Why! Hello! It’s been a couple weeks, hasn’t it?
I’ve been off galavanting about, getting accepted into my grad program of choice 🙂 and it’s been pretty busy here in the Valley. I know we have a few months, but the busy summer season is on the horizon!
Last we chatted, I told you about some exciting programming I had for our Sierra-Pacific Community of Christ Mission Center youth. Well, let me just tell you it was a raging success! The kids were engaged, and fascinated about compost!
Over the weekend we compiled all our scraps from kitchen preparation, as we usually do, in compost buckets WHICH these kids had the lovely opportunity to carry allllll the way over to the garden (after 3 meals!) and build and mix their own compost pile.
to the garden
To get them familiar with the detailed specifics of what goes on in a pile of composting matter, I wrote a short story about the different organisms that make an impact. I even threw the kids’ names into the story to make it more interesting – they LOVED it! Here’s the story:Â Compost Through The Days. If you have Microsoft Word, you can read it.
It was a weekend overflowing with support and interest. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids to share this first programming experience with.
So, since you’re so interested in what exactly went on in the garden, we shot a video of our most productive activity – building square foot gardening boxes! It’s a cool, short video, and I have some greater plans for it.
[Watch this time-lapse video of the youth building things]
They created their own compost, and built garden beds. Then the kids mixed the soil that they later planted in, and will potentially be eating the harvest during their camp this summer! They can come back any number of years from now and check up on their mighty work.
And the compost! I never knew it would be so rewarding to get kids breaking apart straw and gagging at the sight and smell of their previous lunch in a large barrel (there is something a bit unsettling about it, I have to admit). Oh, the circle of nutrition is so satisfyingly perfect.
This was the first of many more educational programs for these kids and more, and I’m really excited for what this means for this particular group of youth. As I look forward, I am realizing how great an impact we have the opportunity of making upon anyone who passes through. The food will grow, in bounty and in meaningfulness as we continue to bring groups in to be involved, to be a part of this journey we are brave to embark upon. I want you to be passionate about life sustaining nourishment and to feel empowered to join us or start your own movement. Because we are standing tall and moving mountains with progress toward our goal. We will be a part of the food revolution that requires you to be aware!
