Hi Y’all, Lori here for another weekly installment of what’s going on in McDowell County.
Grow Appalachia is this years inspiration for our 3rd annual Reading Camp theme. The title of the camp is “Growing to Read, Reading to Grow”. We went whole hog with gardening and farm décor .
Our “class rooms/learning centers” are animal stalls, one of the centers is a sight word garden. As the kids learn the word, they will get to “plant’ them in a raised garden bed.
One of our activities will be in the green house, where they will plant their own container gardens to take home at the end of the week. We will show them how to plant the seeds they choose, how to fertilize and care for them, and what to do with what ever they grow. Other than boosting their reading skills, our goal is to teach them a love for growing their own food and getting their families involved in the program next year.
On the growing front, we picked a peck of radishes this week! I tried one and it was so tasty. This week coming we will be able to harvest peppers, The little half dead plants that were donated to us are producing like mad. We just need to keep the habaneros separate from the sweet bananas.
A few of the tomatoes seem to be suffering from blossom end rot, which does not make us happy. Thankfully it was only a couple of them and not all.
The greenhouse now has shelves and a table in it. Youth Works hooked us up! If you are ever approached by them to volunteer for you, say YES! Those folks are beyond awesome. You won’t regret it.
Stay tuned for more news from chicken chasin’ Lori and her band of growers.
Love your reading camp ideas!
should be great fun!
What a great event! Growing and education always go best hand in hand : )