The organization, which has the simple goal of education and community building while also providing free produce with its gardens, has created a page explaining the geodesic dome project and a button that allows people to contribute to the effort.

Sara L. Stewart, executive director of Unity Gardens, poses for a portrait March 15, 2023, on the garden campus on Prast Boulevard in South Bend.
Sara L. Stewart, executive director of Unity Gardens, poses for a portrait March 15, 2023, on the garden campus on Prast Boulevard in South Bend.

Even restaurants such as Hacienda, Chicory Café, Barnaby’s Pizza in South Bend and Olive Garden have joined in by providing food for the volunteers at the build site. Workers might be worn out at the end of the day, but they won’t be leaving hungry ― judging by the food at the site on Monday.

More: These greens have got to go: South Bend community garden has abundance of free produce

The dome project should be completed this week, but it will likely take a few more weeks to finish the raised beds, get plants and trees in the ground and other components wrapped up. Again, its main purpose is to serve as a community classroom, so expect to see coffee shrubs and other potential exotics in the dome.

“It’s going to be growing food, but it’s also a living classroom throughout the year,” Stewart said.

Email Tribune staff writer Ed Semmler at esemmler@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend's Unity Gardens will provide year-round learning, growing