Conservation Conversation for 20 Please

Students of the Green LIONS Garden Group were game show contestants at our last meeting; contestants of Garden Jeopardy that is. Our categories were Down on the Farm, Conservation Conversation, Garden Friends, and Plant Rant. The winning team now receives the prestigious honor of being first in line at the Harvest Tasting!

And what will be served at the Harvest Tasting later this month? Just take a look.

Chemical-Free Garden, Chemical-Free Us

One of the greatest lessons we teach to the students of the Green LIONS Garden Group is how to grow plants without the use of harmful chemicals. By diligently monitoring the presence of pests and the balance of beneficial predator insects, and by strengthening our plants with natural fertilizers like compost and companion plants students understand that there is no need to take the short-cut, chemical route. Nature takes care of you if you take care of it.

So as we move into mosquito season, we thought this would be a great time to translate the care of the garden to the care of our bodies. If we take care of our health, our bodies will take care of us.

Many body care products are full of harmful chemicals. While a little of this and a little of that can be benign in small doses, in the end most people use a little of a lot of different things which can add up in a hurry. If you are interested in determining if your favorite products are safe for you and safe for the earth, you can visit ewg.com. This site is a vast database of information on products we use on our body, in our body, in our home and more.

Students were apothecaries for a day by making their own bug repellant spray and (if that doesn’t work) bug bite balm to take the itch and sting away and expedite healing.

The two recipes couldn’t be simpler and we have provided them below. Consider looking into what other body care products and cleaning supplies you can make on your own. There are multiple sites with recipes and you’ll soon see how easy and economical it can be. Enjoy!

Herbal Bug Repellant Spray

Fill a pump bottle (we used 2 oz. amber glass spray bottles, but you can go bigger) half way with distilled water. Fill the remainder of the bottle almost full with witch hazel, leaving a little room for essential oils.

For our 2 oz. bottles we used three drops each citronella, rosemary, lavender and cinnamon essential oils. For a larger bottle you can add more. You may also want to try other oils like eucalyptus or lemon.

Patience: One of Nature’s Greatest Lessons

In a world where we are used to instant gratification, it can be nice to know that some things are worth waiting for. Even if we have to wait three years for that first bite.

We planted asparagus in our spring garden this year. Asparagus is an interesting plant. Traditionally once it is planted it needs to grow through two full springs untouched. Then in that third spring the delicate spears can be harvested. While its growing season each spring is short, asparagus is a perennial, and will give back to us year after year.

Patience is one of many lessons students can experience first hand in a garden. Students also learn kindness, how to be gentle, how to nurture and to take in their world with all of their senses. Learning how to respect and care for plants goes beyond the garden beds. This devotion is translated to their community and the world at large and changes they way they interact with their environment.


While asparagus is our exciting new addition to the garden this year, students of the Green LIONS Garden Group planted many of our favorite spring plants: tender lettuces and spinach, spicy arugula, spunky radishes, vibrant purple carrots (the most nutritious variety for us by the way!), humble turnips, robust beats, crunchy sugar snap peas, elegant nasturtiums, dependable kale, and hearty cabbage and broccoli. We also spruced up the herb bed with new plantings of cilantro, dill, parsley and sage. Our borage flowers, avid self seeders, are coming back from last season, as are our strawberries. The blueberry bushes are trying hard to rally, and while our fruit orchard lost its native Paw Paw, the plum and peach trees have leaves and will soon have flowers.

Students enlisted the help of our worm bin by harvesting castings to add as natural fertilizer to boost the soil for planting. It takes a community of organisms, bacteria and a little human help to grow delicious vegetables in harmony with the earth.

This year we dedicated a portion of a garden bed to Thomas Jefferson by planting some of his heirloom seeds from Monticello. Jefferson was an influential seed saver and a lifelong student of nature. I wonder if he could have predicted that students today would enjoy planting seeds from the same plants in his vast garden. Tradition and sustainability, two more lessons taught by our garden.

“No occupation is so delightful to me
as the culture of the earth, and no
culture comparable to that of the garden.”—Thomas Jefferson

Beyond the Garden: Oyster Restoration

The Green LOINS Garden Group was honored to welcome Laurie Sorabella, aka the Oyster Queen, this winter to tell us all about her work in oyster restoration in Hampton Roads. Ms. Sorabella is the Oysters Project Coordinator for Lynnhaven River Now, and the executive director of Oyster Reef Keepers of Virginia, an organization she created in response to the depletion of our oyster reefs in the Chesapeake and Lynnhaven Bays. Through her work she helps to replenish our oyster beds and educate others in the importance of protecting these miraculous, hard-working filters and guardians of our local bays.

Four hundred years ago there were 100 times more oysters in the Chesapeake and Lynnhaven Bays. Records show that the oyster reefs reached 15 feet deep. Boaters could see 60 feet down into the water because the oyster reefs kept the water so clean and clear. Today we have 90 percent fewer oysters and thus dramatically reduced water quality.

What has contributed to this decline in our oyster population? Oysters have been over-harvested for food, and their shells have been used in various ways outside of the water. Ground oyster shells have been mixed into farm fields fore fertilization, into chicken feed for nutritional boosting, and have been used to pave driveways. Oyster shells can be returned to the ocean to become homes for future oysters and Ms. Sorabella is spreading the word.

Why are oysters so important? Oysters filter water. One oyster the size of the palm of your hand can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day from March through December in our area. Oyster reefs also provide protection and food for various sea life. Oysters are what Ms. Sorabella calls a Keystone Species—they play a critical role by giving us information about the quality of our waterways.

We’re running out of oysters shells, so what can we do? Whole Foods and The Virginia Marine Science Museum are drop-off sites for oyster shell collection. We can also support the endeavors of people like Ms. Sorabella who are successfully implementing alternative oyster habitats like oyster castles made from recycled porcelain, granite or concrete.

Ms. Sorabella led the Green LIONS Garden Group students in creating their own filters using various materials. Pebbles, cotton balls, coffee filters and more were tested to mimic the oyster’s filtering ability. Teams of students then filtered dirty water to assess their designs. Some good results, but nowhere near as effective as the mighty oyster.

Ms. Sorabella and her husband Bob Carroll run an exciting and action-packed summer camp series that allows kids from ages 7-15 real life experience with a wide array of sea life including oysters. You can find more information about their Virginia Beach Sea Camp here. Seeing the wonder of our local sea life in action helps students connect how daily decisions they make concerning their impact on the environment affects the health of sea life, our waterways and ourselves.

End of Year in Pictures

As we transition on the calendar from 2014 to 2015 the garden program also transitions from a growing season to a winter slumber. As our activity in the garden lessens we turn inside to different subjects and activities. These lessons help to round out our program curriculum. While learning to grow food and tend plants are important skills in themselves, our program strives to go a step further and encourage students to think of each decision they may throughout the day in their lifestyles. Can they choose to care for the earth throughout the day? What they choose to wear; what they choose to eat; where they choose to buy their family’s food; what they choose to bring into their home; how they choose to dispose of their waste and can they reduce it all together. These are many of the avenues we choose to go down, but they are all connected when we take a broader look at how we live on this planet.

Enjoy our “end of year” pictures. We sold many of our vegetables at vegetable sales, we were excited to welcome a miniature garden designer and a farmer/soap maker, and we celebrated the winter solstice by making edible ornaments for our garden visitors. More importantly, we entered 2015 with shining hope of a bountiful Spring harvest to come.