Young Green Thumbs Celebrate Bountiful Garden Harvest
Kaylen Fitchett, 7, picks tomatoes at New Roots Youth Garden on Randolph Avenue and Fig Street. (Wave photo)
By KAREN JOLLY DAVIS
Cape Charles Wave
August 12, 2012
The New Roots Youth Garden produced 194 pounds of vegetables this summer — and 18 young gardeners. At their Green Thumb Picnic on Saturday, they celebrated both the bounty of their harvest and — for the adults — the success of a public/private partnership that made the program possible.
“The Cape Charles Rotary donated about $6,000 and over 300 man-hours,” said Rotary president Bill Payne. “Eyre Baldwin donated workers to put up the fence. We couldn’t have done it without him.”
The Town provided land for the gardens at the corner of Randolph and Fig, as well as the services of Jen Lewis, Cape Charles Recreation Coordinator.
Project leader Tammy Holloway said the summer program lasted eight weeks, with a different “garden guru” teaching each week. The kids, aged 6 to 12 years old, learned about the soil, insects and parts of the plant. They learned what grows on the Shore, and what products are made from local agricultural crops like cotton and soybeans. They even learned how the Shore’s harvest impacts the state, Holloway said.
Fifteen adult volunteers shepherded the young gardeners and accompanied them on field trips, including to the Mason Beach Fruit Farm in Pungoteague to see the blueberries.
“On Tuesdays their assignment was to come back and tell what they made with Thursday’s harvest,” said Holloway. Seven-year-old Josephine Kohler earned the nickname Pesto Princess, because she loved to pick basil and make pesto.
One little guy took his yellow squash home and didn’t do anything with it — at first. Then he came to the summer garden club and proudly asked, “Guess what I had for breakfast?”
Yellow squash, with ranch dressing!
GARDEN GURUS
Sherri Reynolds on Creative Writing in the Garden
Jeff Klingel, Appleseed Nurseries Botany on the parts of a plant. (Chef Amy Brandt made snacks from seed, stalk, root and flower .)
Christina Murray, Northampton County Extension Agent, 4-H Youth Development, on the water cycle, composting, agriculture on the shore and its impact on the state and nation.
Helene Doughty, Virginia Tech Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center Senior Research Technician, Vegetable Entomology, on good and bad bugs.
Laurie Klingel and Betty Brown, Appleseed Nurseries, on gourd birdhouses.
VOLUNTEER EASTERN SHORE MASTER GARDENERS
Kathy Bonadeo
Tammy Holloway
Connie Anderson
Geri Baldwin
Marie Mauve
GREEN THUMB PICNIC AWARDS
Carl Brady — Assistant NRYG Commander in Chief
Molly Brown — Sunshine Smile
Kaylen Fitchett — Garden Star
Oliva Fleck — Cheerleader
Kate Gomer — Caring Kate
Braylen Hughes — Blueberry Picker
Zykeria James — Garden Dragon Fly
ShyKeria James — Miss Expressions
Josephine Kohler — Princess of Pesto
Darby Lunger — Perfect Tomato
Savannah Lunger — Sunshine Smile
Tyler McKnight — Searcher of the Perfect Squash
Sissy Nelson — Happy Helper
Xavier Nelson — Dig in and Do it
Jaiden Watson — Best Garden harvester
Kevin Voyles — Cool as a Cucumber
Keyina Voyles — Garden Bingo Winner
Katherine Barber — Best Buddy Award
Jessica Killabrew — Garden Goddess
Wonderful program and great reporting.
I would have liked to read about teaching the children something about the basic economics that accompanied their efforts.
Reading about the “Green Thumbs” made me want to participate next year! Great program.
As the grandmother of one of the young gardeners, I want to thank all the organizers and parents who made this possible. Parents organized and built; they supervised and guided. During my one visit to a gardening session, I was impressed with what was being accomplished and how the adults were able to capture and engage the young gardeners. And thanks to my grandson Tyler and his mom, Julie, for sharing their bounty with me.
We were actually able to teach the children some about the economics of their efforts. As we weighed the harvest each week we spoke about how much per pound the different vegetables would be in the grocery store. And they calculated how much their harvest would actually cost if the were purchasing it! We also discussed start up costs, seed, water, tools etc… so they could see how to deduct that from their profits. I do think a whole session on that next summer would be a great addition. Anyone interested in volunteering for the new roots youth garden should email [email protected]. Thanks Karen for a great story!
What a great project! Thank you all for putting this on!
A huge thank you to all the volunteers for a fantastic program! My daughter loved it and is looking forward to the fall harvest days. At the grocery store she’s asking about different fruits and vegetables and getting much more adventurous in trying new things. She learned about composting and we’ve started to do that at home. New Roots should be very proud of what they’ve accomplished. Thank you!