Category: Gardening

Northside Elementary School Garden is a winner! by Anne Janik

5/25/2021

“Who likes pickles?” asked Jan Congour, a second grade teacher at Northside Elementary. Her students gathered around the raised garden bed, each nibbling on a sprig of dill freshly emerged from the soil. This was the scene at morning recess, as the students learned about what herbs they like, and how to grow some of the things they like to eat in the 14 raised beds at the Northside Elementary Learning Garden.

The school’s garden project and outdoor classroom just got a $5,000 award to expand its outdoor learning space from Friends of Youth and Nature (FOYAN), a non-profit that promotes, supports, and facilitates opportunities for youth and their families to go outside, explore and embrace nature, and experience new activities in the outdoors. Funding of this award is partially from the El Pomar Foundation San Juan Regional Council and donations from supporters of FOYAN. El Pomar Foundation and FOYAN donors believe in the value, particularly now, of having access to experiences in our outdoor spaces that contribute to our youth’s well-being.

The funding has been used to purchase and install a shed, so tools and supplies can be close to the garden area, hoop structures to extend the garden’s growing season, and materials to build compost bins. The funding has also been used to purchase shade sails, white boards, and seating for outdoor classroom areas. Student teams submitted designs for the outdoor classrooms to the school’s Garden Team for selection. The students were given a STEM challenge to design and help build compost bins. As part of the STEM challenge, the students researched the proper mix of greens and browns to put in the right stuff for a healthy, pest- proof compost that they will eventually work into the soil.

The Learning Garden is a school-wide effort and has had four successful growing seasons. Each grade plants and maintains at least one garden bed with two to three vegetable varieties. Northside families, students, staff, and volunteers care for the garden in the summer. Each fall, the school hosts a harvest celebration where students and their families pick vegetables and learn more about the garden project. They also get to taste some of their rewards made into smoothies, juices, sautéed vegetables and snacks. This spring, second grade classes sold seed packets as a fundraiser to assist with the purchase of garden supplies. The seed packets were filled with seeds the second graders had harvested from the garden this past October.

The Learning Garden provides an opportunity for the Northside teachers to incorporate conservation concepts such as helping students understand where the valley’s water supply comes from and watershed related issues. The students also learn about nutrition, recycling, composting, and how to minimize their carbon footprint. Congour believes that “kids can learn many intangible lessons from working in the garden such as cooperation, nurturing, problem solving, sustainability, and stewardship of the Earth.”

One component of FOYAN’s mission is to promote healthy lifestyles. “The Northside school garden project is an excellent fit with FOYAN’s mission, particularly with the incorporation of the Live Well resources through Montrose Valley Food Partnership and nutrition lessons through the Denver Urban Garden Curriculum,” explained Anne Janik, FOYAN board member. Many community members are helping to make this garden project a success including seed donations from High Country Gardens and Valley Food Partnership and individual donations to FOYAN that are returned to the donor’s local community. But, the key to the Learning Garden’s success is the hard work of the Northside teachers, Garden Team, students, and families!

Growing delicious food has already made an impact on these second graders! When the students were asked what their favorite vegetables were in the garden? “cilantro, tomatoes, and chilis“ were the winners!

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5 Simple Ways to Get Your Kids Gardening by Abram Herman

3/26/2021

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Getting kids involved in growing their own food is great for their education and development, and a ton of fun for both of you! What better way to teach kids about where their food comes from, and the importance of healthy and local foods than growing your own veggies at home? Having to water, weed and care for living things also conveys to your kids an important sense of personal responsibility.

You can bring your kids into the entire process—start your garden planning early, and allow your kids to make gardening choices (with your guidance) so they feel ownership of the project. What kind of vegetables do they want to grow and eventually eat? If you’re using pots, what size of pots will those plants need? Where in your yard should you put them so they have the kind of sun or shade conditions they need to thrive? How often do you need to water them, and whose responsibility will it be to make sure they’re getting enough water? How will you tell when they’re ready to eat? And, perhaps the most fun question, what are you going to cook with each vegetable when they’re ready?

There are so many ways you can involve your kids in the garden planning and care, and they’ll learn a lot in the process. Here are 5 quick and easy ways you and your kids can get started with a backyard garden.

1 - Potted Plants
Building a garden bed is time consuming and takes up a lot of space. If you’re not ready to take the leap to a full-on garden bed, potted plants can work just as well! There are a lot of vegetables that will grow in pots including tomatoes, beets, leafy greens like chard and kale, hot or sweet peppers, lettuces, onions, and even beans (as long as you have something for them to climb on).

Just make sure the pots you use are big enough for the plants you want to grow—tomatoes, for instance, will need at least an 18-24” pot—and use a high quality potting soil that’s made for vegetables, so they’re getting all the nutrients they need.

Sun-loving vegetables like tomatoes and peppers should be in a bright, sunny place, but make sure more delicate plants like lettuces and spinach have a little bit of shade to provide relief from the heat.

2 - Mini Herb Garden
Another great way to bring the garden into your kitchen is with herbs. Not only will your kids get to participate in the growing process, but planning the meals you’ll make becomes even more fun!

One idea is to start with some of your kids’ favorite foods, and ask them to help you research what herbs they’ll need to make it. Do they love lasagne or pizza? Oregano is critical to the Italian flavor. Are they big on pesto? Basil can be your crop of choice. Start with the final product, and work backwards to help them figure out what ingredient you’ll need to make it happen.

Herbs are great because almost all of them will thrive in small pots, which are convenient and can usually be grown indoors. You could do a number of different herbs—thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary, etc.—or just stick to one that requires a larger amount, such as basil to be used in a batch of pesto. In addition, many of these herbs can continue to be grown in their pots indoors year round, providing fresh additions to your daily cooking beyond the normal summer garden.

Your kids can help pick out or decorate fun pots, fill them with soil, start seeds or transplant already-started herbs, and pick out the spot where the plants will be happiest as they grow.

3 - Colorful Lettuce Garden
Lettuces will thrive in cooler temps, like the current early spring season or in the fall, and they’ll provide a continuing source of salads for your dining room table. They are easy to start from seeds, and there are so many interesting and colorful varieties to choose from.

Lettuces have fairly shallow roots, so you can get away with a long and low container to house your whole lettuce garden. Have your kids help you pick out a variety of colorful and unique lettuces from the seed pack selection at your local nursery, fill your container with high quality soil, and plant rows of various lettuces to create a beautiful and tasty little crop of salad greens.

Salad greens are a perfect farm to table connection—clip off some lettuce leaves, whip up a quick vinaigrette, and combine them into a fresh salad in less than 5 minutes.

4 - Crop o’ Carrots
Anybody who’s never had a carrot straight out of the garden is missing out. I still have vivid memories from when I was little, pulling fresh carrots straight out of my mom’s garden and washing off the soil with the garden hose for a quick summer snack.

You’ll need a little deeper pot for carrots, since they’re a root vegetable, but about 12” of depth will be sufficient for your micro-crop of carrots. They’re incredibly easy to plant, just get some good soil and stick the seeds in the ground. One easy method of planting carrots and other small seeds is with a clean salt shaker; shaking the seeds from a salt shaker will help you to prevent over planting these tiny seeds. Before you know it, you’ll start seeing little carrot tops peeking their heads out above the soil.

The only way to know whether they’re ready is by pulling one out, but of course, “ready” is a matter of opinion in this case. Tiny carrots are just as tasty as giant ones, and the longer you wait the more rewards you’ll reap—what a great way to teach kids the benefits of patience.

5- Pallet Garden
This is a really neat way to create a space-saving and beautiful garden for a small backyard. Many businesses have stacks of pallets that they’re happy to get rid of—with a quick search on Craigslist you’ll be able to find many more pallets than you’ll ever need. These pallets can be repurposed into a fun and economical vertical or horizontal garden with just a little work.

I won’t go into all the details of making a pallet garden, because there are hundreds of how-to guides you can find online with a quick Google search, but the basic process involves stapling landscape fabric inside the pallet to create multiple vertical rows for planting your vegetable garden. The main thing to be careful of in general, but especially with kids, is that pallets can have sharp nails and splinters, so be very conscious of that when you’re picking out pallets and building your garden.

You can get your kids involved filling it with soil and planting all of the vegetables, or even a sweet treat like strawberries, and an especially fun thing you can do with them is paint and decorate the pallet to make it beautiful.

So there you have it—5 quick and simple ways to get a garden started with your kids, and teach them about their food and where it comes from. Have fun, and enjoy the fruits (or vegetables) of your labor!

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Ethnobotany with Kids by Anita Evans

10/30/2020

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Plants – we all have a relationship with them. This bond with nature is an integral part of the cultures of many indigenous people, and the use of native plants by the Ute People of Western Colorado is particularly engaging. This traditional use of plants for medicinal, cultural, and culinary purposes by native peoples is called ethnobotany.

It is truly amazing that the Ute people have thrived for thousands of years in the harsh climate conditions of Western Colorado. The Utes, and their ancestors, moved through different ecosystems corresponding with the seasons as food became available, as shown in artifacts dating back 12,900 years at the Eagle Rock Shelter Archeological dig in the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area.

Many important plants to the Utes grow abundantly on local public lands, and some are still used in traditional Ute Ceremonies. One such plant seen along the lower elevations of Grand Mesa and the Uncompahgre Plateau is the Banana Yucca. Its fruit, flowers, and stalks are edible, and people make twine by braiding fibers stripped from the leaves. Every part of the common Utah Juniper also has a use. The Utes use its bark for sandals, thatching, woven bags, and rope. The leaves and berries are high in vitamin C, offering a natural boost to immune systems. The Coyote Willow grows commonly along many of the creeks and rivers here in Western Colorado. Ute people make willow bark tea for headaches, fever, pain, and inflammation; it contains salicylic acid, the main ingredient of aspirin. Another plant historically used by the Ute people is the Pinyon Pine, which offers both high calorie, nutritious nuts in the fall and pitch used for waterproofing water baskets. A common desert bush, Mormon Tea, is used as a medicinal drink to treat a cough or cold and also as a stimulant similar to caffeine. And of course, the Big Sagebrush, which is used as a medicine for stomach problems and infection, as well as a cleansing incense when burned in a variety of spiritual ceremonies. It is important to note that these plants should not be eaten unless you have specific knowledge on how to prepare them for consumption.

It is a joy to share this special plant knowledge with young people, and there are several places on the Western Slope that provide easy access to learning more about traditional uses of these native plants: The Ute Museum in Montrose, the Ute Learning and Ethnobotany Garden in Grand Junction, and our local educational arm of the Bureau of Land Management – Colorado Canyons Association.

The Ute Museum, located at 17253 Chipeta Road, Montrose, was established in 1956 near the ranch of Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta. This year, the Ute Indian Museum and its partner museums across the state will provide virtual field trips that explore the state’s history, people, and environment in fun and educational ways. Aligned with Colorado Academic Standards, the programs are taught by talented educators in History Colorado museums all over the state. To learn more or to sign up, visit https://www.historycolorado.org/virtual-field-trips. The History Take Out program is changing its structure for school year 20-21. You can now rent one of the Ute Museum’s popular History Take Out kits to use remotely or in your school. Through objects, photographs, and a large walk-on map of the state, students will uncover the “footprints” various cultures and industries left behind. For more information on this program, visit https://www.historycolorado.org/ute-indian-museum-history-take-out. Open seven days a week, the Ute Museum has many award winning indoor and outdoor exhibits. Included in the outdoor exhibits is a native plant garden that combines the plant knowledge of the Mountain Ute Tribe, Southern Ute Tribe, and the Ute Indian Tribe of Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah. More about the Ute Museum can be found at historycolorado.org/ute-indian-museum.

The Ute Learning Garden, also called the Clifford Duncan Memorial Garden, in Grand Junction is located at the CSU Extension office for the Tri-River Area at 2775 Highway 50. It is designed to familiarize students and visitors with native plants used by the Ute people, the movement of the Utes through various life zones, and the relationship between the Utes and the land. Working with the Ute Museum, the Ute Learning Garden was established in 2009 as part of the Ute Ethnobotany Project, seeking to preserve the traditional plant knowledge of the Ute culture. A brochure about the Ute Learning Garden can be found at https://tra.extension.colostate.edu/gardening-hort/. Interactive docent-led tours are available for groups of any size and age!

Colorado Canyons Association (CCA), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, is developing a “Junior Ranger Program” for the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area, Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area, and the McInnis National Conservation Area. Learners of all ages can earn badges by completing a number of questions in the information packets, based on age. Each packet gives resources to use along the trail while learning about native plants, geology, and animal and human impact on these public lands. These Junior Ranger booklets will be available on-line and in packet form later this fall. More information can be found at https://www.coloradocanyonsassociation.org/, and a CCA video tour of the Eagle Rock Shelter can be found at https://youtu.be/1rc0rkVd7iE.

So, gather your young ones and share some valuable time together learning more about the original inhabitants of the Western Slope, the Utes, and their resourceful use of native plants at these amazing local resources!

Published October 2020

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Kids in the Garden- Oh Yeah! by Lynea Schultz-Ela

8/31/2020

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Friends of Youth and Nature is all about getting kids outdoors, and the experience of growing a garden is one of the best outdoor adventures kids can have close to home.

In this heat and smoke from recent nearby fires, and with the current pandemic, it’s easy for the outdoor spirit to be diminished. But, it’s only momentary; time will clear our air, bring us the fall temperate climate, and eventually we’ll get in front of COVID! Meanwhile, there is gardening.

Time in the garden is rewarding, meditative, and oh so productive. For young people it’s a way to engage deeply with Mother Nature—and by deeply, we mean deep in the soil. In Delta, Montrose and Mesa counties there are several programs that get kids outdoors and into the soil to learn and experience nature’s wonders. From schools to community gardens to libraries, programs are in motion and kids are involved.

The Delta County School district has an incredible Farm to School program with a garden at each of the eight elementary schools. The program director is Angela Flores (also an advanced math educator) who provides the energy, vision, knowledge and enthusiasm to create a successful and fun program. It’s a comprehensive program that addresses the health benefits of growing a garden and also food insecurity within the school district. The kids learn to grow their own food and can bring those skills home to add to the food on the table. They learn where food comes from, how to grow it on their own, and how working in the soil can contribute to healthy bodies and minds. Kids learn to be soil stewards through these experiences in the garden.

Currently this outdoor learning opportunity is for kids in kindergarten through fifth grades. During the school year the kids come to the outdoor garden to learn soil science, composting, pollinators and pollination, seed saving, plant life cycles, insect life cycles, and about water sources and soil erosion. Whew—that’s a lot, but it creates so much knowledge and thoughtfulness in the real life experience of the school gardens. In the summer Angela has a Garden Club program at five of the district schools. The students come out once a week for a few hours and spend their time maintaining the garden, getting a gardening lesson and conducting experiments. For example, they might do some soil testing and discuss natural amendments to add to soil to better support plant health. As the garden starts producing, the club members learn how to market and sell their produce at a local farmer’s market, creating a full circle of knowledge around the necessities of life. This summer COVID prevented the club from meeting regularly, but Angela put together 150 seed and soil kits for the members to take home (like I said, she is super energetic). They grew radishes, lettuce and sweet peas, which are all plants that grow and grow again when cut. This was productive, educational, and placed the kids in the dirt out of doors.

In 2019 the Colorado Health Foundation provided a grant to the Delta County Farm to School program, supporting the entire endeavor and the Western Colorado Community Foundation and Friends of Youth and Nature helped fund the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Compost program. This is learning in action as the kids learn about life cycles and ecosystems! Angela discovered quickly how these lessons can grow outside the classroom when a couple of kids said they wouldn’t go to their favorite restaurant anymore because the restaurant did not use recyclable or compostable take away boxes. Being brave kids, they went ahead and met with the restaurant owner to give them their ideas. The very best thing happened when the restaurant changed to recyclable to-go boxes. Once again, it was a full circle of learning, creating thought provoking actions, and long-term land stewardship thinking.

Young people don’t automatically love putting their hands or feet into the soil. They may even hate getting dirty—but the natural world includes dirt. Once they experience putting their feet into the soil, or looking at soil through a magnifying glass, or holding a worm they found coming up out of the soil, they begin to understand the fun of it all. Once they start actually looking for things in soil, and understand it’s more than “dirt,” they LOVE it. As one child said “I played in the soil and it was SO MUCH FUN!”

The Delta County Farm to School program has big goals. They plan to secure more AmeriCorps Vista members to help expand the program from K-5 to all age groups. The 6-8th graders and 9th – 12th graders are in the midst of serious brainstorming on plans for next year’s garden projects. Ideas floating around include indoor tower gardens, bigger production fields and even hydroponics! Not just useful skills, but life skills that create that connection between our youth and the world within our soils. Learn more about the Delta Farm to School Program through:
sites.google.com/deltaschools.com/farmtoschool or on Facebook at Delta County Farm to School Project

In Montrose County, The Valley Food Partnership has supported community and school gardens since 2013 and helped develop five community gardens and six school gardens in the county. Take a peek at the awesome resources and lesson plans on their website (valleyfoodpartnership.org/gardens) such as “schoolyard salsa”, and “how big is a foot?” Get some great ideas on how to plant the seeds of knowledge and engage youth about the wonders of gardening, plant science and more (valleyfoodpartnership.org/gardens). Don’t forget to check out the children’s garden and the story walk at the Montrose Botanical Garden!

The Mesa County library has developed a discovery garden for families at the 5th and Chipeta Avenue location. Take a tour of the garden with your children and start plans for next spring’s garden projects. The library is hosting special fall garden events with topics that may include fall bulb planting! Check their website event calendar (mesacountylibraries.org). You can also check out a pass to visit the butterfly exhibit at the Grand Junction Botanical Garden and learn how important pollinators are to successful gardens.

It takes adults as well as children to bring these great ideas to life. If you love digging in the dirt, and enjoying the fruits of you labor, consider sharing the experience of gardening with your communities youth. Not only will you be joining Friends of Youth in Nature in the effort to get kids outdoors, YOU will get outdoors too and benefit from the surprising wonders in our own backyard.

Published August 2020

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Northside Elementary School Garden is a winner! by Anne Janik

5 Simple Ways to Get Your Kids Gardening by Abram Herman

Ethnobotany with Kids by Anita Evans

Kids in the Garden- Oh Yeah! by Lynea Schultz-Ela

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