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!

Senior Citizen Center

Tuesday May 2 ,2012 Junior Rangers and Farm Stand went to a senior citizen center home to garden. There we meet a lady who was continuing a garden that her mother started. In her mothers honor, we helped weed, water, and add mulch. In the garden there are going to be flowers, grass, and herbs. They will also have a place where you can come relax and enjoy the weather. For the next two Tuesdays we are going to continue to help with the work in the garden. We enjoy the opportunity to go out and help the community.

Earth Day in the Garden :)

This week, the Youth Gardens was pretty successful. Yesterday at Georgia King Village, the weather was windy but sunny. We are seeing impressive progress in the garden. The peas are 9 inches tall, the lettuce is 2 inches tall, the radish greens are 3 inches tall, the cabbage is 2 inches tall, and the carrots are 2 centimeters tall. We are seeing good progress, and we hope that it continues on schedule.


There were three kids at the garden at GKV, and they all had a turn to water the plants. We had to take out some dying plants in one of the barrels and we planted new seeds in the barrels. In one of the large beds, we had to take out some of the cabbage plants due to the fact that each plant needs adequate space to grow and spread their roots.

Weeding the peas at GKV

Watering the carrots at GKV

The weather at Bradley Court was a little drizzly with a lot of humidity. The progress of the garden was a lot better than we all had expected. The radishes are 6 inches, the beets are 4 inches, the kale is 6 1/2 inches, the carrots are 6 1/2 inches and the peas are 11 inches. These measurements are from the kids themselves. We started out with five kids but three more kids came along for a total of eight kids. We didn't have to water due to the fact that it was going to rain, but we let the kids water the plants to get them involved. There were a lot of weeds in multiple beds but we were able to take them out.

Measuring the peas at BC

Earth Day Activities

#TeamActivitesCrew
Junior Rangers started out the day with gardening, however after that we went straight to activity. At Georgia King Village, the kids participated in Limbo and they had a wonderful time.  Activites crew brought a large stick that was pruned off a tree at the Outdoor Learning Center. Two Junior Rangers held the stick while the kids went under. Most kids won, while the Junior Rangers lost, but what matters is that they had fun.
Sadly, it rained at Bradly Court, so we had an indoor activity. We played the True or False game with an Earth Day theme. One Junior Ranger held a True sign while another Junior Ranger held the False sign. We read statements about the earth and environment, and the kids ran to the true or false side. Some statements were funny, like, "The sky is purple." Others were less obvious, like, "Clouds are made of water." Hopefully they learned some things about the environment!

Earth Day Snacks

Sunday was Earth Day. Junior Rangers went to Georgia King Village and Bradley Court. As a part of the kitchen crew, our main focus was creating a snack for the kids that was healthy yet good and that they would enjoy. We centered the snack around Earth Day. We filled a cup with different fruits that could represent the different layers of the earth. For example, peaches and strawberries represented lava; Low Fat Honey Graham Crackers were the dirt; we used blueberries and blackberries as the water; kiwi slices stood for grass, and we used whipped cream for the clouds. The kids enjoyed the snack very much. They even asked where you buy the fruit from and how much it is. One of the children at Georgia King Village, had learned about the layers of the Earth in school and said the snack was a better way to learn because you can eat it. At Bradley Court, one girl said it was her first time trying kiwi, and she loved it. She said she was going to ask her mother to buy her some from the store.

Peaches, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and kiwi -
Earth parfaits are fun with fruit!

Making whipped cream! 

Enjoying the perfect Earth parfait!

Crushing graham crackers to represent the crust of the Earth