Ivana and Kris took Maddox, Micah, Sadie C. and Leo to the Ocean View Farms plot on the bus today. These children had expressed great interest in cooking with Ivana and there was an interest in creating a stepping stone in mosaics for the plot.
We talked about the focus of our visit on the way to the bus stop. Micah and Sadie C. were going to take photos of what they wanted to represent in mosaics. Leo and Maddox were going to harvest food for cooking with Ivana.
Micah: “When we’re done, can we plant seeds and come back and eat them?”
Kris: “Yes, you can plant seeds and we can come back to see the sprouts.”
Maddox: “Then they’ll grow into food.”
Micah, holding his hand to his forehead: “Then they’ll be this tall.”
After the bus ride, we had snack under the pines and talked more about the mosaics.
Micah: “I want to take pictures of corn.” Looking around he wonders, “Where’s the corn?”
Kris: “You’re remembering the last trip you took up here when you ate corn off the stalks in our plot. That was summer, so there’s no corn yet.”
Sadie C.: “I want to take pictures of lilies. I see a lot of them now.”
We moved on from snack to our plot and looked at all the flowers in bloom and the raised beds.
“Where can we plant carrots?” Sadie asks after looking at the crowded beds.
“Sadie, pull on this…” Kris offers an experience.
“Wow, it’s a carrot!” -Sadie says with suprise at what she pulls from the bed.
“Oh, we can plant more of them here.” Leo
We prepared beds and planted carrots, leeks, and cilantro. The children took turns watering with a watering can and hose. They made bouquets of lilies, cosmos and chamomile and harvested carrots, lettuce, kale, and celery.
The celery was a big hit! Chewing on stalks like old farm hands all the way home on the bus and the walk, Micah and Maddox made up a song that had us all singing while we walked.
“Celery, celery, celery sooooonng…Celery, celery, celery soooong…celery celery plaaaaays the fiddle….” I guess you had to be there, giddy with sunshine and fresh air. This was a pretty great end to the walk and mom, Micah wants you to purchase some celery, please.
We will follow up in three weeks to visit our sprouts and bring back more produce to cook with Ivana. We’ll take the bus again, walk by the stores and hold hands while we connect the children with our community through trips to OVF.