A Tug on My Heart

Today in the garden was a bitter sweet day. It was a learning experience not only for the children we were teaching but for ourselves. We introduced a new activity in the garden today, but first we reviewed a previous lesson plan on, "Parts of the Plant." The kids all jumped to answer our review questions on the roots, stem, leaves, flower and seeds and what their function was. I was so pleased to see how familiar the kids were with what we had taught them, it made me feel a sense of accomplishment. We then instructed the kids to go into the garden and, "pick a plant to draw on their clipboard." I soon learned how important choice of words was when I started seeing some of the kids literally "picking" peppers off of the plants instead of "choosing" a plant to draw. Once we cleared the misunderstanding up the kids sweetly apologized. In that moment I realized as their instructor it was my responsibility to instruct them properly and even when I failed they were the one's who apologized and looked up at me with an innocent smile and tugged on my heart. I can't express how attached I have become to the Edible Peace Patch and each child that comes out to bless me with an amazing experience I had never anticipated as a college student at Eckerd College before taking this class with Kip Curtis. The Edible Peace Patch has opened up new doors for my future and I truly believe for each of the kids that have the opportunity to visit the garden.

God Bless,

       Kelsey

Weekly Words

I got to the garden a little early today, my head full of the future. A lot of my friends are graduating this year, but I'm a bit behind. I would guess that I've probably been thinking just as much as they have about what's next, though. It's strange to imagine my days without books, labs, and note-taking, since I have been in school as long as I can remember. The one thing I can't imagine myself giving up is this garden. Working at the Edible Peace Patch during the week makes me feel useful. I'm watching the growth of the fruits and vegetables of my labor. And the best part about them is that they're healthy and edible. I noticed this little lizard hanging out on Florida's state tree, the cabbage palm, as I was watering it. He let me take lots of pictures of him. I'd like to think he could sense that I didn't want to hurt him, that my mind was elsewhere, but he was probably just soaking up the sun.

As I walked around, I discovered that things are still thriving in the Lakewood soil. We harvested eight papayas today, one big squash, snow peas, lots of broccoli, and a few beach sunflowers, just for fun.

Then the students came to the garden. They really impressed me this week. Our second grade class had already learned a lot about the water cycle and they answered all of our questions easily. They even had questions to ask us. One student asked, "Where does water come from?" and another wanted to know, "Was there water before the dinosaurs got here?" We gave them broccoli and snow peas as a reward. Most of the kids seemed to like the snow peas, but lots of sour faces were made in response to broccoli. 

"Can we go explore the garden?" they wanted to know. And they asked right away about the beans and the pineapples. We showed them a big squash (see above) before we picked it, and looked at the cucumbers that were starting to grow. One student asked, "Hey, where the pickles at?"so I explained that cucumbers are the first step. They all seemed a little more interested after that. This brings me to dill. The kids in my class have been especially excited about dill lately. I have heard some say it tastes spicy, and today, someone even told me it tasted like gum. I'm glad to help them broaden their food horizons, and herbs and spices are a great way to start. Today I really felt like the kids couldn't get enough. Our kindergarteners wanted to get directly involved. They worked on their watering and sharing techniques (pictured below). 

I always leave the garden feeling tired, but content. I don't know if I'm meant to teach forever, but I know that I will be able to grow my own food as long as my body can handle it. I'm happy to pass on some know-how to these little ones so they consider growing their own gardens too. The kids were begging me for a papaya so they could use the seeds to start their own little tree. I'm glad we are least making them curious enough to their hands dirty. In the art of gardening, we know that's the only way to really learn. 

Happy Tuesday, 

Emily Bornhop

Bright Days in the Garden!

Today, for our maintenance shift we arrived to a logbook with a number of things to do that we were excited to get started on! Our first task was to remove the pole bean plants from beds 4 and 13, then chop and rake parts of the plants back into the soil and then soak the soil in hopes to bring more nutrients (a technique that I am now well versed in after having to do it a couple weeks ago). Colby and I got started on this while Liz began watering the garden.

Colby beginning her work on bed 13

I am still amazed every time I come to the garden at how much the plants are growing and how beautiful they are becoming. Although I know scientifically how the plants grow, I still ask myself every time "How is this all happening right before our eyes every week?" There are about six or seven pineapples emerging, with two of them being well along into the process, the broccoli plants are HUGE and almost ready for harvesting (I also had no idea that broccoli grew the way it did, and was very baffled and excited when I first saw them), peppers are starting to grow,  the sunflowers are getting taller and taller with large leaves, the corn is almost at my hips and so much more, it's incredible!

The HUGE broccoli!

Peppers!

Sunflowers!

This project has really made me want to grow my own garden after graduating, it's an amazing process to watch and grow food and then eat it! After finishing beds 4 and 13 (and snacking on some of the delicious green beans) Colby and I worked on the rest of the tasks while Liz finished watering. It feels amazing working in the garden in the warm weather again, it makes the work that much more enjoyable, and we're getting sun tans in the proccess!

The largest pineapple and a ladybug friend

The garden always puts a good start to my day and I always leave with a smile!

Breege

Spring at Lakewood

It had been two weeks since I had been to the Lakewood garden until my shift today. Liz (pictured below) and I both were happy to be back in the glorious garden. Especially with the return of the warm, sunny St. Pete. weather we know and love.

Broccoli, pineapples, pole beans, and peppers are beginning to thrive. I noticed the sunflower stalks had grown about six inches, and I was surprised by how tall the corn was. We even found some lettuce (photo below) volunteers outside of the beds. Seems like even the sandy soil is a happy place for our plants.

I had almost forgotten how sweet and smart our kids were. We had two classes out during my shift, kindergarten and second grade. I expected craziness, since the kids were on spring break last week and didn't get to come out to the garden. Instead, both classes were really focused and eager to answer the questions we had for them. Since there was no new lesson this week, we reviewed, and I was very impressed by everything that the kids remembered about the parts of the plant, seeds, and soil.

The earlier shift took care of weeding and most of the day's watering, so Liz and I gave some T.L.C. to the milkweed, pineapples, beach sunflower, and native plants. Two pineapples made the transition from flower to fruit since my last visit (see below), and three or so more have started to flower. I couldn't stop talking about how cute they were while I watered the. The kids thought they were pretty cool too. They were fooled by the pineapples, thinking the flowers and fruit would be sharp. Really, the leaves are what you have to watch out for.

We spent most of time pruning the milkweed (also pictured below), which attracts, but is currently covered in tiny yellow aphids that are killing the plants. We had to make a few sacrifices, but we hope that all of our snipping and squishing will revive the milkweed. Next time I'll come to the garden armed with vinegar for any stubborn little survivors. Hopefully the ladybugs, one of their natural predators, will eat the ones we didn't catch today.

Luckily, a few butterflies are still hanging out on the other side of the garden. 

Until next time,

Emily Bornhop

The Fruit of Our Labor

Today was quite a busy day at the Lakewood Elementary School Garden where we had two guest classes join us in the garden as well as our assigned class for the day. Mrs. Housel's pre-K class came out this morning to explore the garden's insect habitat and found that the garden was home to many different types of bugs and spiders.

(Mrs. Housel's pre-K class discovering a butterfly in the garden)

 Our other guest class today was Mrs. Garcia's pre-K class who came out to inspect the growth of the beloved pineapple plants and flourishing greens!

(Mrs. Garcia's pre-K class investigating the growing plants and flowers in the garden)

Mrs. Barlow's kindergarden class came out for their lesson on the parts of a plant today, but due to lucky timing, came away with understanding the papaya from the ground up and the inside out. Lilian, Gracie, and I were fortunate enough to be working at Lakewood just as one of the papaya's ripened enough to eat. This unique timing was a great opportunity to show the kids the changes a fruit, plant, or vegetable undergoes to tell us it's ready for us to eat such as the green to yellow color change papayas undergo. Lucky for us, we got to enjoy this yummy fruit too!

(Mrs. Barlow's Kindergarden class eager to answer questions about plant growth and changes)

(Lilian showing the exterior color change of the ripened papaya)

(Gracie enjoying the fruit of our labor :)

(Lilian inspecting the green beans)

(Gracie watering the plants. Every shift requires general maintenance too!)

Andréa Martin

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Today has been a rather gloomy day in St.Petersburg. There have been consistently grey skies with rain on and off all morning and afternoon. Luckily we were able to get out for our 1-3 shift this afternoon to continue to beautify the garden and check up on all the plants! The plants received a well deserved rainfall, meaning we did not need to water. I could immediately notice a difference from last week in the plants size. From the squash to the radishes, everything has grown a considerable amount.

Baby Radish!

Squash

It is really phenomenal that the different fruits and veggies are doing so well. I am personally excited for the students to come out to the garden and also notice a difference and begin to conceptualize what these once small seeds are turning into. Aside from the squash and radishes, the baby pineapple and green beans are growing too!

Baby Pineapple

Green Beans

Even though it was quite ominous out today and no students came out we still had a successful afternoon of weeding and thinning the plants. Like previously stated, I am beyond anxious to see what the kids say when the come out and then in a couple weeks begin to harvest the plants!

Gracie Van Huffel

Soils, Roly Polies & Spiders, Oh My!

Today was another wonderful day at the Lakewood garden, and it was great to have the warmth back again! Katy and I arrived with the biggest project in the log book being to remove the bush beans from bed 8 and then chop and rake them throughout the bed and then giving it a good soak. We were a little confused as how exactly to approach this task since it was a technique that neither Katy or myself were familiar with, so of course we gave the wonderful Robin a call! She explained exactly how to go throughout the process and how it's supposed to make the soil more fertile with nutrients from the dead plants and then we were off to do it.

Bed 8 before uprooting and chopping!

We had gotten all the plants removed from the ground when our wonderful Kindergarten class showed up! This weeks lesson is all about soils, so we began reviewing the parts of the plant quickly (which they remembered extremely well) which we led into the different kinds of soils. This lesson was a bit harder for the students to comprehend, but we made the best of it and I feel they left knowing more about soil than they knew before, deeming the lesson successful. 

Katy having her group feel the soil

We began feeling the different kinds of soils, the sand, the dirt around the beds, the fertile soil inside the beds and the compost and had the students tell us what the differences were between the different kinds. Some answers were really accurate and some answers made me giggle. I truly love listening to kids and the way they think and believe in the statement that "kids say the darndest things." This project along with working at a summer camp this past summer has helped me solidify my decision to work with children after graduation.

My group beginning to search for bugs in bed 8

After observing the different soils and how water interacts with each of them, the students started getting antsy, so I decided to go straight for the bug section of the lesson. I asked them what else could possibly live in the soil along with the plants? I got many excited yells of "Bugs!" along with "Water!" and even one "Poop!" which gave me a great chuckle. I assured them that they were all correct, but the answer I mainly was looking for was bugs. I asked how bugs could help the soil grow plants, and a bright young boy shouted out the answer right away saying that the bugs dig through the soil to help move it around and give it air. I was excited and surprised that he knew the answer since it was a struggle before getting them to understand how the soil works. I then sent them to the freshly pulled up bed 8 on the search for bugs and had them talk about how the bugs interacted with the soil. They did a great job along with many screams of excitement and fear.

The spider that graced us with his presence!

After the students left, Katy and I finished up chopping up the bush beans and mixing it throughout the bed. While watering, I had a very similar situation that some of the kids did with the bugs; a very large spider crawled up from the middle of the bed and darted right towards me! I unexpectedly let out a very loud scream, and then let him go on his way towards the pineapples.

The finished bed 8 in hopes to bring nutrient rich soil!

Katy and I then did some small housekeeping things around the garden, reflecting on how silly and great the kids are until our shift ended.

Sunflower sprout about two weeks in! I plan to take pictures
of the same plant throughout the semester to be able to
document the growing process and make a cool time lapse!

Another great garden day for the books!

Breege

A Beautiful Day In The Garden

The Lakewood Elementary School garden got some extra TCL today when our kindergarden class was  unfortunately unable to come out to the garden and our was spent as a maintenance shift. Although still a bit chilly, the sun was shining and it was beautiful out in the garden, so spending some extra time tending directly to the plants was a pleasure.

Walking around the garden throughout our shift we came up with some ideas we had such as repainting the perimeter of the beds as a way to bring more art into the garden, beautify the man-made parts of the garden, and to get the kids involved in a fun art project that they would be leaving in their garden for years to come.

Leaving the garden today, I was grateful to have spent so much time weeding and just being in the garden since it's always so relaxing, especially after a stressful week of college work and projects.

Andrea Martin

Beautifying!

It was a beautiful in the garden today! There were no classes in the garden this afternoon so we dedicated the entire time to cleaning up and making sure everything was picturesque. Taylor, Emily, and i weeded and watered the entire garden, including the newly planted squash plants in the Three Sisters bed!

Three Sisters bed

  

We also cleaned up the compost pile which was cluttered with harmful plastic pieces and scraps. It is important to keep the compost clean so it continues to generate healthy, nutritious soil for our old and new plants.

 

 

The Compost Pile

While raking and clearing the compost we could not help but notice all of the beautiful Monarch butterflies and bumblebee's pollinating a variety of our flowers, such as the pristine Black-Eye Susan's.

Black-Eyed Susan's

Many things are starting to bloom quite rapidly in the garden, such as Collard Greens. Many of the kids love having one of us teachers pull a piece off and letting them try some!

Collard Greens

Aside from the Collard's our Papaya tree is growing so fast! All of the kids that come out are so excited to finally crack out one of these large fruits.

Papaya's!

Yet again another eventful and successful day in the garden!

Gracie Van Huffel

Seed Lesson With a Side of Green Beans

Liz and I began our day at Lakewood getting our lesson together for the kids while attempting to bear the cold. It was the big seed planting day and we weren't sure how many classes we'd get out with the  dreary weather. While waiting for them and weeding, we discovered that the bean plants were burgeoning despite the dozens and dozens we collected last Friday.

We were very excited to have something to harvest

This little surprise offered a great addition to our lesson. While asking the children questions about the seeds, we were able to show them the seeds inside the pods, exemplifying the full circle of seed life. Our first grade class was impeccably knowledgable about seeds and the way they grow, so the lesson was very exciting for them.

Each question was met by a sea of raised hands, and the students seemed to really enjoy explaining the process of a seed growing roots down and the plant growing up. They also were well versed in the necessities of keeping a seed and plant healthy, so I trust that we will have sprouted plants when the class brings their potted seeds back next week.

Although they love to get outside, walk around, and see what's growing in their garden (because it has been established in all our classes that these kids do in fact like to take ownership for it), I think their favorite part was getting to take a green bean with them. It was alI we could do to keep them from taking the whole pile from the table the instant they saw them. It was amazing to see children so eager to eat something so very green and untouched by anything that could mask its flavor. These kids wanted to eat a raw, dirty vegetable, and it was truly a beautiful sight.

Just one of the many treasures you can find in the garden

Can't wait to see what next week has for us here!
Cleo

Necessity of Nourishment

Sally, Alix, and I arrived at Lakewood Elementary this morning, and the administration office looked a bit surprised to see us, given that it's dismally grey outside and under the warning of a tornado watch. "We still wanted to come," I said. If any kids had happened to come out and we hadn't of shown up, they would have lost interest in the garden in the long term. We walked through the hallways, giving high-fives to familiar faces and responding to their excitement, and head out to the garden.

 This part always intrigues me because, being a garden, you never know what to expect walking in each day. New seeds are planted, some flowers may have withered, or fruits may be ready to pick. Today proved no different, showing me how much everything has grown so far in the few weeks we've been working here. The picture to the right shows how the Lakewood Edible Peace Patch is coming along on the morning of February 26th, 2013. 

We began to prepare for the classes, while in the back of our heads we keep wondering how this weather is going to effect the day. We start to hear pitter patters on the tin roof of the shed and are about to pack up and call it a raincheck when out proudly marches our first class of the day, the first graders. So we begin our planned lesson, splitting the class into three small groups (the same ones they had been split into last week) and try to remember names. I hold out my hand that is full of three different types of seeds: squash, beans, and corn. 

I first ask the kids if they knew what I had in my hand, and they all responded, saying they were in fact seeds, and that "These are what we need to put in the ground to make things grow!" "Exactly," I tell them. "Do you know what kinds of seeds these are?" The responses I got ranged from blueberries, to lemons, to different assortments of flowers. I asked how they knew the differences between the different kinds of seeds, and they named all of the correct answers, including color, shape, and size. We eventually worked together and specified which seed is which, followed by my question of where the seeds were located in the garden.

My group wasn't exactly sure about the beans and squash, but could remember the corn from the week before (pictured left). I think they remembered the uniquely circular shape of the bed that the corn is planted in. I told my group how not all corn was the standard yellow that they're used to, because the seeds we had were a deep red/violet (which is why they were mistaken for blueberries.) Also, the kids were excited to see growth in the corn plants from the week before, and wanted to know when they would be ready to eat. The rain started to come down a little, and my team didn't miss an opportunity to distract themselves, quickly pointing it out. "It's good!" I said. "We need some rain to help the garden grow; it's necessary nourishment." We ended up losing track of time from all of the interest in the seeds that we didn't get to plant the seeds together, but Sally, Alix, and I did put together a small pot of the planted seeds to give them when we see them next. Before they left though, I was able to get a picture of team blue proudly showing off the seeds they learned about today.

Unfortunately, we were rained out of the next two classes, but I'm glad we had to chance to meet with the first one again. It was great reconnecting with the kids over such a great project.

Until next time, Team Blue leader,
Andy