September was a busy month for our Junior Gardeners. Because they really wanted to grow Pomegranates, we sourced a tree for them to plant in our food forest, giving them a vested interest in returning to the garden even after classes end and they graduate. They are such a wonderful group of eager young gardeners. Last month they planted carrots, radishes, beans, tomatoes and dino kale which is all growing like gangbusters. They have been able to harvest fresh herbs they have grown in their pizza garden and are like a pack of wolverines harvesting the Thai Long Beans on the fence that they planted last semester. They really, REALLY like to harvest. Often times the harvest doesn’t even make it out the gate. It is so nice to see our younger generation developing a love for fresh, organic produce that will hopefully turn into a lifetime of healthy eating habits.
We also had guest speaker, Sam the King Bee from Sam’s Honeybees. The kids were truly captivated and had so much fun learning about bees. The last month was a focus on our garden helpers in nature such as bees, butterflies and worms. They have been on bug hunts around the garden and it’s amazing what their eyes locate. They found fascinating bugs everywhere and loved running around with big magnifying glasses to look at things more closely. We had the distinct pleasure of being able to show them how to spot and identify a tobacco or tomato horn worm that can do bad damage to our food plants. Once I was able to show them what was hiding right in plain sight, they explored the garden squealing with delight to find more.
In October we have much more fun in store with garden themed projects in addition to horticulture. On October 14th, Teresa will be leading a pumpkin carving project. Each student gets their own colossal pumpkin to carve and take home. We will be providing recipes for Roasted Pumpkin seeds so the students can then process the seeds from their jack-o-lanterns into a yummy snack to enjoy later. We have found that pairing hands-on activities with a final food product to enjoy afterwards often has the most impact of any of the topics we cover.
On October 28th, Paula will be exploring how we can all make efforts to reuse, repurpose and recycle to cut down on our plastic waste that is bad for our environment. Each student will receive a tote bag that they then paint on and customize. These totes are perfect for taking home all the goodies they harvest that they have grown and will help them remember their time in the garden with us for a long time to come.
