End of the Year Wrap Up

So the year is coming to an end, and we are reflecting on all the things we've done so far. For example, all the weekend events we participated in. They were so much fun and a learning experience for all of us involved. We also took the chance to help the community. For example, we helped the senior center prepare their garden. They are throwing us all a BBQ on June 18th to show their appreciation. We also helped a brand new veterans housing facility plant their own rooftop garden. For our help, the manager will be thanking us with a pizza party that we are excited to have. It will be held on Friday June 8.

This past Saturday, on June 2nd, the new Riverfront Park opened, and of course we were there. We had a farm stand running there alongside the Junior Rangers who had a fun game for the kids to learn about how healthy natural foods are and how processing food affects nutrition. On Sunday June 3 we made our way to the Save Latin America Health Festival. There we also had a farm stand and our famous Junior Rangers were not far behind. Junior Rangers taught the kids there about cilantro and we even helped them plant there very own cilantro from seeds. Then they got to try it in the bean salsa dip. Everyone really enjoyed it.

This past year went by really quickly. One of our biggest achievements was getting the Jefferson Award for our youth service. Another one was the Senatorial Citation Award for our summer program completion. We also received an award for our completion of the Nutrition Program where we learned the importance of healthy living.

We might not blog for the next couple of weeks until our summer program begins again. Next week will be our last. We will go to Seaside Heights this Saturday for a beach cleanup and have an open mic night next Thursday. It is $2 and open to the public, so come share your talent and enjoy a fun evening with the community!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Guacamole!

Today we went over to Georgia King Village. When we first arrived, we went to the garden to weed and water. It started raining so our time in the garden was shortened.

We then went inside, and the first thing the kids did was wash their hands. Soon after they were all finished and we began to play a recycling game.

In the game we had three different catagories, Cardboard, Paper and Plastic. We pulled several items out of a bag and the kids had to put the items in their appropiate category. The game went pretty well.

After the game we made guacamole with the kids. They were surprised at the pit in the middle, and they thought that the avocado looked gross. Still, ost of them thought they would like the snack, and it turned out that many of them did. They all got to try it with tortilla chips, and many of them loved it.

Green smoothies at GKV

Today at Georgia King Village, it was a great day and it went by very smoothly. We had about 15 kids today and the weather was beautiful. At first we worked on our garden and showed some new kids the plants. The kids helped us water the garden and helped us weed it too.



Weeding the garden

Kids playing"red light green light"

After we finished with the garden we played a quick game of "Red Light, Green Light." All the kids had so much fun with the game that they didnt want to stop.


After the game we took the children inside to play another game. This one was one we played before and the kids seem to like it every time we play. We played enviromental Uno.

A game of Enviromental Uno

After the game we had the kids rip up thier own leaf of swiss chard and put it in the blender. After that we added some bananas, peaches, and some orange juice. The kids were amazed oh how the smoothie looked but they tried it anyway. To our surprise,all of the kids loved it and even wanted seconds. Overall it was a smooth day and we hope we get others like this.



Kids tearing up swiss chard leaves

The harvest at Bradley Court

Today at Bradley Court, we saw amazing results in the garden. Our radishes and kale are fully grown and the kids were able to take them home. The kids then planted cabbage and peppers. We didn't have enough time to give them the snack, but we will return tomorrow to make the snack and play an educational game. We had roughly about 15 kids.

Wow! We were surprised by how tall the radishes grew!



A closeup of a radish poking out of the ground



The biggest radish I've ever seen!




Let's finish weeding so that we can plant our seedlings!



Then we played Simon Says... pat your tummy and rub your head!

Planting and Cooking at GKV

Today the Juniors Rangers went to Georgia King Village. When we arrived there, one of the kids was already waiting for us. When we finally made it into the garden we had new growth with the lettuce and other veggies. As time went by more kids came. In the garden we weeded the beds and planted tomato, pepper, cabbage, and basil seedlings. They have a head start on the hardest part of growing - sprouting. The tomato seeds we planted that never sprouted, but we hope that these seedlings do well.

A child plants a cayenne pepper seedling.

Soon after we watered, we headed inside for the snack. By the time we were inside, we had gathered about 20 kids. We are thinking about moving downstairs to a bigger room if the same amount of kids keep coming. The kids washed their hands and then helped make the snack. For the snack we had leeks, sweet potatoes, and kale. We mixed them into a skillet with the help of the kids. Along with the three veggies we added olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper.

Cooking up our fresh snack!

After the snack was done cooking, the kids got to try the snack, and surprisingly a lot of them loved it. Many gave each veggie a the rating of a 5!

Digging in!

We gave the kids this fact sheet about the veggies that they tried. Maybe they will try them at home, too!

Garden work at Georgia King Village

Today at the garden we tried watering with the hose, but the pressure of the water was way too strong and it all ended up splashing on everyone. It was a relief from the heat, so we might play water games over the summer. In the garden, the radish and lettuce leaves were ready to be taken out and eaten so the kids harvested it and tried it as an appetizer before the snack. Then the kids ate their snack which was a fruit kebab. They had strawberries, bananas, kiwi and mandarin oranges. They said that if they were making their own, they would include apples, pears, watermelon, and pineapple. Hopefully they make their own at home! But they liked the one that we made for them. They all enjoyed the program and left off to fulfill an enjoyable and energetic day.

A radish a child just dug up with her bare hands!

Weeding the carrots. We are still waiting for them to be ready.

Planting bell pepper seeds where we just pulled up the radishes.

Kids are about to taste the radishes and lettuce we harvested.

Bringing Italy to Georgia King Village

On Wednesday at Georgia King Village, it was drizzling and there was fog in the air. We checked the garden, and there was a noticeable change in the growth of the vegtables. After we checked the garden, we went inside we began our activity. Initially we were going to teach the children the numbers one through ten in Italian but it was hard enough to learn from one to five. The four children that attended seemed to enjoy very much learning how to say the numbers.

Measuring garden progress

We played two Italian games in honor of Sardinia's big festival for St. Efisio, which goes on May 1 to 4. One game, one person was a witch and called out colors, then the children had to run around the room and find something of that color the witch said before the witch caught them. The second game was almost simliar to Mother May I where there was a princess who told the other kids how many steps they could take to her castle and what animal they had to act out while they walked toward her.

Learning about Italy

For the snack we made the Italian flag out of vegetables on a kebab.We used red bell peppers and little cherry tomatoes as the red, a piece of Swiss cheese as the white, and cucumbers as the green. The children seemed to like the snack, although I think that one of the kids didn't like the cheese. It was still a good, fresh snack for them!

Making kebabs with the kids

Junior Rangers made some Italian flag kebabs too!