Walking by a Winter Watershed

While a visit to our school’s nature trail isn’t exactly “walking in a winter wonderland” yet, our students donned their jackets at our last meeting to take a nice, long and enjoyable walk on our newly-renovated school nature trail with a representative from Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge at our last meeting. Since part of the goal of our program is to allow kids some much-needed time out in nature, this was a welcome outdoor purpose since our garden doesn’t need a lot of maintenance in these colder months.

Erica Locher from Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge came to speak to the students about how we can help protect our watersheds and why that is important, especially in our community. It just so happens that the little stream that runs through our nature trail feeds into the Lynnhaven Bay watershed, so the quality of that water is very important.

Students took a few samples of the water and then we headed back inside for the continuation of our lesson. But before we headed back in, Ms. Locher showed us some interesting features of our trail. She pointed out and identified different sounds we heard, and different interesting plants. She taught us how to spot poison ivy even in the winter when the leaves have fallen off the vine. The vine has a “hairy” appearance, and even touching the vine can affect those of us who are allergic to the plant. Great lesson!

Once back inside we divided up into groups to test the purity and pH levels of our water. We learned terms like “turbidity” which describes how much debris in in the water, or how cloudy it looks. We learned from our experiment that our school’s little stream is good quality!

What, however, could affect its quality? Students made “Pollution Soup”, using common household items to represent strong pollutants that could possibly find their way into a waterway and go on to pollute a watershed; think syrup for car oil, chocolate-covered raisins for dog waste, pennies for harmful metals, soy sauce for industrial chemicals, paint for, well, paint, just to name a few. We learned how washing our cars at a car wash may be better for the environment since chemicals from our car can run off into the storm drains and pollute the waterways. Keeping our communities free of litter and waste can also help. And of course, our marshes need protecting as they serve as a vitally-important buffer to protect our waters. Just look how “turbid” that water looks now!

And as with so many of our lessons for the students, we remember that small changes can make huge impacts.

Festive Fruitive

We were so excited to welcome Bruce Rozeboom from Fruitive at our last Green LIONS Garden Group meeting! Bruce and his brother own Fruitive together where they serve fresh smoothies, cold-pressed juices, made-to-order vegetable-loaded salads and soups with their own homemade broth. Fruitive also is a huge supporter of local farms. He especially supports our very own garden program farmer/mentor John Wilson of New Earth Farm in serving up his delicious greens and vegetables.

Bruce taught the students about eating healthy foods that fill you with energy and vitality, not foods that slow you down and make you feel sluggish. He illustrated the example of the damaging effects of sugar by getting the students on their feet jumping and dancing as if they had just eaten a lot of white sugar. He then divided up the group into those who represented the “sugar-loaded” and those who represented kids who eat a healthy diet. He challenged them to a tug-of-war, and yes, you guessed it, the tired sugar-eaters lost.

Bruce whipped up delicious smoothies made from organic frozen strawberries and peaches, organic bananas, organic almond milk, organic maple syrup and kale and chard from our very own LIONS Garden. The students gulped them down asking for seconds. They never knew greens could taste
so good!

Bruce connected all the dots with his discussion of healthy eating, supporting our local farmers and producers, and protecting the environment in our choices and actions. He’s an engaging and entertaining speaker and we appreciate his visit greatly. You can find him and his brother at Fruitive at Hilltop. Stop by on the way home for school for a delicious treat!

Lessons in Lending a Hand

The students of the Green LIONS Garden Group harvested most of the remaining Fall produce from the LIONS Garden last week to donate to Potter’s House, a local food bank helping families in need. A representative from Potter’s House came to collect bags of bok choy, tatsoi, chard and cabbage and spoke with the students about how their donation can help. Part of the teachings of this program is how our connection to the earth deepens the connection to our community, in the decisions we make in how we live and how we purchase food and other items. Sharing our harvest is a powerful way to connect with our community during the holiday season.

We also prepared the garden for Winter by planting a partial cover crop of winter rye, and by planting seed garlic to harvest next year. We mulched and watered the seeds in and then rushed inside from the cold to enjoy a freshly harvested salad. The salad was made from LIONS Garden lettuce, arugula and radishes, Mattawoman Creek Farm peppers and tomatoes, and Chesapeake-grown carrots. We topped the salad off with a choice of homemade Buttermilk Ranch dressing, made with regionally-produced milk, homemade yogurt and LIONS Garden parsley, or homemade Honey Mustard dressing made with Virginia honey and onions from Mattawoman. It was truly a local salad! And as you can see the students devoured it and asked for seconds.

Our program’s worm bin was introduced at this meeting and students learned about their red and wiggly club mates. We explored the subject of decomposition and its importance in gardening and students learned how to take care of a worm bin. The bin will make its way around the school to six classrooms for the next few months so more students can have an opportunity to work with the bin and see nature’s recycling in action. We will work with the bin again in the Spring to harvest castings to fertilize the garden.

Mish-Mash Meeting

Sometimes weather demands a change in plans. With high winds and cold temperatures at our last meeting of the Green LIONS Garden Group we gathered inside to join in a variety of tasks. With our Fall garden begging to be harvested we prepared for a veggie sale at the school’s movie night. Students divided up into groups to work together on various preparations and other group needs.

One group gathered harvested herbs like parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano and marjoram into herb bundles.

Another group prepared harvested kale for kale chips by stripping it from the stems into small pieces ready for baking. On the day of the movie night we baked the kale chips to sell for $1 a bag. We sold out! See the recipe at the end of this post.

Any good sale needs advertising so another group created posters for the event.

With so much ready to harvest, we had to sample some. So another group created a homemade teriyaki sauce to pour over sautéd bok choy and tatsoi that students sampled over rice. A rare moment of silence in this group as cups were emptied into hungry bellies.

We also passed out eagerly awaited t-shirts that we can wear on meeting days and at events.

The movie night veggie sale was a success, bringing in needed money for our plans for two new garden beds for the Spring garden. Thanks to all who came out and supported our program.

Kale Chips

2-3 bunches of kale stripped from the stalk and torn into palm-sized pieces or smaller
olive oil
salt and pepper

Wash and thoroughly dry the kale, either by spinning it in a salad spinner or laying it out on towels. Toss in a large bowl with drizzled olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread out onto parchment-lined baking sheets in a single layer. Kale pieces can be touching but not overlapping. If they overlap they will steam instead of crisp up. It may take several batches to bake entire recipe. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes depending on oven. Chips are ready when they crisp up and before turning too brown. Enjoy!

High Trashion

Do you hear the rustle of bubble wrap on the red carpet? Do you see the pop of color from the paint splattered duct tape and geometric details of a newspaper hat? No you’re not imagining things, it’s a Trashion Show!

Students from the Green LIONS Garden Group held a Trashion show at our last gathering of clothing and costumes created from trash and recyclables. After dividing up into teams and receiving a grab bag of trash, a frenzy ensued of measuring, trying on, draping, drawing, collaborating, smiling and laughing. The teams were separated during the creation process and it was so amazing to see how four completely different concepts evolved out of otherwise-thought-of disposable items.

“How does this help the garden?”, one student appropriately asked. Well, technically it may not. But in this program we are trying to help students see the complete picture of viewing our life on this planet. We want them to think before throwing an item out. While we are not trying to encourage a group of pack rats, we are challenging them to gain a new perspective on “re-purposing”. Can I reuse that gift bag, or mail something again in this box? Can this container be used as an interesting planter for salad greens instead of being tossed to the curb? Can a cereal box be made into a homemade journal with some paper and string? Can empty paper towel and toilet paper rolls be saved for craft projects? Can holiday cards be made into garland or gift tags for next year? Reducing our waste does help protect our water supply and reduce chemicals in our soil. So, well, this project does help!

So enough suspense. Here are our Trashion designers and models!

Scarecrows Stand Guard

The Green LIONS Garden Group got into the Fall spirit last Tuesday by making scarecrows to stand guard over the growing Fall plants. Students divided into three teams to stuff repurposed clothing with straw, draw faces onto pillowcases, and collaborate on the best way to tie their creation onto homemade frames.

Creative muscles were flexed as the kids worked together to build imaginative sentinels. They added ingenious details like straw in pockets peeking out, cutting old t-shirts to make neckties and belts, and even an owl face, very appropriate for a guard!

Students then voted for their favorite scarecrow besides the one they worked on. 

Mr. Owl took first place!

We also introduced our annual recycling program to the students. We are collecting #5 plastics, not accepted in our city’s recycling, to donate to the Gimme 5 program where they are recycled into toothbrushes, razors, storage containers and more. There is a drop-off box for the Gimme 5 campaign at Whole Foods Market. We also are collecting plastic bottle caps off of water bottles, juice bottles, vitamin bottles, etc. to recycle through the Aveda store at McArthur Mall in Norfolk. Plastic caps are not accepted in our city’s recycling either. Their assignment? To become the recycling police at home and out and about, looking for that #5 in the triangle on plastic, and saving any bottle caps to turn in.

Critters and Clipboards

Students in the Green LIONS Garden Group learned about what insects and animals are good for the garden and which are considered “pests”. We played a game of “friend or foe” with pictures of different bugs, birds and other animals.

Some were obvious like a honeybee being a “beneficial” because of its pollinating job and a cabbage worm being a pest, its name giving away the veggie group it plagues. But a few were tricky, like the swallowtail caterpillar. It eats plants in the carrot family, like parsley, carrot tops, dill and fennel. If found in a carrot patch it may be considered a pest as it eats the tops off of carrots and hurts the plant’s ability to absorb sunlight through its leaves. But if a swallowtail caterpillar is allowed to eat a little parsley or dill without killing the plant it may go on to make a chrysalis to later become a swallowtail butterfly, also an important pollinator. Ladybug nymphs were another believed foe because of their scary appearance. But they are just baby ladybugs, notorious aphid eaters, so are great to find in a garden.

Because we are growing our LIONS Garden using organic growing methods, we explored different ways we can use natural ingredients to help repel or reduce pest invasions. We made an all-purpose pesticide of water, witch hazel and dish soap and a weed killer of vinegar, salt and dish soap. While these can be used safely in a chemical-free garden, we discussed whether it is always necessary
to do so.

In a conventional garden or farming situation, pests are controlled with a dominating approach of chemical pesticides. While this is effective, it also kills good bugs and pollinators and is not good for our environment. We learned that using this approach goes against the ecosystem, against nature. An invasion of any pest is a message that something is out of balance or unhealthy in a garden, like soil health, plant health or water absorption. An organic gardener strives to achieve a balance of trusting nature and human intervention. Sometimes it is even better to leave some pests alone if beneficial insects are present. For example, ladybugs stick around if there is something for them to eat. Aphids, yum!

After treating the plants that had visible pests and the weeds in the LIONS Garden, students filled out a Know Your Plant worksheet. They used all of their senses to describe how a plant looked, felt, smelled, etc. They studied the plant to see if it had insect damage or if it produced flowers. Some drew pictures of leaves or did a leaf rubbing. This allowed students to explore the garden in ways they hadn’t before, using different perspectives.