Friends of the Garden

Our garden is still empty but we're hoping to see some sprouts soon! While we are patiently waiting for our garden to turn from dirt and seeds into lusciously green edibles, we spent the day learning about garden pests vs garden helpers. As both the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Garden and the Silver Springs Edible Garden both operate on a strictly organic basis, pests become a major concern; digging up and eating our crops, nipping holes in the leaves of our greens and stealing nutrients our plants require to survive. The children and parents learned a lot about which bugs and creatures we want to attract to our garden and which ones might be inhibiting the growth or overall health of our plants. Did you know that spiders are good for your garden? Spiders eat mosquitoes, wasps and other pesky bugs that we want to keep away from our garden as well as our gardeners. For an introduction to the critters that we often find in our garden for our little friends, click here to watch Ernie from Sesame street exploring nature in his neighbourhood. For our more advanced readers, learn about how you can keep those pesky mosquitoes out of your garden with the power of plants from an article in Canadian gardening: 'Six Plants that Repel Mosquitos' by Anja Sonnenberg. 

Together, we had a discussion about how to naturally attract helpers and deter pests so that we are not harming wildlife and our greater ecosystem. Our delicious snack for the day was a combination of the sweet undertones and crunchy textures of green peppers and cucumbers. Yum Yum! We featured a story entitled 'Monarch and Milkweed' by author Helen Frost which describes the symbiotic relationship of plants and butterflies, each helping each other to survive and thrive in nature. We ended the day with some exercise and fresh air with a Kids Grow favourite, 'The Farmer Game'. One person plays the Farmer who plants their crop in the field and then they must be on the lookout for garden pests that sneak into the field and steal the delicious fruits and veggies. From this game, we learned that planting more than you require is a good technique to ensure that there is enough to feed the farmer and his or her family even when pests come along and steal some of the crop.

If you missed out on the fun this week, don't worry because Kids Grow will be running throughout the summer months until August 31st. Drop by this Saturday, June 28th for some more fun games, activities and crafts geared toward gardening. 

Where?

Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Garden/ Orchard
10am-12pm

OR

Silver Springs Edible Garden
2pm-4pm

What to bring? Water, sunscreen and your enthusiasm for gardening!

*Kids Grow Cancellation Policy* If it lighting raining or drizzling outside, Kids Grow events will still run! However, in case of heavy rainfall, thundershowers, hail and other extremely unpleasant weather conditions, we will cancel the day's events. Make sure you check our Facebook/Twitter feed before you leave in case you are unsure

Planting Our Garden!

What at  first looked to be a rainy day turned around and was bright, beautiful and sunny. Our first day back in the garden was a huge success! We had a great turnout of children and their families both old and new to our program. We started with a general introduction to the Kids Grow program, an overview of community gardening in Calgary and gave participants a sneak peak of our event plans for the summer of 2014. This was followed by our theme of the day: Planting our garden. The children worked together to choose what kinds of vegetables, greens and flowers they wanted to grow and then we decorated popsicle stick garden stakes to label our plot. After all the hard work planting, we wouldn't want to forget what we have grown! We talked about how to plant seeds, the germination process and figured out what plants require to grow and thrive. Each location enjoyed a delicious snack of bush green beans and grape tomatoes generously donated to us by Sunnyside Natural Market.The kids raved over the snack and there wasn't a single bean or tomato left by the end of the day!

We began at Sunnyside with some hard work weeding and preparing the soil for planting. Each child took a rake or a shovel and began breaking down the tough soil before we mixed in a bag of compost to revitalize the nutrients. Under all the weeds, we found our hardy mint plant from last year, boasting with large and fragrant mint leaves. Working as a team, the children and their families planted our beloved garden plot with many different types of vegetables and greens; Swiss Chard, Peas, Beans, Radish, Carrots, Kale, Chives, Spinach, Squash and Mesculin. Our plot might look empty now but we sure are hoping for a bountiful harvest at the end of the season! 

Over at Silver Springs, the lovely community garden members had started some potatoes and pumpkins for us! The potatoes are growing really well already! We planted our other bed with beans, kale, peas, two different types of squash, and cucumber.

To end the day at both Sunnyside and Silver Springs, we got some fresh air, exercise and our intake of Vitamin D for the day by playing games of Caterpillar tag, Cucumber tag and Magic Garden. To recap our favourite parts of the day we finished with a sharing circle where all participants got to share their experiences with planting our garden.

                             
If you missed out on the fun last week be sure to join us this Saturday, June 28th to learn about garden pests and garden helpers, have a delicious healthy snack, story time and play some fun games!

Where?

Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Garden/ Orchard
10am-12pm

OR

Silver Springs Edible Garden
2pm-4pm

What to bring? Water, sunscreen and your enthusiasm for gardening!

*Kids Grow Cancellation Policy* If it lighting raining or drizzling outside, Kids Grow events will still run! However, in case of heavy rainfall, thundershowers, hail and other extremely unpleasant weather conditions, we will cancel the day's events. Make sure you check our Facebook/Twitter feed before you leave in case you are unsure

We're Back!

It's almost that time of year again! The grass is green, the flowers are blooming and the air is warm. Kids Grow will be back and running for our third season at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Garden and our second season at the Silver Springs Edible Garden. 

To those of you who are new to Kids Grow, we are a student-run organization aiming to incorporate children's gardening programming into existing community gardens within Calgary to empower children through healthy eating, gardening and food production knowledge and environmental stewardship. We run free weekly events every Saturday throughout the spring and summer months to provide children and their families with fun and engaging workshops facilitated by Kids Grow team members and experts within the Calgary community. We also have games, crafts, and other garden-centered activities. Events last two hours and include a delicious healthy snack. Programming is designed for children ages 3 and up but we strive to accommodate children of all ages, so all families are welcome.  Kids Grow is a drop-in program meaning that children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. 

We have also expanded to include the two University of Calgary Child Care Centres on campus! A team of environmental design students are busy working on a permaculture-based garden design, building will begin shortly and the families, children, staff and university community will be able to enjoy gardening programming this summer. 

For the community programs, we've selected our starting date: Saturday June 14h at 10am-12pm (Hillhurst/Sunnyside) and 2-4pm (Silver Springs). Come join us for an introduction to the Kids Grow program, some fun games and help us plant our garden plots for the 2014 season!

Look how much fun we had last year! 

This year, to handle the expansion of the program, there are two co-coordinators that will organize and facilitate the programming along with our Peer Helpers.

Meet: Anisha and Hannah!

Hello!  My name is Anisha and I'm a student entering the elementary education program in Fall 2014. I have been involved with Kids Grow! since it's initiation in the summer of 2012 and I'm very excited to see it's continued success and expansion. I am passionate about ensuring that children are empowered through education about food, gardening, community building and environmental awareness. A fun fact about me would be my obsession with green tea as I would literally drink bathtubs full of it if I could! 

Hi everyone! I've spent my first two years at the university in the music program and I'm now pursuing a degree in Social Work. I'm really excited to work with Kids Grow this summer because it's a wonderful program that teaches kids really valuable skills about gardening and sustainability. A fun fact about me is I'm allergic to kale.

We don't have any pictures from this year yet, but check back soon as we're sure it's going to be as spectacular as last year was!

Painting the Kids Grow banner at the

 Silver Springs Edible Garden, summer of 2013.

December 22

Let it snow let it snow!
Try out this fun and gooey activity for the winter season (here):

December 21

Today's actives combine snowmen to bread for an afternoon of creative baking.

1. Shape and snack!

To get in the mood transform the classic lunch sandwich into a smiling snowman. Your snowman will be all the jollier for whole wheat bread and decorated with fruit and vegetable adornments!

http://kidsparties123.com/recipes/snowman-sandwich/

 A PB and J decorated with sweet treats:

http://wenderly.com/2011/01/14/p-b-j-snowman-sandwiches/

 Or try out an open faced cream cheese variation (here)

But now lets flour on the floor and in the air, and the kids in the kitchen for an exciting and creative way to bake bread.Use your favorite roll dough and have the kids shape and decorate before backing.

2. Bake!

Continue on with the snowman theme (recipe included):http://spoonful.com/recipes/jolly-snowman-bread



Or make monsters (here):

December 20

Support your kids in the initiative to build more sustainable smaller houses. Gingerbread houses that is!
Made with Graham crackers this activity is less dawunting then the large scale kits.

http://cabinorganic.com/2012/12/25/mini-gingerbread-houses-with-erin/

Take photos of you creations and share them bellow!

Growing gifts

 This article is a complimentary addition to the book list series, published earlier this month (here).
As the big day comes closer and closer, and as the article encourages "consider giving the gift of a better food system through teaching kids about where food comes from, who grows it, and what sorts of foods are both healthy and delicious."

Read the article here:

http://foodtank.org/news/2013/12/fifteen-books-for-future-foodies