As much as I enjoy seeing gardens thrive and provide feasts for the coming year, nothing can compare to watching our youth and teens discover the joys of gardening and food preservation- skills that may well come in handy for them in the years to come.

The last couple of years we have opened our program to the youth and teens. They are required to attend the same workshops as the adults, and are provided the same incentives and help as the adults. This year, three of our teens who were in the program last year volunteered to serve as mentors to youth and teens new to the gardening program, providing a layer of support in a way that doesn’t intimidate young, new gardeners.

I must admit that I had some concerns on including youth and teens in our heart healthy and food preservation workshops, but they not only embraced the workshops with a passion, they did so with pride in what they did and what they accomplished. They tried foods and food styles that were new to them, and found that the food actually was pretty good; the peach salsa from the food preservation workshop ended up with a very short shelf life after they found some chips.

The youth and teens have worked hard in the community center garden this year, growing food to help feed participants in the summer program. Their garden has thrived under their care, and has already provided a lot of food for the program, from lettuce and green onions to the green beans, potatoes, and tomatoes starting to come in. The first thing they do when they arrive is to check and see what needs to be done to the garden, and then they harvest whatever is ready to be used for lunch.

Some have their own gardens at home as well, and have shared pictures of their efforts. A brother and sister duo proudly posted a picture of their first carrot. That carrot, along with a few carrot buddies, made a delicious side dish for dinner that night. Already they are planning on more carrots next year.

Yes, our gardens are doing well this year. I expect we’ll see good harvest totals. But I’m also expecting a bumper crop of young future gardeners that will spill over into next year.