Garden Clubs at 3 different properties have started up for the spring season . This is a chance for kids at Croft Place, Centerwood and One Community Commons (OCC) to have a productive after school activity one day a week and a positive association with the earth and healthy food. Each property is in a very different stage of gardening. Croft Place has 10 established raised beds. Centerwood will have a few small container gardens built soon, so in the meantime we'll be growing in planter pots. OCC has just started transforming an ornamental container into an edible garden space. Each property is also different in terms of the space available. For these reasons, each Garden Club is adapted slightly to cater to the space and to what can realistically be accomplished. However, each Garden Club typically consists of an outdoor garden activity, a snack, and an art/craft.
For Week 1, we talked about what makes up our garden, as well as established some rules for Garden Club. Due to the heavy rains, we nixed our outdoor activity idea at Croft, but the kids at Centerwood were able to fill planter pots with soil and had ample time to dig in the wet dirt for worms (as shown above)! The kids at OCC eagerly loosened the soil in their large container garden to prepare for planting.
We then painted large rocks while eating our snack of carrots and pita chips with homemade Tzatziki sauce. The kids helped with the final steps of making the sauce. The intent behind the rock painting craft was to paint the rocks as garden markers for particular veggies, but since we deal with such a wide age range, a good percentage of the rocks were simply covered in layers of paint. Some turned out amazing, like the strawberry at the top of this post. The kids always enjoy painting and I'm sure we'll find some way to incorporate their beautiful art into the gardens!
Thanks for reading!
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