 Yeah, like Gary said, gonna talk about Big Muddy and the Givet Park Youth Garden. It is a collaboration and a really wonderful effort. So just to go through what I'll be talking about. Gonna give this context of what is Big Muddy so that that'll inform what our work is with the Youth Garden and then what are the results of this grant that we got from CER. And so thankful for CER's support of this Youth Garden program. So this was in the 2017 season. So first what is Big Muddy? I'm gonna go through this a little bit more here. Our mission is dedicated to making sustainable agriculture education accessible to all and so we are focused on education and we are a nonprofit in Omaha, Nebraska. Our programs, I kind of see it as three different programs. There's the aspiring farmer residency program and then there's the Youth Garden program and the group tours and activities. And I'm just gonna give a quick shout out. There's two residents at Big Muddy that are in the room right now. So Gavin Johnston and Jordan Eberhardt. So we'll talk about the residency here and it'd be if you have questions about the residency too you should ask Gavin and Jordan. So the residency it brings five residents, but now it's actually six residents together. And we come together in January. We start putting a business plan together and then we put that plan into action on five sites in the neighborhood and I'll get into the location of the farm in a little bit. And this is based on a service learning concept, so residents are in one way the representatives of Big Muddy as they go out into the fields and work and put the farm together and take that to the market and so they're in one way representative. But then in another way they're also a client and going through this process of experiential education and going from action into reflection and then back into action and reflection also by being surrounded by your peers. So yeah, it's it's a great way to understand the reality of the work that you will be doing and then it's also a great way to understand yourself a little bit better your community and yourself. So another way of looking at the programs is from the core program of five residents then that can help 30 youth gardeners, which then can also help 200 volunteers and school group participants and then there's also a lot of people walking by every day. So it kind of has a ripple effect by having that core residency program is business oriented. So we are focused on the numbers. How much does seed cost and how much does that supply at the market and was did that work out? Did your theory of business work out on this small-scale experience? So we get together and we put that business plan together and then we put that theory into action and we take it to the market that's in the neighborhood. We attend events around town, so do some tabling with a seed guessing game and other creative ideas that residents bring up and then also have this bike tour that goes through the plots and we have a meal at each of the plots. And yeah, it brings it's about engaging neighbors and bringing them together and and then working within a peer pure set and to make our food system equitable. And you can tell that the residents love it. They're always looking down at the ground. It's like I'm looking straight at the soil. I'm trying to understand this. And so we partner with Creighton University with the greenhouse to start the seeds and that's a block away from the farm. So it's pretty accessible for us and it's great to have that infrastructure and that partnership. And so planted carrots in this bed and then we're there in the youth or in the greenhouse. And then also part of the learning experience of the residency is this iterative part process. So we're hosting school groups and tours throughout this all and then that culminates at the end of the year in November with our fundraiser The Let's Grow Here Gala and residents give a five-minute speech about what they've learned over the year. So it's through this process of continuing to talk about what your work is with the community that then it'll culminate in this five-minute presentation. So we'll be talking about the youth garden a little bit more and that's what the presentation is about today. But just giving some context of our program. So I'll get into a little bit more of this, but it's a range of kids and we have a great time and I'll get into a lot more of this here in a little bit. But the residents are helping out with the youth garden and that's again with that iterative process to teach what you're learning and then also have those questions from kids inform your process. And there's a chicken coop up at the youth garden as well. And then another part of the farm is hosting volunteer and school groups and this is a range. It can be corporate groups or it can be from an elementary school. It's really across the board. And it's also professional groups. That's a woman in medicine group and then we had no more empty pots stopped by and it can be that we get dirty or it's just showing the plots. It can vary on the group. And then have a group of volunteers that bring in compost or their food waste and then we compost it and also they help out with managing the compost piles. It's pretty neat. So where is the farm? And it's a little hard to see on this projector. But over here here's the Missouri River pretty much and then here's downtown Omaha. So we're in Gifford Park neighborhood and all the plots are centralized there. So yeah, it's not as pretty urban and in the downtown or well midtown section. So then zooming in a little bit it's a five block radius to the furthest plot. So you can walk to each of the plots. So there's five plots. There's three chicken coops and then there's the residency house. And so these are the residency houses. So there's two houses the yellow house and the green house. And then there's also the garage that hosts that host the equipment and and we can store other materials in there. There's also a chicken coop in the back of the house that red box back there is a chicken coop that we manage. And here are a couple of the plots. You can tell there used to be a house there, but it's no longer there. And so now we're growing on this vacant lot. Some of the some of the lots have rubble underneath or Omaha is a super fun site. So there's a lot of lead, especially 58th Street and East. So we got to be mindful of that. And so some sites have raised beds. And then this is what we'll be talking about today. So that was the context of all of this. The youth garden program. And this is at the Gifford Park community garden. So you can see at the bottom there, those are community garden plots. So that's families in the neighborhood or individuals in the neighborhood that rent out a plot for $25 a year. Then up towards the top of that. Up here is the youth garden program. And we have these picnic tables up here with a shed. Here's a big muddy plot that we use as a demonstration plot and we integrate that within the youth garden program. So it helps us provide supply for the market, but then also is a demonstration tool for the kids. Then over here is the chicken coop. And the kids really love once they get to the youth garden, they love running up to the chicken coop making sure all the chickens are all right. And if there are any eggs in the coop. So here's another look at it. And we'll be talking about these raised beds right here. So they're 30 inch by 30 inch. 30 inch by 30 inch raised beds. It started in 2003. So we are standing on the shoulders of folks that have been building this program and we're continuing it on. And the neighborhood youths, they come in and design the plot. They plant the plot. They take ownership and it's really through that ownership education that they learn a whole lot. And we partner that ownership of that plot with programming. So they get to take what they've been growing and plug that into the programming that we're offering. And programming is 16 weeks and it goes from mid May to late August and it's from 10 to noon. And it is a free program and I'll get into signups in a second. So first it starts with planning and so this is at the residency house. And we host it and ask any neighbors or anybody involved in the youth garden to stop by and we get together and start planning for the upcoming season. And so that's we're actually having this year's planning meeting on February 23rd. But during the course of this grant are that was in April. So it can kind of range. I'm excited to have it a little earlier this year. And a great a great point to be made is to bring in the youth gardeners directly to the planning meeting and ask them what they would want instead of assuming that we know everything and that yeah it's just great to have that input of what they would want. And then we can make that happen. It's also good during the planning meeting to provide a brief history of whatever the programming is because that can then include more people into the conversation that may be new to the youth garden. So it's good to just make sure everyone's on the same page. And it's a good time at the planning meeting to do that. And then you compile ideas and you can rank them on what might be the best. And it's also a good time to start thinking about who are our neighbors. Who would be a good person to bring in to do a program for the youth garden. And start thinking if that is possible. So then after the planning meeting then you get the schedule out and so this is a partnership with many folks that it takes a village right. So Big Muddy does do quite a few programs but then there's so many wonderful experienced people in the neighborhood that we bring in. So Gerard Papong an artist in the neighborhood. So he did art in the garden. And then Chad and Cynthia. Cynthia is a scientist at the zoo and and I'll get into a little bit more of this. I'm actually going to go week by week on what it looks like. But I just want to make that point that it's not all on Big Muddy that we provide all the programming is that there's so many people that can bring their experience to this. So then once we have the schedule set put it in the newsletter. We have a neighborhood newsletter. We send that around and folks can tear that out of the newsletter because we have a sign up sheet. And with the Ceregrant we were able to update the website to include this information that you can download from the website. If you want to reference it or use it. Well more with the calendar it's referenced but And so put that in the newsletter. Then the first week is a garden opening event. It's so wider. It's not youth garden specific. It's Open to the community gardeners to the neighborhood folks anyone who wants to join in. So we got painting Going on and hanging out and just getting ready for the season. But then the next week. We have pick your plot. So All the youth get to pick their plot. We have a map and write down names with within the course of the grant with Sarah in 2017. It rained for the first three weeks of the actual youth garden. So we were working through that. But that's actually a good point to be made is that those first three weeks are I'll just jump back real quick. So it's good to know your garden and then plant your plot and plant your plot. So we do leave a little bit of extra room in the Beginning because it might take a little bit. You might hit some weather issues or Any sort of uncertainty. It's good to have those first three weeks. And it's also Still beneficial for everyone who's coming each week. So week two. Yeah. Everyone's picking their plots. We also have to weed the beds and we do some mulching then week three again. It was raining. It was helpful to have these These tents that we could set up. And so those are stored in the shed. And so even though it was raining there are still youth gardeners there and we still went through with the program. And so here in this picture there's Kaya Beeson and Cadence Hernandez and They were residents at the time that talked about how to design their plot and we have activity that they use. So it's it's using math skills. There's one point two points depending on how big the crop is. And then we have this graph paper to you know kind of draw out where they want to plant certain vegetables and we talk about the light and all sorts of design elements. So then the next week we did start planting And so the first couple weeks are yet who hasn't designed yet who who needs a plot and let's start tending to our garden. So again we kind of pushed into the fourth week with another plant your plot. But this time it was a sunny day. And so we were really you can see there's a lot more youth gardeners there this day. So we finally hit critical mass and we had to catch people up who Who hadn't been there yet and design the garden and we did that and then we went on a tour of the plot talked about the demonstration Plot with big muddy and then also made up some garden rules with with everyone and wrote them down and painted name stakes as well so that we know where where our garden plots are at. And then yeah week five it's art in the garden. So we're technically not really Planting anything or harvesting at this point. But what happens is you're still getting youth gardeners to the plot every week even though the programming is is Might not be so related but it is related. It's all connected. You can get inspiration from your garden for whatever the art may be and so so it gets people there every week tending to their garden making sure that it's keeping up. We need to we do we need to water. What have you and just seeing things grow and with art in the garden. Gerard came by and he's a he uses spray paint as his medium. And so there is some like concrete that you can use to make sure that it's all connected. Sculptures the lion sculptures and we just started spray painting the sculptures and then we got really wild and went out into the streets and just started spray painting buildings and also I'm just kidding. So then yeah week six Cynthia from the zoo she stopped by talking about funguses is amazing interactive session where the kids are super interested in what's going on. Then week seven sound of music so bring in pots and pans out and we can make music and share that however we may and again it's you know we have this activity going on it also brings you to the garden so that you tend your plot. And then week eight Terry a resident of Big Muddy talked about chicken care and biology with the group. And then week nine was wildlife and Matt who's a former farmer of Big Muddy. He came back and helped with this session and it was also a time when youth gardeners could come by and share their lizards or chickens, whatever pets they may have. And garden movement for week 10 week 11 we got outside of the garden and Justin Everdson from the statewide Arboretum and Nebraska Forest Service he stopped by for us to go on a walk through through the neighborhood looking at the different trees and talking about them. And this was when the Japanese beetle was really going going on so he was able to talk about that as well with the kids. And then week 12 herbs and actually this may happen and during week 12 the presenter wasn't able to be there last minute so we did jump in and we talked about herbs for a little bit. And then we busted out the crafts and art supplies and started making some fun things so it's good to have that shed that you could always rely on something if something falls through last minute. Because it's always fun at the youth garden we can always make something work. And then on week 13 we're doing canning and that's with Big Muddy as well. And we harvest from the garden and then get to put that into refrigerator pickles. We're not doing the full on water bath but it is possible to link that up and maybe have it be more of a community experience to do some water bath canning in the garden. It would just take some communication and coordination stuff. So something possible during this canning session to open it up to the wider neighborhood. Then Cooking Matters comes by week 14 and that's visiting nurses association chef from a really awesome restaurant in town. He comes by and the kids make some really delicious food. They help chop it up. Then with the help of the Sarah Grant we went on a field trip and this was so much fun. We went out to Honey Creek Creamery which is about 15 to 20 miles outside from where we're at in Omaha. It's right in Honey Creek, Iowa. We had a permission slip with contact information and what I learned about this permission slip is that you want that to be turned in the week beforehand. Not the day of because then you don't know the numbers. Thankfully though it worked out spot on that we were able to fill the bus just to the right space. So there wasn't too much or too little is right on and a really fun experience. So we met at the youth garden. Then we took a bus out to Honey Creek and first we started off with a tour where we got to go on a hike and it was wonderful to get outside of the city. And thankfully we have some parental chaperones as well during this field trip. And you know for a majority of the kids, three-fourths of the kids, they hadn't been to a farm. They don't have any connection so this was one of their first experiences getting to a farm which is just astounding and amazing. It was really great to go to Honey Creek Creamery and get to walk with the goats. And then also milk. The kids got to milk goats as well. And look at the cheese making operation that they have there too. And so with that we were able to, with the Ceregrant we were able to pay for the bus to get out there and then also pay an honorarium to the farmer for hosting us. And I should say this was also an enlightening experience that every third Saturday there's the Les Hills tour. So is this publicly open tour that like I think ten farmers, they all say hey we'll be here and people should show up and you can stop at our farm and then drive up the road and go to the next farm. And we all are open this day. And so what I found out is that we were able to partner the field trip up with that Les Hills tour. And so that's a good way to utilize energy effectively because it's like they're prepared and of course there's talk beforehand in coordination that hey there's going to be a lot of kids showing up in a bus. Are you ready for that? But then it was also very good that that can happen while other folks are stopping by the farm and this is a really fun day. So for field trips that you may consider in the future is to think about is there already a tour going on like an open driving tour or stopping tour that you might be able to pair up with. Then week sixteen we end it with a pizza party, we get the knives out, we give it to the kids, here you go, here's the knife and let's chop up some vegetables. So we take what's in the garden and we start making our pizzas and we use the houses that are around the youth garden, we talk with our neighbors to see if we can use their ovens. So there's three houses that we have pizzas going in and out and it's a lot of fun. Terry with his nephew making a pizza. So what are the results? Thirty-two youth gardeners explored their surrounding agricultural landscape on a field trip to Honey Creek Creamery near Crescent, Iowa and for three-fourths of them this was their first experience being on a farm. And then youth gardeners also learned garden design, planting your garden, chicken biology and care, canning and preserving and how to cook with garden fresh veggies. Then also with this grant that helped us update our website so that we could host resource material from our youth garden. And we still need to get there of getting lesson plans that residents create to put those on the website as well. So how many youth gardeners came each week? Does it vary or is there an average? It kind of varies between the years, but during 2017 it was about 30. 2018, last year, it went down a little bit, so it was probably about 25 last year. And so we're looking to, there's definitely some youth gardeners that we can get to go there that live in the neighborhood. We can get them to be youth gardeners for this upcoming year. Yep, yeah, so it's a really, it works. So there's so many hands involved to all make it happen, the parents come out and help too. So with the Aspiron Farmer Residency, is it the same group of residents each year or is it different? So it is different. So every year there's a new group of five residents. Though this year we started a second year position and Gavin is going from last year into this year. And that second year resident position is full-time and it provides more leadership and program support. And it's a great way to keep going with another year on the farm. What is the age range of the youth gardeners and then do you see any development in their interest in agriculture and food knowledge? So the age range, it goes from about three to 13. Though we are starting to see like, it's kind of the 13, 12, 13 is starting to not stop by as much. But yeah, it's like three to 13. And then it always amazes me when going to the youth garden and questioning like, do you know what this is? And the youth gardeners from previous years are like, yeah, that's like sage or something, you know? So their plant identification skills definitely, you can see that developing. And then there's also, they stop by the market down at the Gifford Park neighborhood market which is on Friday evenings and are able to say, I want some produce or anything like that. So there is that because then at the market they're able to also be a vendor there. And some of them have started some retailing. One is cupcakes, so it is a start. And then another is like perfumes, which is pretty cool. So you can start connecting that with growing your own or finding a local supplier for that and knowing how the plants can get into perfume. I got started, so I was one of the co-founders about seven years ago. And how I even got to that point is my formal education is filmmaking. And so I went on a documentary road trip where we made a documentary of feature length called Growing Cities. And we hit a bunch of different cities throughout the U.S. and interviewed urban agriculture lists and just seeing all these amazing projects, amazing people and just how it interacts with the community. I got back home and joined in with some friends to start Big Muddy. And then we were primarily a CSA farm at the beginning that we were finding land wherever we could. And there were seven of us. And Allie, who's here with the newborn violet, she helped start Big Muddy as well. And then Kate, she'll be around. And so put this farm together. And it was this amazing experience of putting a farm together, going through the actual process of putting the business plan into action. And then folks kind of grew out of that experience. So they wanted to go off and start larger operations or get involved with larger operations than the one acre operation that we have in the city. And so people started to leave and we saw that it had a great impact on them leaving. So then how does the farm continue and how do we provide that opportunity for more people to get involved and to experience what it's like to start a farm from that small experience. And then you'll grow from that seed of experience. Do you plan my crop as well? It's beautiful and we love the conversation. But then when you're also thinking of production, it's like, I need to be in the field. I can't be talking right now. And so we didn't want to shut off that conversation. And it worked out that can have this experience and then also have the conversation to continue. .