I have to be honest that I wasn’t actually at the 3rd week of Kids in the Garden.  I was lucky enough to get into a quilting class taught by Victoria Findlay Wolfe that day.  So, I’m working off Diane’s notes for this blog post…

The kids started out by the rain gauge to see that we’ve had 5” of rain since last week…quite a bit of change since the 2012 season.

Next – it was time to measure the sunflowers.  This week 3 of the sunflowers measured in at 7”, 9” and 6”.  The main talk of today was about edible flowers.  Please remember – only eat a flower, plant or berry that you find outside if a knowledgeable adult tells you they’re okay to eat.  Never just eat something because it looks pretty or you’re curious.

Different flower’s that are edible:

• Bachelor Buttons
• Borage
• Calendula
• Carnation
• Chamomille
• chive
• daylily
• garlic
• lavender
• marigold
• mints
• nasturtium
• scabiosa
• stock
• viola

Three flowers were sampled by the children.  The poll showed that 11 kids liked the pansy and 1 did not, 7 liked the bachelor buttons and 5 did not and that 8 children liked the Nasturtium and 4 did not.

Edible flowers weren’t the only thing on the menu.  The children also helped gather mint leaves.  They got to taste chocolate milk with mint.  It looks like 12 kids liked it and one did not.

Once snacking was done – any of the leafy extra’s were fed to the goats.

The rest of the gardens had to be checked on as well to see how they were growing and if any work needed to be done in the gardens.  I’m hoping Diane can fill in on anything exciting happened in this portion of the afternoon…

 

Burr Oaks Garden LLC Visit

Anyway – don’t forget! THIS MONDAY, July 1st, we’re taking a little field trip to the CSA Burr Oaks Gardens, LLC to find out more about how community supported agriculture works.  We’re all going to meet at 9:00 at:

 

Burr Oak Gardens

W5511 County Road B

Rio, WI 53955

 

please send me an email at:  lapaceksorchard {at} gmail {dot} com to let me know if you’re coming.  If you forget to let me know and decide to come last minute that’s just fine too! 

We had beautiful weather for our second week of Kids in the Garden!  The number of kids attending wasn’t super high but many were busy at ‘Camp Invention’ this week and we managed to have fun either way!

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We started with a quick poll about last week’s snack, scrambled eggs with basil and 6 kids liked them, 2 thought they were okay and just 1 didn’t like them.  I would call that a success. 

 

Next – it was time to visit the garden.  We visited our sunflowers first.  This week we measured 3 plants.  One was 2”, another 5” and a third 4”.  They’re growing!

We had to go visit another garden so we could start collection produce for our snack.  First we saw broom corn, sweet corn, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage which are all still growing and not ready for eating.  We were able to pick some yummy kohlrabi’s and fresh lettuce that the kids would get to try in just a bit. 

Then we headed back to the garden by the goats were we checked out the onions and the different pea plants.  The kids counted how many potatoes were growing in the buckets and we have 15 to 16 success stories so far.  Capri was kind enough to pick a few of the radishes growing in her garden for us to try out and the kids picked a few more out of our garden.

Now it was time for our snack!  we cut up the lettuce, kohlrabi and radishes for the kids to all try.  We like that the kids at the very least try the snack…we never make them eat it all if they don’t like it (we have goats to finish anything off) but it’s great when a child discovers that they do like something they thought they didn’t! 

Since vegetables aren’t always the tastiest just by themselves we wanted the kids to try out a few ‘dip its’ to add to the flavor of the veggies.  We tried them with peanut butter, ranch and salt. 

The results – 6 kids would have kohlrabi again, 2 would not.  All 8 would have the lettuce again.  4 liked the radishes and 4 did not like the radishes (5 in the not like if you count me…but I did like the kohlrabi!)  In was unanimous that the kids enjoyed all the ‘dip its’ on their veggies.

It was getting a little warm at this time so the kids either took a break to play or feed the goats the leaves from the veggies we picked for sampling. 

Once our break was done we checked out the small strawberry patch we have…maybe samples next week…I know my fingers are crossed!  Then we had to go and visit the other fruit trees on our farm that aren’t apples.  Plums (we might be getting 2 plums this year), peaches…also very sparse in the fruit department, cherry – we just planted one tree this year for Capri, and I’m happy to report the pear trees are just loaded!

Last stop before the day was done was to see what was happening at the pumpkin patch so far.  Not much other than they’re starting to sprout.  it will be fun to watch the patch grow and develop over the next few weeks!

 

Does this sound like fun?  Bring your child next week Wednesday from 2:00 – 3:30.  Drop in’s are welcome at just $5/kid/day.

Download the Week 2 Worksheet for your child to complete (100% optional) and bring it back next week by clicking HERE.

Thanks to everyone who came out for our second day and for being patient having me as the leader!   I’m happy to say that Diane will be back next week and for the remainder of the summer to head the class. 

Amazingly we managed to avoid rain and storms for our first week of 'Kids in the Garden’.

We saw lots of familiar faces and welcomed new ones into our group.   The kids started by meeting the animals and getting a ‘low down’ on what was going to happen this summer.  Next – they planted some beans to climb up the old play set.  It seems that kids always like when they get to play in dirt.

Next – it was time to get together our ‘garden treat’ for the day.  We sent the kids into the chicken coop to each gather an egg.  It was a first for many.  Next – they each picked a leaf of basil.  The kids split into two groups – one for cracking and scrambling the eggs and the other for chopping up the basil.  Once Diane friend up the eggs the kids got to each try a little cup of fresh from the coop scrambled eggs with a little basil and salt and pepper for seasoning.

 

I’m pretty sure Jason enjoyed the eggs.  He politely went back for seconds…four times! 

Once the treat was done we gave the kids a little break and then it was time to visit the gardens.  The kids measured the sunflowers at 1” tall.  It will be fun to track their growth – hopefully with some rain this year. 

As a little treat – all the kids that came to the first day of ‘Kids in the Garden’ got to take home a potted ever bearing strawberry plant that they can raise and take care of at home this summer. 

We ended the day by checking out the snapping turtle that had made it’s way into our front yard while we were gardening. Frank and Diane returned him to the marsh down the road on their way home from our house that night.

Does this sound like fun?  Bring your child next week Wednesday from 2:00 – 3:30.  Drop in’s are welcome at just $5/kid/day. 

Download the Week 1 Worksheet for your child to complete (100% optional) and bring it back next week by clicking HERE. 

Thanks to everyone who came out for our first day!  It’s going to be a great summer in the garden!

It’s time!  Kid’s in the Garden is starting today – Rain or Shine! 

It’s not too late to sign your kids up!  In fact – this season – it’s never too late!  You can either pay for the whole season OR you can drop in and pay just $5/kid/session.

You can read more about all the fun we have planned HERE. 

The first 30 kids to join us today will get a strawberry plant to take home too!  Don’t let the rain keep you home – I promise we’ll keep you busy!

 

Summer Hours

Yes – this year there will be Summer Hours at the Orchard.

We’re going to be open on Wednesday’s from 1:30pm to 4:30pm.  If you can’t make it at that time feel free to give me a call to set something up!

What will we have?  Well – you can stock up on honey, maple syrup, canned goods, soy candles, and do gift shopping.  No apples yet but we are growing lots of veggies and sometimes we have extra’s – I’ll keep you posted when/if/what we have for sale throughout the summer!

 

We’ll see you at the orchard!