 Thank you very much to Sarah for helping to fund the project. I'm going to be talking about today and for inviting me to speak here today I'm going to tell you a little bit about our farm. We're an unusual farm So I'm going to unpack that a little bit for you about what SoulGrad is about And then the second half of my presentation will be about our outreach and education program and how Working with you through day camps and a community garden and a few other programs Really helps to build community in a couple of unique ways so And if you have any questions Feel free, you know while I'm talking to just go to raise your hand. Yes Let's see So our farm Was started five years ago by st. Matthew Lutheran Church They had four acres of row crop agriculture, and they were using the land to raise money to support World hunger relief so one of the ministries of the church is to help those that are in need and There was an individual named Brian Souter from an organization called faith in place faith in place is a nonprofit organization in Illinois That works with congregations to become better environmental stewards and he had his office there and would look out on this You know corn and beans and said, you know, there's a lot of hungry people in our own community That could be benefiting from your outreach and what you know, what do you think about a community farm? Which at first I think the idea was well received, but it was like, you know, it seemed onerous and like a lot of work But plans came together over a year's time and they decided to turn four acres of Corn and beans into vegetables that could feed those that are hungry in our community So champagne County has a 17.6 food insecurity rates, which is actually higher than Chicago So unfortunately, we have a lot of people that don't have their needs met in our community so our farm was Turned into something that could give a significant amount of produce fresh nutritious local produce to those in need in our community So we still are hosted and supported by St. Matthew Lutheran Church. We work in partnership with faith in place We run a 120 member community supported agriculture program We sell our produce at two farmers markets our local food cooperative several restaurants and All this is done by two full-time staff two part-time staff and a whole team of volunteers so our vision and Mission Are by grace alone? May we share our gifts with the hungry may we be good stewards of the earth and we may we build a community of cooperation and care So everything we do is really guided by these principles So the community hunger assistance Piece of that is we are committed to donate at least 10% of everything we grow to The food bank in our community food pantries the local men's homeless shelter women's shelter and the public health district Over five years. We've averaged 30% of everything we've we've grown we've given through those outlets And that's amounted to I think I'm getting ahead of myself, but 35,000 pounds of produce So that our growing season has been now. We have a new hoop house, but it has been Largely June through November So on the left you can see that's the food bank with one of our final distributions to them They come with their a truck every Friday used to be every Monday now It's every Friday and We just send everything that we have to them that is going to hold because the food bank has to distribute And there's a certain amount of time that's needed there anything that is ripe and needs to get out quickly We'll take directly to public health district to the men's homeless shelter the women's shelter And we really kind of judge what's going where based on the desire I mean, there's a lot of storage crops are needed by the food bank if something needs to be used quickly That's going to soup kitchen because they'll use it right away and it'll be taking so it's a little bit of a puzzle Each week, but we make sure that as much as we can is going where it's needed So this is a picture of Chuck. He's the truck driver for the food bank. Oh There we go and so this last year we were awarded a community partner of the year by the Eastern Illinois food bank So that was quite an honor It's been fantastic working with them. Really the logistics are so key I mean it anyone who's growing food knows that you have to be really smart and timely and efficient about what you're doing So they've been a fantastic partner to work with and so each year we talk with them and say how's it going? What kind of crops you need more or less of the quality? Okay? Do we need to change logistics and they've been fantastic Our CSA program we run six months. So 24 weeks we grow 150 varieties of 50 different vegetables Weekly pickups on the farm. We have half shares and full shares available largely We get about 20% of our shares that are purchased specifically for donation So that allows us to increase the amount of produce is actually going out and being donated So people a lot of people buy a share for themselves or share for donation or half share for themselves Have to have share for donation. Some people are donation only some people are pick up only It doesn't matter to us except for I am always kind of edging towards more for donation Because that's the point of our farm, but Largely this CSA program is what makes all of this possible we believe in sustainable farming practices and Follow organic practices that we are not certified We work on enhancing soil structure and biology by using cover crops crop rotation on site composting Minimal cultivation we harvest as close as we can To dead-on ripe and making sure that we're getting things so that they go to market when they're fresh and co-op when they're fresh into our CSA customers when they're fresh which takes a lot, you know a lot of logistics, especially since we're working with so many volunteers, but That's the whole point of local We are low-budget farm. So some of our tools are handmade and take some creativity. So on the left is Our dibbler made out of a bike frame by one of our previous farm managers This is one of our seeded seeders named pudding still has the basket in the tassels This is our flame burner and this year is going to be improved by our new farm manager hunter With an external frame backpack because that is extremely heavy to carry through the field But that's an important weeding technique that we use. This is another one of our seeders This is the north ways which we actually all can't stand because Well, if anyone's ever used it there, they don't actually But so this is our wish list of getting a better seeder and then these are our wheel hose which are Old bicycle frames. So we have some unique things going on our farm Keep us in budget We have a greenhouse which is about 850 square feet growing space So we started all of our own plants for the field and for our plant sale Which is a big farm fundraiser for us and we also donate a lot of transplants to community gardens in the area We have a cold frame here that we used to harden off all of our transplants before they go in the field and then this last year With the support of the lumpkin foundation We're able to purchase a used hoop house, which gives us 3200 more feet of squaring so 3200 Square feet of growing space which will allow us to grow earlier in the season and later in the season So we've already we planted last year before we even constructed the frame We had boy turnips radishes Spinach arugula all sorts of bunching greens in there And this will I think will be a really important place for us to one takes some pressure off the field So we can do more cover crops of the soil rest and build as well as enhance some of our more Quality crops like tomatoes or we can have them in control conditions. So this is Hunter our farm manager Myself these are two of our part-time staff that have been with us two and three years And this is our farm coordinator treasure and board member Todd so we're fortunate to have people stay with us There's a lot a lot of turnover would be hard on our farm Because there's so many people and partnerships and and relationships involved, but got a good crew and Community building this is a part that when I came on I Believe strongly this is a point that we can do so much more to enhance and we'll only keep giving back to the farm and make Us stronger in the long run We live in a great community. We have a food co-op. We have a number of community gardens We have a lot of people are working on local egg. There's a lot of actual, you know, really good farms in the area that are You know good partners in terms of like sharing information and equipment and and being supportive Volunteers or something that's pretty unique to our our farm I think because the mission people are really drawn to our farm We also have a really kind of easy way to fold people in we train folks We you know played to their strengths. We have lots of different jobs that they can do and it's really become a family Where people celebrate their anniversaries there for example or have birthday parties there Are really like we have to have happy hours and dinners throughout the off-season because we actually we really miss each other So this is you know, it's a really special thing. It's hard work a lot of our volunteers or retirees But it really enriches the experience and brings more people into the fold of what we're trying to accomplish We have a number of events. I mentioned our spring plant sale, which is a big fundraiser for us We also have a fall plant sale. We do farm-to-table dinners We do on-farm tours. They own our organic growers Association Has had for the last two years a crop cycle, which is a bicycle tour that visits different farms in the area So we've been the lunch sites for the last two years We have summer feed-and-weed potlucks, which is a way to bring people together On mass you know in a group to help weed when things get out of control in June and July as they Always seem to do and then we have a good harvest party in the fall to celebrate the season And I'm always looking for more things to do This is a lot of text But I really felt like it was important to list all the different partnerships We have in the community because that's what one sets us apart makes us special and makes it so rewarding To do what we do so we've strong and that's a lot of what I do in the winter time is I'm meeting with people making sure We're still on track. What can we do to you know better these partnerships and be more efficient in what we're trying to accomplish So we work with the hunger assistance programs We have great relationships with both of our market managers all the retail wholesale outlets We have three community gardens in town that we try as much as we can to Support them with seeds with transplants with tools you know, there are pure farms that really give us help with advice and equipment and Just general support and then another number of not-for-profit organizations and service organizations that we're grateful for so Our region education is something that I've never feel like I have enough time for But it's extremely rewarding and enriching And has been building over the last three years. So We started Really, I think aside from a few special events our big Entrance into building our outreach education program was with the Champaign County Farm Bureau Who in partnership with the Champaign Park District was going to be offering day camps? So they wanted to have a day camp that was a beginning farmer camp and They had kids through the Champaign Park District largely subsidized Kids that were subsidized and coming from low-income families go to a large grain operation Go to a lot livestock farm, and then they wanted one to be a small-scale fruit of vegetable farm So we felt really honored that Champaign County Farm Bureau asked us to be their vegetable farm the small-scale vegetable farm So I said yes kind of not even asking how many kids are we talking about probably should ask that question We ended up with 70 kids on our little farm the first year Which kind of terrified the farm manager at the time? And it was of course day camp happens when kids are out of school Which is June July and August which is also the crazy time of you know, you're planting you're weeding you're harvesting There's so much going on then But it was extremely rewarding The night before the camp started that week there was a an event at Douglas Park, which you'll hear more about that was for the families of the kids that were going to be part of that camp So it was a lot the Farm Bureau was out and they had a number of different tents on different agricultural products I was there talking about vegetables and brought some clay for kids to make their favorite fruit and vegetables out of and it was really Touching to see how many kids and their parents and their grandparents came up and started Tasting vegetables that I had out asking questions about the funky vegetables. They'd never seen before like Paddy Pan squash like is this is this real you look at it looks like it's a play-doh product And they would talk about the gardens You know the grandparents would talk about the gardens that they used to have and the kids would say like How do you grow this and it was clear to me that when there was interest in fresh fresh food to there was a an intergenerational opportunity there and These kids at least that were there that evening didn't have a lot of access to seeing how a garden grew or like how vegetables grow Or how to pick their own so I started talking to the Champaign Park District staff that were there that night Instead of you guys ever thought about community garden because this is a huge park. They have a baseball diamond They have a splash pad a playground There's a library there a senior center and a community center There's a lot of things going on there, and there's also a lot of open grass So my eyes are always looking at like, you know, what can you grow there and Heard from them that nights that they tried for two years and successfully to get a garden started And they just didn't have the resources. So what if I you know, what if I helped? What if we donated the transplants? What if we you know planted it for you and got it started could we work together on this and So that was you know an immediate yes like yes, let's do it. So we started talking we applied for a grant I think that might have been our Sarah grants that we first applied for I think we decided we would do it at some level whether we had funding or not because there was Will there and will and wants The grants helped tremendously with buying supplies That were needed for the garden and for you know everything that comes along with it, which you'll see But we we got started right away. I think once everybody was on board we we kicked it off. So These are pictures of the of the camp that we started with so we had a Cooking class was one module Field work, you know field identification walking out and see on vegetable grows is another this is Maggie Wachter Who Rachel was just talking about so she came and talked about bees and pollination with the kids Because we have four hives on our sites and that's an important piece of our pharmacology and then I ran a Nutrition module where we were talking about food groups and superfoods and so I was challenging the kids to come up with like superfood supercharacters So you'll see some pictures of like, you know carrots lifting cars and Broccoli beating up an ice cream cone or you know, there's all these fun ways and Arthur there They show that they understand superfood nutrition concepts. So this is the camp that kicked off the whole idea We started talking right away and of course this was we had the camp in the summer And we decided in the fall is when we could start on the community garden So there wasn't a whole lot we could do in the fall a lot of the programming was actually inside which You know, it's it's hard with the aged kids. I was working with were five to twelve So given that most of them didn't have gardening experience. It was hard to say let's imagine You know imagine a garter imagine the plant likes looks like this So it was a really a challenge for me to start with them in a way that you know We'd get them excited and at least in year one I had all of the kids in the after-school program So Douglas community so the Douglas Park has a community center that hosts an after-school program With kids from six different elementary schools. So all these kids coming in there were 30 25 30 kids there And so I was working with all of them Which if any of you have worked with 25 to 30 5 to 12 year olds It's challenge to keep everyone on the same page, but we started with the concept of Pioneers, what is a pioneer and a pioneer is someone who hasn't done something You know you're doing something for the first time you're going someplace for the first time And so we walked the site which was just a grassy patch at first and started imagining You know take taking note and drawing sketches and making a map of what's there And then we started talking about you know, what if we started growing food here? Nobody's done it before what if you want do you want to be a pioneer and try this for the first time? and it was really interesting having that conversation with them because They would look around and they could imagine yeah, we could grow some food here And what would it take can we talk about we'd need water? We need sun and we need good soil and we need the seed or the plants and you know all of that Came with the program we did in the winter time But I'll tell you one of the fears of the kids I was working with with that initial planting They were really afraid of what would happen with all this work in such a public space And they really like there were some hard conversations about like what if someone comes and destroys your garden? Or what if you have a tomato plant full of tomatoes and someone takes all of them So that was and we just kind of left it at the I wonder stage I wonder what will happen who you know and it wasn't it was partly people some rabbits some Squirrels maybe you know just all the all the things that come with gardening or farming that you'd have to worry about And we just kind of left it there for a while went inside started doing experiments like Here we were cutting sweet potatoes and Trying to grow some roots and Leaves on the windowsill we did an experiment of you know if you cut a potato And you have the eyes is it better to have the eyes up or the eyes down? And so we kind of watched in the windowsill to see where the roots are gonna be coming from We did a big Voting exercise of what you know what do you want to grow and I told them you know first year like let's take it easy You know let's pick 10 to 12 different fruits and vegetables and we ended up with like 30 because pretty much everything I presented to them They said yes. Yes. Yes, let's grow so we made plants markers in anticipation of what we'd be planting We used a felt board to kind of keep track of things so the felt board was where we made the map So we kind of visualized what was going where We divided things into food groups so they understood Sorry, not food groups different types of plants So it helped them understand you know in this plan this you eat the leaves in this plant you eat the flowers in this plant You eat the fruit so they could understand different growing techniques and so we separated them out here into the roots fruits and shoots Here we are experimenting with just grass seed trying to grow grass seed in there They wrote with glue and then sprinkled grass seed on and so they could grow grass and see what that looks like and under different conditions So inside was a lot of like laboratory experiments. I'm just biting our time waiting for the spring Then we broke ground and the Park Districts deal with me was we'll cut the sod But you have to remove it which if ever but anybody ever says Don't do it. I thought it was a great deal because we didn't have to rent a sod cutter But my husband and I hauled all of this under a tight deadline and I don't know how many truckloads and I Will never do that again. So don't make that that mistake But this is the ground it was all grass is all sod beforehand removed it and we immediately put our sign out there of Douglas Park Community garden coming soon so that that was a signal that this is something we're doing to the neighborhood And we were hoping to attract other people as well to be interested in it We invited them out to the farm so that they could see kind of what who their you know, their parent farm People were this is farmer clay Here and so they helped us we have a tumbler soil mixer They helped us mix soil for planting their seeds We went into the greenhouse and they planted some of their own seeds but I mean we do went through the exercise of planting seeds, but we also planted our own because If you've ever seeded with kids You need a backup plan And we showed them you know kind of how what we were growing we got out the tractor started our Walk behind tractor because you know big engines are always fun with kids So it was fun for them to come out and see what we're doing and have a you know context for where I was coming from Then we cut up our potatoes and the first things we planted were potatoes Onions, let's see potatoes here some onions here Lettuce a couple kinds of lettuce and then a bunch of brass goes so cabbage cauliflower or broccoli a couple kinds of kale and You know, I have to say coming from the production farm and spacing everything perfectly and in a straight row to working with the kids garden. I really had to like Had to like sit on my hands a little bit because They you know, they have their own ideas. We talked about you know spacing you're kind of some of the considerations But they made it their own so there was a potato area roughly There was a potato an onion area But in order to get them engaged and have fun and feel like they were contributing something I you know, they I wanted them to take ownership and and You know the leaders stepped forward and there were some kids I mean a lot of kids didn't even want to get dirty to begin with because they were gonna get in trouble by their Parents for coming home with dirty shoes or dirty pants So there's you know, there's a we really had to kind of inch our way into it Then we had a grand opening so Douglas Park was getting a whole makeover From the city of Champaign a number of things were coming in and our garden was one of them So we had a really fun time with the ribbing. Oops, sorry Ribbon cutting here and by then we'd planted everything so all of our cucumbers were in our tomatoes and peppers You know the whole garden was planted at that point and Unfortunately, it was on a weekend and I couldn't get the kids that were there during the week to come For the weekend So I just hung some pictures took pictures of some more times together than planting and the activities that we did so at least The people were visiting on the weekend could see this is a kid's project And then these are some of our board members from solar grotty farm that were there in attendance And then our first summer was awesome. It was great so many things grew So fast the soil quality actually didn't look great to begin with and But that being an urban site that honestly there's like a lot of broken grass and litter and it's just dry broken down soil But it performed very well. I was I was impressed. So we had a lot. We had sweet potatoes that year. We had Corn that year tomatoes eggplants a lot of different crops. I learned really quickly Watering is a really dangerous thing with kids and you have to be firm and have a plan this whole like waiting in line for the water ones didn't work well and resulted in many water fights and you know some upset parents and so there's just things you learn along the way of like You know how much leeway to give and I have my own kids But boy working with up, you know up to 20 25 in the garden one time I I Had to pair down the next year Then one thing that's hard about gardening with kids especially through school program is the academic year doesn't really line up that nicely with Growing season. So, you know my kids in the garden club We were working in the winter the first winter to do what make all the plans and then we planted everything But those poor kids like they work so hard and they didn't really get to reap the benefit of their work So I said goodbye to them at the end of the year and just said, you know imagine or please come bring your family back You're welcome back into the garden. You know come see what you've started the kids that Got to take over next we're part of a day camp program as a girls science day camp program was an eight-week program through a champagne park district and Here they are and these girls I mean I had to I work with the day camp or the garden club every two weeks in The off-season, but once once the growing season comes I'm there about once a month So I really have to step back and it's a little bit of a leap of faith like you know Every time I come back is there ain't gonna be anything left But the day camp program in these girls every single day went out every single day went out and weeded every single day I went out and watered Harvested they're harvesting for themselves and for the local men's homeless shelter and I every time I showed up It was just Beautiful they did a great job. So here they here they are. We did team-building exercises like building treat bean teepees Not as easy as it looks especially with kids. So we had a competition with the counselors and with the kids How to tie it together how to get it to stay how to train the beans First fall, you know these kids also had some some of the same kids a lot of new kids They showed up and to them they've got instant garden and they just have a garden that now is rich So they're thrilled and you can tell in these pictures They're super happy about filling their bushel baskets with the kale and tomatoes and egg plants and pulling carrots out of the ground So that first year is a little hard and asking people to imagine but the second year has been a lot easier We also create journals together. So each week we journal about, you know, what they've learned drop some some kids Can't write yet and can't read so some of them are just drawing pictures or You know doing what they can to kind of account for what we've what we've been working on Then we had the pleasure of spreading straw and putting the garden to bed And we started then we took to the classroom again and did art projects And we harvest our sweet potatoes made sweet potato pie. We harvested our carrots and made carrot muffins The next year and actually that fall is when we won an award from the so the Champaign Park District Nominated us for a statewide award and we won the Illinois Association of Park Districts Best of the best award. So that was awesome because it was really nobody knew How this is going to go is a lot of moving parts and everyone has their has jobs otherwise So this was kind of a you know, I see on the cake as we have time sort of project but everyone fell in love with it and Really the partnership worked fantastic between the Park District and Stila Grady So we got that award We were super proud of it and what the Champaign Park District came back and said was you're welcome to double the size of the garden You're welcome to tear up more sod, which this time They tore it up and they took it away. I showed up and it was a blank slate, which is beautiful so we came and told up the next section had the kids out to the garden again and planted seeds and this year I really wanted to We did a lot of great things the first year, but I wanted to add more a third dimension I wanted to learn more about building up and I also wanted to incorporate art because the first year It was great. It was a straight garden, but the kids really I mean anytime you put color into something or made Made it fancy in some way They were you know some of the some of the kids aren't so interesting getting dirty or they are so interested in plans And they really are interested in the the arts of it So I partnered with one of our volunteers who is an artist and asked her to come on and bring some projects with her So we did things like We made God's eyes That was fun. We made p-trolls is with funky string Excuse me strings. We made bean teepees, which if they were up to me We would just use twine and bamboo stakes and you know No, they brought out every single color of yarn that we had and put glitter on it and So that was fun and I could see and actually I paired down the group So it was an optional program So I wasn't working with all of the after-school kids now it was garden club and it was a choice So that brought it down to about 12 kids, which was a lot better because then that you didn't have the behavior issues You only had kids that really really wanted to be there and we could focus and get further on the on the work So this is the second year of the girls science day camp program Again harvesting and just taking excellent care of the garden. I also really wanted to you know, we'd baked with the vegetables and we'd eaten them raw I Don't remember that first year cooking any of them, but we introduced them to juicing So we had a day that was a rainy day and we pulled out Cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes There's one other thing Anyway, and that was awesome like if you haven't juiced with a kid before it's it's really fun for them to see that That's another way to consume your vegetables for them to see the colors mixing in the juicer They made recipes, you know They were say like one cucumber and four tomatoes and three carrots Let's try that and we had these little Dixie cups and so we'd have these little taste tests and that was fun We're always just trying to help them think about other ways to Experience vegetables or growing or tasting something new They were big fans of eggplants I don't know if they ever actually took them home and cook them and ate them But all the different shapes and colors They thought was great. So there was always a little Tessel over the clippers and who gets to go get the eggplant But I thought I'd honor them with these pictures because those are what they're so proud of And then you know we in the last couple weeks, this is just a couple weeks ago Well, I guess in October we were Decorating pumpkins here we made pumpkin muffins here We had this huge beat that we couldn't get out of the ground and has anyone ever heard the story of gigantic turnip So this is it like this is my rainy day activity right here always because you can incorporate in about 20 kids Into that story and they act it out if you just tell the story and they act it out It's great fun And so we had one turnip which literally we could knock it out of the ground and it took us like kicking it's kind of munted up a little bit Because it took us you know pulling and pulling just like the story and then Literally kicking it together the ground. So they were super proud of their big their big beat that they had grown and then we Um We made vegetable soup a couple weeks ago So we had turnips from the garden potatoes carrots sweet potato. I brought eggs. We didn't grow sweet potatoes this year a Chinese cabbage I brought these onions and garlic in because we didn't grow onions and garlic at least to that stage this year and Boy, I mean these kids like you give them a few scrub brushes. They're scrubbing away. We didn't peel anything They were chopping you get them some kid-friendly knives Chopping they loved mixing Making the soup and here kids at the beginning of the year were not gonna eat vegetables Or no way was I gonna eat a turnip and they were it was like a connoisseur conversation of you know How good it was and I really like mine with pepper or it was really fun So they We made a huge batch and they all insisted they take some home So it ran around trying to find little cups for them to take vegetable soup home But these are the things that I mean really are rewarding about working with the kids is there They could start out with worrying who's gonna steal their vegetables getting dirty not wanting to try something new and at the end They're so proud of giving everything to time center they're so proud of being able to make a vegetable soup that they want to share with their parents and They are not thinking at all about how dirty they're getting or you know The cut that they have on their hand from the straw that we're spreading So one thing that developed this last year Which was really cool is Common ground food crop, which is a local food crop They would do a kind of a healthy eating program with the same after school kids and they started using the garden They they started planting in the places that weren't planted Some flowers for example and some herbs and they asked if they could use the garden for teaching techniques So they started using it on a regular basis You know when we weren't there Champaign Park district has their day camps through their their after school programs, and they've had special events in the garden The time center is a men's homeless shelter. It's receiving some of the produce the Farm Bureau is Using our farm in this project as an example of how to get kids engaged in growing food Prosperity gardens they would come over they have a mobile food market which takes produce that they grow and some from us To neighborhoods where people you know low income it's a pays you pays you can market But they're taking it to the neighborhood itself So you don't you're not asking people to you know come to the market will help you with some lower price food they're taking it to the people and We offered that they could come and harvest out of the Douglas Park Community Garden whenever they wanted on Wednesdays to help You know when they were short on produce to then put it in the mobile market So they ended up having their own kids and then the Boys and Girls Club Youth that they were working with come and work in the garden and same thing You know reap the benefits of the garden and share it with the with the community in need So that's what I want to do more of if we can keep either maintain or even expand the garden And use it in the way that I have with the after-school program I'd love to keep that up but more than that for all the investments have been made I'd love to see more for it to be seen as a community resource and for more groups to use it because really That gardens there 24 hours a day seven days a week and it's an opportunity for wonder and food source and Trying something new do you have a question? So I'm looking in this next year To see how other what other ways of this garden can be used because it's in a very Prominent spot. We'd love to see the neighbors take some ownership and get interested get involved if they're interested And I had one thing that I wanted to share Which is really why I do this So we came out on April 1st this last year and we left some you know We'd left some things in the ground like everybody does like you miss some potatoes you miss some carrots, so we were kind of making the map of where we were going to be plant things and we were starting to scratch the surface and You know get some soil ready for direct seeding and the kids found this this little bit of green Which is so hopeful in the springtime and they then all of a sudden you know all went and got their little trowels and huddled around here and unearthed the carrot and You know kind of wouldn't let go of the carrot and Marlowe, this is Marlowe ran inside and washed the carrot I mean this is all just like boom boom moves like so much excitement for the kids because they'd found something there from the previous year and really like they were so proud they were so excited to see that This is we all go by vegetable names. So my name is Tracy and I'm turn up Tracy. This is melon Marlowe melon. This is hot pepper hazel and this is jalapeno John And they you know really you see some these kids tussle and argue over different things But really when they find something like that they're they're thrilled and you see these partnerships come together and them helping each other and In ways that you know when they first come fresh from school and they have all this energy Like you're not really seeing that cooperation, but in the garden The kind of the wonder and the excitement pulls pulls them together in an awesome way You also see faces like this like Caleb carrot who we kept telling him You know we look for the carrot that's like this big on top and I don't know if you can see it The carrot is like that one But because he chose Caleb carrot he kind of felt like it was his duty to Pull every carrot out of the ground. This is one of the water fights that was started. This is Brooklyn beats who? You know loves her carrot. So anyway, I it's been a pleasure to work with these kids It's been a pleasure to see you know what their ideas are what they're willing to do And we have lots of fresh ideas for this next coming growing season Thank you to Sarah for your support and believing in this project And helping us reach more people in the community with good food. Thank you I'm just curious who manages the scheduling that then if there's multiple programs that aren't really related using the same garden Who is ultimately in charge of making sure you know? There's something there for kids multiple days a week. So the Douglas Park Community Center staff is They are connected with us and we are there on Fridays unless something special is needed They're in touch with prosperity gardens. They're in touch with common ground food co-op So if somebody wants a schedule program in the garden, they're calling the people on site and really I mean aside from my work with the After-school program the park district because it's it's their site they always have You know kind of first choice if they're gonna have a day camp in there that would you know, that's a taken spot but Largely and it's just a courtesy also so you don't have People just wandering in and taking food, which I know has happened Which I don't actually know one's really concerned about because I think for the most part if someone comes in and takes food They need it and that's part of a community garden also I'm curious about the garden club or even the after-school program Did you have those kids five days a week all the time and for how many hours a day? Did you meet with them? So the after-school program does run every single day of the week five days a week throughout the academic school year I am there once every two weeks So I'm director of the psilograty farm. Most of my work is on the is on the farm. This is a special project aside I wish I had more time Because it's it it goes so fast I have about two hours each time I'm with them and really I was mentioning someone earlier that you know We started I had these big plans and multiple activities and really what it comes down to is having you know Few ideas and some flexibility in following following their lead. I'm much more kind of shooting from the hip and Being flexible with them because it didn't work for me to come You know with my structure plans of here's what we're going to do Generally, we'd have an ideas of this is gonna be a harvest day. It's gonna be a planting day We talked about blocking and root shoots and fruits and you know, they have their own ideas and they have their own, you know excitement and and Curiosities and things that they want to try out. So in the second year, it's been a little more a loosey-goosey and kind of Working working with their leads