This Cyclical Earth

Today was one of the Children's Garden Workshops with a local daycare. Last week, we explored topics such as how to keep a plant healthy (soil, water, sun, nutrients), and also had a scavenger hunt for finding different plants and bugs around the farm. This week, we taught the kids the life cycle of plants (seed>plant>flower>fruit>seed) using a children's book From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons, and the book, A Seed Grows: My First Look at a Plant's Life Cycle by Pamela Hickman. These were great- I would suggest picking one up at your local library if you need a tool to use for explaining this process.

We also drew plants making sure to include the major parts: the roots, stem, leaves, and flower/seed/fruit. Once we started walking around the farm and physically pointed out some of the concepts that we learned from the book it really clicked for some of the children- this was very exciting to witness. I especially liked seeing an attitudinal shift take place in the kids with their idea of bees. By learning about the way bees play an important role in the life cycle and survival of plants, the kids were able to realize that a bee's role in life is not merely to produce honey or bother humans. It was enlightening being able to see this shift from fear to understanding.

After taking them on the observation walk, we showed them how to harvest lettuce, basil, tomatoes, husk cherries, scallions, and edible flowers. All of the kids got a chance to harvest something- we showed them the correct way to cut off a lettuce head and where to snip basil so that both plants are able to grow again. We also demonstrated that husk cherries are ripe when they fall to the ground, and that tomatoes start out small and green and that they are ready to eat when they turn red. After harvesting all of these plants, we made a nice salad with the kids and shared some with Rich, and the high school interns, Princess and Eugenio.

Today was totally fulfilling in the sense of "aha" moments with the kids. It was great seeing how eager each of them became to try their first husk cherry and how pleasantly surprised they became when realizing how delicious basil leaves are.








Husk Cherries!

I am looking forward to seeing them next week, and in future weeks, to witness the progression of their understanding of the environment and food systems.

~~~How to harvest basil~~~

When your basil reaches a stage where there are two sets of leaves, they are ready for clipping!

Clip just above the lower set of leaves.



And in a week or two, you will see that your basil is just about back to the height it was before :>