The first day of the camp was certainly very interesting. We ended up with eight kids in total, ranging from 6-9 of age—one 6 year-old, two 7 year-olds, four 8 year-olds, and one 9 year-old—so the age range wasn’t as wide as it could have been if it was 6-11. We started out at the Fernwood Community Centre (FCC), and had the kids make nametags as they came in. Once everyone had arrived we played a garden name-game—everyone had to introduce themselves, give the name of something in a garden that begins with the same letter as their name, and do an action to go along with it, which we all then repeated—The intention of this game was to not only introduce everyone, but get everyone relaxed (kids and counselors alike!) and thinking about what can be found in a garden right of the bat.
After introductions we read the kids the beginning of the story “Sandra’s Sunflower” about Sandra who wanted to plant a sunflower and so she threw it onto a rock, only to have a bird swoop down and snatch it up. We then asked the kids what Sandra should have done differently, and then walked the two blocks from the FCC to the Compost Education Centre (CEC) and had them locate a spot in the many garden beds where they would have planted their sunflower seed. The kids definitely seemed to enjoy getting to run around and find a spot, and then explain to everyone why they chose the spot they did.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
GRUBS Spring Break Growing Camp
Over the week of Mar 21-25 I helped to organize and run the GRUBS Spring Break Growing Camp for kids aged 6-11 year olds. GRUBS is a joint project between the Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre (compost.bc.ca) and LifeCycles Project Society (lifecyclesproject.ca)where I’m currently doing a practicum. The goal of the camp was to educated kids about growing their own food, as well as critically thinking about where the foods they eat come from, be they fruits and vegetables or processed and packaged foods. The camp was five days long with an overarching theme of food security education, and each day had a specific theme: day one, Composting & Soil; day two, Permaculture; day three, Where Does Our Food Come From?; day four, Growing Your Own Food; and day five, Bringing It All Together.
For each day, the six of us—two paid facilitators, two practicum students, and two volunteers—planned out a series of activities—such as songs, stories, field trips, and gardening activities—to illustrate the daily themes. Food security is such a wide-ranging and important subject that it was definitely a challenge at times knowing exactly what to focus on, especially over the five hours we’d have the kids. There was a definite agreement that we would need to simultaneously educate the kids about the issues, yet also keep them engaged; no easy task when it comes to kids, especially with such a wide age range! As you’ll see I think we managed to strike a fine balance that appeared to work for all of the kids.
For each day, the six of us—two paid facilitators, two practicum students, and two volunteers—planned out a series of activities—such as songs, stories, field trips, and gardening activities—to illustrate the daily themes. Food security is such a wide-ranging and important subject that it was definitely a challenge at times knowing exactly what to focus on, especially over the five hours we’d have the kids. There was a definite agreement that we would need to simultaneously educate the kids about the issues, yet also keep them engaged; no easy task when it comes to kids, especially with such a wide age range! As you’ll see I think we managed to strike a fine balance that appeared to work for all of the kids.
Food Journal: Tracing Backwards
Earlier in the semester, I kept a food journal documenting what I ate for 24 hours. I took the time afterward to analyze what I knew about the food I had consumed, and what broader implications may exist because of my eating habits.
8:00 am Tuesday, January 18th, 2011— 8:00 am Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
8:00 am 1 Royal Gala apple and natural peanut butter
10:30 am ½ glass of skim milk
1 banana and natural peanut butter
12:30 pm 2 large white eggs with: ½ a cooking onion, ½ roma tomato, lemon zest, cheddar cheese and ketchup
1 whole-wheat English muffin with ¼ of an avocado
½ bunch of kale with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese
2:30 pm 4 rosemary and olive oil Triscuits
4:30pm 1 skim mocha
½ cup combined tamari almonds and whole-wheat goldfish crackers
7:00 pm 2 Oreo cookies
9:45 pm 1½ cups of broccoli, cauliflower and red pepper sautéed withThai sweet chili sauce
¼ cup baked beans
1 graham cracker with Nutella spread
Artsy Food-sy: A Poem in Appreciation of Good Food
#12 salad
it’s february,
and it lettuce take for granted the californian season
but I didn’t squash the fruit flies tracking our bag of apples, rather gave them persimmon
perched against it, yew kept the oak tall
and in our consumption—you were comfortable, because that is just how yew are, steeling my beets heart.
we mango’d, even though it wasn’t organic—you know I don’t dance well
and you called-me-flower in the winter sun.
snacking, I thought we were a good pear, but
suddenly, you grasped-and-berried the ingredients into the salad—
insisting that I eat some cheese if I was going to wine.
I wrote this poem after enjoying the first crisp February afternoon snacking on spaghetti squash, salad, cheese and wine in a mystery field my friend took me, and since that day, I cannot find again. Hope you caught all the foods we snacked on—take a hint from the title...
Getting together with friends and making a meal is an important thing. It’s a simple act that acknowledges the social and communal aspects of sharing a meal, and aligns food—even for one evening—back to the centre of our meaningful relationships. If you haven’t done a potluck, or simply eaten a meal with a few people in a while, pick up the phone—and have a real conversation—to get a date set, and become allies united by good food!
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