Healing Herbs, Tasteful Tonics and Ravishing Recipes

Children's health is one of the most important topics of conversation especially now that obesity rates are on the rise and health problems that were once thought to only affect adults are being diagnosed in young children. Dr. Kate Appleton, ND, facilitated a wonderful workshop at Kids Grow to uncover myths about children's diets, claiming that they love to eat healthfully and that living a healthy lifestyle as a family is definitely plausible in today's processed, industrialized and newly-shaped food market. Yes, sometimes you will have to make use of sheer creativity or sneakiness to add the specific herbs, roots and tonics to your favourite recipes, but the benefits can go a long way. She shared some delicious alternative recipes for common household favourites that will be sure to meet nutritional requirements without having your children spit it out, push away plates or make funny faces.

Pretty in Pink Lemonade

1/4 cup liquid sweetener (pure maple syrup or honey)
1 Tbsp freshly chopped ginger
1 cup boiled water
2-4 thin slices raw beets
2.5 cups cold water
minced fresh peppermint leaves
1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions: Place the sweetener and ginger in a 1 litre glass jar. Pour in the just boiled water and let steep for 5 to 10 minutes before adding the beet slices. Add the water, peppermint and lemon juice.

Fruit Balls

1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup dried prunes
1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Directions: Slowly grind all ingredients except the coconut in a blender or food processor. Add a little water as needed to form a sticky dough. Form into 2-inch balls and roll in the coconut.


At Silver Springs, we harvested our potatoes. The children and families engaged in an afternoon of hard work pulling out the withering away potato plants and then digging deep into the rich soil to uncover hidden edible gems! The children each got one to take home in appreciation of their hard work that day and the rest, totalling to 37 pounds were donated to the Calgary Food Bank.We held a discussion about the importance of giving back to the community. Those who visit the food bank are often greeted with an abundance of packaged, processed and non-perishable goods. By making a donation of fresh, local and organic produce, we are making a statement about the right of every Calgarian citizen no matter what situation they are in, where they live or what they look like to have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Potatoes are also a staple in diets around the world regardless of  place, culture and age and they can be prepared and consumed in so many different ways!

Organic Detergents and Harvest-Time!

We'll whisper it... summer is slowly, gently drawing to a close, but there's no need to start worrying for now because our garden has also grown from the tiny seeds that we'd planted all that time ago into luscious, green plants ready for harvest!

Hey there, little guy! Where did you come from?

After examining our plot, we began the day with an activity that was really central to the theme today -- "Going Green!" Using a fairly simple combination of water, vinegar, lemon zest, and some essential oils for added 'freshness,' we made our very own organic detergent, bottled-up and ready for use!
Then it was snack-time and today we had quite the nutritious treat in store for everyone -- ants-on-a-log! Spread some almond-and-cashew-butter on some slices of celery sticks and sprinkle some raisins on top and you have yourself a wonderfully delicious snack!

Putting some 'ants' on a 'log' -- note our little bottles of organic detergent too!

With our tummies all full, we then decided to read through a little bit of "The Lorax" in the shade to continue our environmental theme.

Reading "The Lorax" on a carpet of green!

Then it was time for some games! Firstly, we played a little guess-the-card game where one person had to guess what card they had on their head with only the actions of the other players to help them out!

"Guess what I am?"

This was followed by our own very own "tree-hugger-game," created at the request of one of our kids at an earlier event. The premise being that one player would be lead blindfolded to a tree in the garden/orchard and using their sense of touch and maybe also how the tree 'hugs' you, you would then have to find your way back to the 'tree' when the blindfold was removed.

The players are led to their tree

"There is an interesting texture to this tree"

 Over at the Sunnyside location, we also had a chance to test out our observational skills as we went around the garden seeing what compositions we could come up of the wonderful produce waiting to be harvested!

Rohan displays his pumpkin drawing!

Cassandra's butterflies float through her drawing of the garden!

From Garden to Table

Did you know that Food Miles are the distance your food has traveled since it was created until it reaches your shopping cart as a consumer? The longer the distance your food traveled to get to your plate, the greater harm to the environment, the more chances the farmer is losing out on profits and money is going to manufacturers, and the more likely it is that chemicals and other harmful substances were used to prepare the goods for long bouts of travel. It is beyond amazing to think of the sheer accessibility of food we have today as we browse through the supermarket. We have access to exotic goods including fresh figs, avocados, mangoes, dragon fruit and just to name a few. Enjoying the benefits of world trade should not certainly cause you shame, as buying these goods is simply enjoying the benefits of living in today's world. However, when possible, buy Fair Trade so that the the profits are at least reaching the farmers and those who actually go through the physical labour of growing, caring for and harvesting your produce. Reliance on this food poses serious threats to our sustainability as a city and greater country, and forces farmers to use alternative and unsafe methods of food production to ensure travel and shelf life. Buying locally produced goods and/or growing your own food will help to reduce your food miles significantly. Check out this great book from the Calgary Public Library entitled 'How did that get in my Lunchbox?" by Lucia Gaggoti about the story of how food travels from farm to table.

Many people think that growing your own food in Calgary is too challenging, not possible or not worth it considering the short growing season as compared to other warmer and more tropical climates around the world. Today, there are over 100 community gardens present in Calgary and the participants prove the breadth, quality and variety of produce that can be grown quite easily in our climate. This Saturday, August 9th at Kids Grow, we were very fortunate to have Poppy Innovations come out to facilitate workshops at both garden locations on nourishment from edible greens from the garden. Both adults and children were surprised to hear about some of the edible greens in the garden that are commonly thrown out. Did you know that you can consume beet, radish and carrot leaves? We've heard that they are all great in salads, beet leaves can be especially tasty in a casserole and carrot leaves make a mean pesto!



After an information session on the health benefits of consuming these commonly grown greens, we harvested some of our garden plot to make a delicious garden salad together. Ingredients included swiss chard, kale, beet leaves, spinach, sweet peas and raspberries. We then prepared a hearty vinaigrette made from red wine vinegar, olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper to dress our salad. After consuming our delicious treat, we made individual tea sachets full of freshly grown mint, coriander and raspberries to add to water for an alternative to sugary drink mixes we often consume during the summertime. We sincerely thank Sharon and Karyn from Poppy Innovations for coming out and spending the day with Kids Grow!

Poppy Innovations is hosting a 'Healthy Selfie' campaign. Take a selfie of you or your family engaging in a healthy activity such as gardening, eating healthful food or exercising and share it on their Facebook page. If your picture gets the most likes, you could win a FujiFilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Camera! Poppy Innovations also offers cooking classes for families starting in the Fall. For more information about the organization, please visit their website here.

It's time for a scavenger hunt!

Upon visiting the garden this week, we noticed that our garden beds were covered in a luscious forest of greenery. After weeks of hot and dry weather, lots of garden maintenance was required in order to ensure the ultimate well-being of our beloved Kids Grow garden plot. We started with some pruning of our spinach as they had all gone to flower. Did you know that spinach plants are more likely to bolt in hot weather? It is a self defence mechanism to make sure that if all the leaves dry up, the flowers will produce enough pollen to grow a new plant if necessary. If we let the plants go to flower, all of the plant's energy goes into producing the flowers and in turn, the leaves grow small and taste quite bitter. We snipped off the flowers to make sure all of the plant's energy is making it's way to the producing large, dark green and tasty leaves. The kids took turns to water the garden and also lent a helping hand by watering any of the plots in the community garden that belonged to vacationers or those unable to come out to the garden and water on a regular basis. After all, it is a community garden and we want to make sure we can do everything we can to help out our fellow community garden members! One of our garden plots at Silver Springs is home to an emerging pumpkin patch. We lovingly watered these plants with great care as to be careful not to get too much water on the leaves. It water sits on the leaves in the hot sun, they can be singed and in very wet conditions, mould has a more suitable environment to grow. 

Following our gardening segment, we decided to read a story, in fact a guessing game, about plant identification! This was in preparation for our scavenger hunt in which the children and their families were asked to search the garden for various greens, veggies, flowers and berries! For some extra excitement, we also asked the kids to retrieve scattered puzzle pieces around the garden/orchard to build our mystery puzzle in conclusion of the day's adventure. A lot about plant growth was learned at this event, especially when our participants had trouble finding potatoes and beets in the garden! We also asked families to find some fun artifacts such as a crazy hamster (picture found below), a ken doll doing the splits and a pig wearing earrings. The kids searched high and low, far and near for all of the items on the list and were able to find almost everything. We also had them on a hunt for nature's creatures; a worm, a beetle and an ant. We had to pur our thinking caps on to find these creatures, as they aren't always visible to us wherever we look. After checking under rocks for beetles, digging in the ground for worms and peeking into cracks on the sidewalk for ants, we were successful in finding all the items on our list!

Since we've had some picky eaters at Kids Grow, especially in the department of vegetables, one of our awesome team members created rainbow cards for each child that pose the following question: Can you taste the colours of the rainbow this summer? The purpose of these cards is to encourage trying new vegetables in the garden and embracing new looks, flavours and textures. This week, we shared a snack of mini cucumbers and French Breakfast radishes. At Sunnyside, the kids were able to add fresh raspberries from the communal plot to the our snack and at Silver Springs, we were lucky to try some new varieties of berries and delicious, mouth-watering snap peas.  Our day ended some exciting games of 'Fruit Salad' and 'Capture the Crops' and of course our weekly sharing circle to share our favourite part of the day!

You don't have to be an plant expert or hiking enthusiast to take a nature walk. Go on a hunt outdoors, spend some time in the sun and make time to appreciate the wonderful creations of nature that surround you.