In partnership with WSU Clark County Extension 4-H Youth Development Program and The Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Washington
Garden Notes for Summer 2013—The 9th annual summer program
Thank you to all who volunteered this year in the garden and to the WSU Master Gardener Foundation for grant funding the Hazel Dell School and Community Garden, WSU Food $ense for providing the healthy snacks, and the WSU Master Gardeners/WSU Growing Groceries Mentors who coordinated the program.
Session 1: July 3, 2013 — Watershed Stewards Program
Boys and Girls Club: 10 girls 7 boys; Lillie and Bresha, assistants; Eric Carstinson, Boys and Girls Club Staff
Program Guest: Noe, WSU Watershed Stewards
Adults: WSU Master Gardeners: Barbara Nordstrom, Penny Matkins (grandson Rylin), Laura Heldreth; WSU Growing Groceries Mentor: Suzy Taylor; Garden member: Cristi Wikstrom (children Mattie and Allie)
The eager children arrived from the Boys and Girls Club with their name tags filled out by assistant Lillie. After reviewing the rules—respect yourself, respect others, and respect the property as applicable in the garden, we introduced the adults and special guest, Noe from the Watershed Stewards.
Noe read All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon. Next, the children gathered around the watershed model and sprayed “rain.” The clear rain ran into the rivers and to the ocean. Then Noe had the children add materials simulating pollutants including fertilizer from gardens, oil from cars, and wastes. The children sprayed rain again and noticed how the water was dirty and the run off was brown as it made its way to the ocean.
Noe lead a discussion about keeping our water clean and what we can do to keep pollutants out of our watershed.
We counted off into groups and the children did much needed weeding in the Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden, along the native plant area, by the front fence and in the paths around the raised beds.
Next it was time for journals and a snack of watermelon, freshly picked peas and strawberries. One of the girls refused a pea pod, but Rylin convinced her to give it a try. She liked it and asked for more.
Journal Quotes: Is rain new water on our planet?
“Rainwater is not new in our planet because it is the same water but it just evaporated so all the rainwater is just from lakes oceans, rivers.”
“No because we use the same water over and over and over agen (sic) together.”
“No the water that we have is all we got.”
Session 2: July 10, 2013 — Birds and Pesticides
Boys and Girls Club: 10 girls 6 boys; Eric Carstinson, Boys and Girls Club Staff
Program Guest: Carol Peterson, Audubon Society
Adults: Barbara Nordstrom, Bobbi Bellomy, Suzy Taylor, Penny Matkins (grandson Rylin), Laura Heldreth, Cristi Wikstrom (children Mattie and Allie), Heather (Jenny and Poppy)
After introductions and review of the garden guidelines, special guest, Carol Peterson discussed birds, pesticides, and the food chain. She divided the children into groups of grasshoppers, rodents, and hawks. Grasshoppers collected “food” (scrapes of colored paper) and put into their “stomach” (a paper bag). Rodents then tagged the grasshoppers and collected their stomach bags, followed by the hawks who caught the rodents. The children returned to the greenhouse where the contents of the “stomachs” were analyzed. The children found out that the white paper represented clean food and the colored paper represented food polluted with pesticides. Those who “ate” food with over half containing pesticides would have died. The children learned that pesticides intended to kill insects can end up killing birds.
The children harvested fava beans and potatoes. Other groups weeded in the communal beds. The groups switched so everyone had turns weeding and harvesting. Everyone enjoyed a “bird food” snack of blueberries, sunflower seeds, and peanuts in the shell. The children reflected about how pesticides effect all wildlife and what pesticides hurt or kill besides pests, and then drew pictures of robins. The children returned to the Boys and Girls Club after their garden adventure.
Journal Quotes: What do pesticides hurt or kill besides pests?
“Perticider (sic) hurts anything that eats it.”
“Pesticides hurt other things like birds!!”
Session 3: July 17, 2013 — Bees and Wasps
Boys and Girls Club: 10 girls 6 boys; Eric Carstinson, Boys and Girls Club Staff
Adults: Barbara Nordstrom, Suzy Taylor, Penny Matkins (grandson Rylin), Laura Heldreth, Cristi Wikstrom (children Mattie and Allie), Heather and Mark (children Jenny and Poppy)
We engaged the children with silly riddles:
Why did the bee cross the road? To get to the flower. (or maybe because the other bees told him to buzz off).
What does a bee call his friend? Honey.
Knock, knock. Who’s there? Honey. Honey who? Honey Bee!
Then we discussed what the children already know about bees. We discussed bees and wasps including Mason Bees, Honey Bees, Yellow Jacket and Hornets. We stressed the benefits of pollinating by all bees and wasps and the fact that wasps help remove pests from our gardens.
Barbara read the story, Bee and Me by Elle J. McGuinness which told of a boy who was afraid of bees and learned how bees benefit the flowers and foods we eat.
Next, the children played a game that involved pointing to the correct bee or wasp in response to statements such as:
I work in the early spring and can be confused with a fly. Mason Bee
My kind are dying in huge numbers and this could effect your food supply. Honey Bee
I like the same foods you like at a picnic, especially watermelon and sweets. Yellow Jacket Don’t bother me, if you do, I can sting you many times. Wasp, Yellow Jacket, Hornet
I eat animals that are pests in your garden so that they cannot destroy your plants. Wasp, Yellow Jacket, Hornet
I want to be left alone so I can make honey. Honey Bee
Once again, dividing into groups, the children picked flowers and deadheaded in the Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden, harvested lettuce and beans, planted tomatoes, spread fertilizer on the tomatoes and zucchini, and weeded.
Last, we gather to sing the insect song, journal about what to do if see a bee or wasp (leave it alone), and enjoyed a snack of celery spread with peanut butter and drizzled with honey.
Insect Song (to the tune of BINGO)
I am an insect in this garden and this is what I’m made of:
2 antenea, compound eyes, 1-2-3-4-5-6 legs, a pair of wings so I can fly,
a head, thorax, and abdomen too.
Watch me fly over you.
Journal Quotes: Next time you see a bee, what will you do?
“Walk away and let the Bee do its thing.”
“I won’t bother them because they have a job to do too, let them work.”
“Don’t bother (sic) the bees at all.”
Session 4: July 24, 2013 — Worms
Boys and Girls Club: 6 girls, 10 boys; Lillie and Jade, assistants; Eric Carstinson, Boys and Girls Club Staff
Adults: Barbara Nordstrom, Bobbi Bellomy, Suzy Taylor, Penny Matkins (grandson Rylin), Laura Heldreth
We started the day by welcoming the children to the garden and reviewing the guidelines—take care of yourself, take care of others, and take care of the property.
Bobbi Bellomy gave a lesson on worms. She first asked the children what plants need to grow. They responded sun, water, and soil. She showed bags of clay, sand, loam, and compost then discussed the differences. She read, Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer.
Then, to the children’s delight, Bobbi gave each child a worm to watch on a sheet of paper. Everyone had a great time watching their worm wiggle and dance (now we know why they are called Red Wigglers).
The children had a look at the worm bin, where the red wigglers make compost from their poop through a process called vermiculture which we use in the garden to enrich the soil.
We divided into groups for garden tasks. Everyone weeded in the paths, in the Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden, along the strawberry bed curb while harvesting beans and lettuce, trimming the kiwis which had fallen off the trellis.
We called the children together for journaling and had a snack of cheese, crackers, apple slices and gummy worms.
Journal Quotes: What is important about worms?
“They help are (sic) plants grow well They make clay into soil by eating it and wiggleing (sic) threw (sic) it worms help make conport (sic) a conpost helps plants. Yay worms.
“Worms fertilize the soil worms loosen the dirt worms make food for plants amking food for us.”
“They fertifertizis (sic) with poop.”
Session 5: July 31, 2013 — Seeds
Boys and Girls Club: 10 girls, 5 boys; Eric Carstinson, Boys and Girls Club Staff
Adults: Bobbi Bellomy, Suzy Taylor, Penny Matkins (grandson Rylin), Laura Heldreth
We started the day by welcoming the children to the garden and reviewing the guidelines—take care of yourself, take care of others, and take care of the property. We decided to start with the garden tasks, so divided into groups to weed and spread bark on the garden paths.
After some hard work, the children were ready to settle down for the lesson on seeds. Suzy Taylor presented the lesson. She showed a poster of a bean seed opening up with a plant embryo inside. She discussed the basic parts of the plant embryo: leaf, stem and root. Each child examined a lima bean in the early stages of germination and sprouting. They were able to see the embryo by splitting the bean open. The children discovered that seeds not only come in packets purchased at stores but that seed originally come from plants and that gardeners can save seeds from their garden to plant.
Everyone enjoyed a snack of seeds including popcorn, sunflower seeds, puffed wheat plus Clementines. Then the children wrote their journal/reflection page and drew a picture of a plant they would like to eat with its seeds.
Journal Quotes: We can buy seeds in packets at stores or nurseries, how else can we get seeds?
“You can also get seeds by growing a garden and getting the seeds from the plants.”
“You can get seeds from some plants like beans, peas and strawberries and also you can get seeds from farmers and you can get them from your own garden.”
“You can get fruit or veggies and take out the seeds.”
Session 6: August 14, 2013 — Plant Parts We Eat
Boys and Girls Club: 9 girls 7 boys, Lillie assistant; Eric Carstinson, Boys and Girls Club Staff
Adults: Barbara Nordstrom, Bobbi Bellomy, Penny Matkins, Laura Heldreth
Barbara started the day by reviewing the Boys and Girls Club guidelines and how they relate to the garden. Then we counted off into groups and worked on spreading bark on the paths, deadheading in the Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden and harvesting bean & potatoes.
We gathered for the lesson. Barbara read Plant a Little Seed by Bonnie Christensen and pointed out the plant parts in the story. She then showed vegetables and the children responded with what parts of the plant we eat (carrots, rhubarb and celery, spinach and lettuce, broccoli, peppers and cucumbers, and sunflower seeds).
Barbara then asked questions and the children called out the correct plant part:
What holds the pollen and attracts the bees?
What are the kitchen where the food is done?
They breathe the air and catch the sun?
What anchors the plant in the ground and gather water from all around?
What gets ripe and then falls down; it holds the seeds and feeds the ground?
What is buried in the earth, and the cycle starts again with a new plants birth?
What’s an elevator growing up from the ground, the water goes up and the sugars back down?
The children enjoyed a snack of the vegetables that Barbara showed during the lesson, and the summer session ended with gifts for the adults and stickers for all the Boys & Girls Club participants.
Journal Quotes: What are your favorite vegetables? What parts of the vegetable plant so you eat? Draw your plant, be sure it has all 6 parts.
“My favorite vegetable is spinich (sic). The leaf.”
“I like carrots. I eat the root.”
“My favorite vegetable is asparagus. The part that I eat is everything.”
The 9th annual garden program came to a close.
Another great summer in the Hazel Dell School and Community Garden with the Boys & Girls Club!