The Good, the Bad and the Bugly- All about pests!

Today at Kids Grow! we learned all about garden pests and helpers. We started out the day at Hillhurst Sunnyside, weeding our garden and taking a look at some of its residents, including a daddy long legs, some ants, and lots of bumble bees! After working on the garden, we headed over to the orchard to get started on some crafts and activities. First, we talked about garden pests and helpers, sorting insects and animals into 'Garden Helpers' and 'Garden Pests'. It's important to talk about how we treat all organisms in the garden; both helpful ones and hurtful ones. Spraying gardens with harsh chemicals and pesticides can have unintended effects, so we talked about other methods of dealing with pests. A great way to keep pesky birds from eating gardens is to set up a pinwheel to scare them away, so for today's craft, we made our own home made pinwheels!

Decorating our pinwheels!

Everyone started decorating their pinwheels with colourful drawings before assembling them. The results were beautiful, and everyone had a great time making them!


After finishing our pinwheels, we played a game of 'Farmers and Pests' in the orchard. Stealing all the farmer's food worked up an appetite for the animals, so we took a break for a healthy and delicious snack of grape tomatoes and cucumber slices. After another game of 'Farmers and Pests', it was time to say goodbye in Sunnyside Hillhurst until next Saturday's wrap-up. What a great morning!

In Silver Springs, the garden is looking amazing! There were lots of beans, carrots, beets, squash, pumpkins, and zucchini all ready to be harvested! After going through the day's crafts and activities, we went on a search in the garden for 'helpers' and 'pests', and we found some bumble bees, which help with pollination, and wasps, which (despite their bad reputation) help to clean up decomposing materials. After checking out some more great facts about bugs, we got to harvest a pumpkin, lots of carrots, and some beets! With so much produce left at the garden, we hope to see lots of people at next week's wrap-up so everyone can take something yummy home!

We'll see you next week!