Sunny Florida Monday!

It was another cool and beautiful monday morning at the patch! The ground was damp, the plants were moist and happy, and the sun was just starting to warm up as the independent study students briefed the volunteers on the weeks lesson plan. Young minds will start to stretch as we get the kids planting their own seeds and thinking about how plants grow and get their food.

As the morning started to heat up, a strange new visitor appeared next to one of the beds...

This harmless orange slime mould, which finds moist decaying wood to be delicious, sparked interest with the children as they described it as "cheese," among other things. However, in the garden we take every opportunity to teach we can get, and this mould created interest which led to some interesting discussion on how all life forms need to "eat."

Things are really starting to brighten up as the beds are almost completely painted, and the vegetables seem to be responding to all the attention with remarkable growth.

The spinach is doing incredibly well, having almost doubled in size since last week.

With a little free time between classes, Erin finds her "peace of the patch" next to the collard greens with a paintbrush. A little color really has gone a long way in the garden.

After Christina P. lead a very exciting game of "tomato tomato cucumber" (a spinoff of duck duck goose), she makes use of her time by giving the sunflowers a little love.

All in all, it was a really great start to the week. The kids were very excited to get their hands dirty and the peace was spread throughout.

All Good Medicine.

Max Shindler,

Student Volunteer