skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This year in the Summer Program we've taken our curriculum to the next level -- more interactivity and almost no sitting still! We've turned group discussions into opportunities for creativity, drama, music, and lots of role-playing to practice sharing what we learn here with our friends and family at home.
Today, youth taught each other about the 3 R's (reuse, reduce, recycle) through different written formats, which they then performed dramatically!
The crowd-favorite team (the Pink Panthers) composed a love letter to a garbage collector. (That's "Oscar" in the foreground reacting to his letter, as "Cordelia" reads aloud to the audience what she has written.)
Dearest Oscar (The Grouch),
My love, it is with great sadness that I write you this. Despite the beautiful times we shared, when I would bring you my empty chip bags and old DVDs, it is time our affair came to a close. Much as I adore you, I'm due to marry the head of the recycling plant next week. And the truth is, he lives a cleaner, more environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Don't take this the wrong way. The times we shared will never be replaced. It's not you baby, it's the waste.
Always yours truly,
Cordelia Compost
P.S. Please don't be grouchy.
The runner-up team (Yellow Canaries) wrote a text message conversation between a Plastic Bottle and the Ocean:
PB: What's up, Pacific?
W: Nutn much, Geyser.
PB: Guess what?
W: What! What? What?
PB: Some dude drank ma stuff! I'm hella mad! Can I get a refill?
W: Na bruh! U and ur friends wrecked ma house last time u came. U ain't welcome here no more.
PB: Not even! That was Aquafina!
W: It don't matter ur all the same!
PB: Fine I'll go talk to Atlantic! Meany!
W: Deuces!
Urban Sprouts partnered with our friends at Garden for the Environment to lead workshops at Breaking Ground: the Urban Gardening Youth Conference on Saturday, Sept 27th.
The event was held in San Francisco's Mission district and attended by youth from high schools all over the Bay Area! Workshop topics included green jobs, composting, gardening, green building, food systems, and even a bike ride to urban gardens all over the Mission! And the day ended with delicious Mission Pies.
Urban Sprouts' own Walter Pan, a student from our in-class and summer programs, co-led a workshop on composting and vermiculture (worm composting). I'll let Walter tell you about it himself:
Hi, I’m one of the volunteers in this activity. It was really fun getting to teach others about composting. Composting is very important but what I realized in my school was that very few knew about compost. And knowing that other schools care about composting makes me feel well. The crowd and weather was really nice that day as a result there’s this festival-like feeling.
A big Thank You to Walter, all the conference organizers, and to Nicole from the GFE for making our workshops happen!
Several months back, a wonderful crew of volunteers from Skywire helped students at June Jordan to build an amazing worm bin-slash-garden bench (photo below). These worms need a wooden box to protect them from the elements — those plastic bins often aren't enough in the outdoors. We use red worms, also known as Eisenia foetida for worm-composting or vermiculture, in which the worms eat plant waste and turn it into compost.
Today, we introduced a "gaggle" of red worms to their new home (top photo). (what do you call a group of worms??) We inaugurated our worm bin-bench with its new resident worms, and by enjoying the view of the garden from our new perch. Que lindo!
You may be wondering, how can I start a worm bin at home? It's not hard, but it takes patience and persistence to help your worms feel at home and begin doing their job . . . eating your garbage! And turning it into nutrient-rich castings for your garden plants, of course! To learn more about worm composting, start HERE, and then check out Worm Woman!
The last day of the Summer Program we hosted our most successful Garden Party yet! Youth participants in the program invited their families, friends and teachers to visit the Garden for the Environment and see all the amazing work the youth have done!! More than 75% of youth brought family to the garden - this is HUGE, compared to the less than 10% turnout we usually get for our garden parties during the school year. Teachers from MLK Middle School and June Jordan attended, as did Ross Mirkarimi, District 5 Supervisor.
What incredible work did the youth showcase at the Garden Party? Well, the youth taught us about . . .
Soil Health: John and Julius showed parents how to save seeds from native plants at the GFE and to sow them in window boxes and home gardens. John gathered the seeds from the garden himself - he learned how to identify mature seed pods ready to be harvested!
Families took home seeds to grow swiss chard, native Hooker's Evening Primrose, and Foxgloves. You can buy window boxes like the ones we used at your local Cole Hardware, or make them from scrap wood like old dresser drawers!
Eating Healthy at Home: Muawattia, Andre, Delvin and Suzi harvested and prepared veggie stir-fry with rice for everyone, and served it up hot! Everyone enjoyed those fresh and healthy greens.
This group also made a poster listing these ways we can all make healthier choices:
- Exercise and eat healthy including: bananas, strawberries, greens, apples, sweet peas, collard greens
- Choose whole food over processed food. Why? Because you will know what is in your food that can help you and not kill you slowly.
- Replace sweets with another kind of healthy food.
- Check Food Labels before you buy foods.
- You should have no more than 48 grams or 12 teaspoons of sugar in one day.
Where Our Food Comes From: Ellie, Walter, Angel and their group compared the environmental impact of a locally grown orange to the impact of buying orange juice grown in Florida or Brazil, which is shipped, processed and shipped again, using petroleum resources all the way.
They calculated that a local orange grown in Fresno travels 187.55 miles to you, while orange juice travels from 2,948 to 10,000 miles, depending if it is grown in Florida or Brazil.
The group gave us this statistic, from the CA Center for Public Health Advocacy, and they introduced us to the San Francisco Local Foods Wheel, a beautiful tool that tells you what locally-grown foods you can buy here and when they are in season.
Zero Waste: Last but certainly not least, Oscar, Alex, Ahmed and Kochise taught all the visitors how to divert waste from the landfill by recycling at home! They gave out green kitchen pails and the phone numbers to call to get your green bin and blue bin set up at home, so the City can collect your recyclables and compostables. Even more exciting, they gave out home worm bins and taught families how to compost food scraps without the waste even leaving home.
We ventured into the GFE's deep, dark worm bin to dig some fat, shiny red wrigglers for the visitors to take home. We even saw a couple of mating pairs!!
The youth did such an AMAZING job teaching their families all about the garden. They gave tours, showed off the beds they planted, tasted, smelled and touched the now familiar plants with their younger siblings, and had fun in this beautiful green outdoor space.
A HUGE Thank You to all the youth and their families who participated in the Summer Program and our Last Day Garden Party. Thanks a MILLION to the wonderful youth staff (Claire, Ellie, Julius, Oscar and Antoine) who made it happen!!
We at Urban Sprouts are SO VERY appreciative of our partnership with the Garden for the Environment and the opportunity to work with Suzi and Blair! Thank you!!
For more photos of the Summer Program, click here.parents
youth garden
compost
nutrition
local food
zero waste
