HOME GROWN HOUGH ENVIRONMENTAL DAY CAMP
First Week, First Outing!
Well the first week of our Home Grown Hough Environmental Day camp is behind us. It was an exciting and honestly scary time for us this being our inaugural week. We planned but were anxious about what to expect.
It turns out that we had less children than expected for the first week. The first day was hot and muggy but Josh, Ms. Alisa and Marcus got things off to an exceptional start and took things up two notches everyday moving forward. And of course Mrs. McGregor was there to lend support and wisdom whenever needed. Our campers were involved in everything from creating journals for documenting their experiences and experiments to cleaning out and planting garden beds, creating elixirs from the resources at the garden (herbs and mulberries) for an art exhibit they would be in on the following Saturday and creating distractions to divert the birds from our ripening community strawberry beds. The group made the poster that would mark our part of the Beautiful Possibility art exhibit at the West Side Market and although I am very biased it was the most beautiful sign I saw!!! When Saturday arrived the campers were ready to head off for a visit to the Ridall Training Center in the Kinsman Neighborhood to learn about aquaculture and composting. Mr. David Hester one of the founders of the Ridall Green Partnership gave our campers a tour of the training center which is also a Growing Power Regional Outreach Training Center, one of fifteen around the country. How lucky we are to have one right here in Cleveland! The kids were truly impressed when they found out that they could grow fish for eating right along with the plants inside the greenhouse. Remarks like “cool” and ”sweet” could be heard between the squeals and laughter when Mr. Hester aka “Dr. Green Hands” scooped the tilapia from the aquaculture tanks. They also got to meet Mr. Will Allen an internationally known expert in farming, urban agriculture and community building! Needless to say we will be making trips to the Ridall Training Center much more frequently and quite frankly everyone who is interested in growing fresh food and community should! After the tour we headed over to the Westside Market for our part of the Beautiful Possibility art exhibit by travelling Artist Alison Pebworth. THE BEAUTIFUL POSSIBILITY ELIXIR SOCIAL included City Rising Farm, Erie’s Edge Farm, Gather ‘Round Farm, Let It Bee Gardens, and the Possibilitarian Garden. Each urban agriculture project created their own elixir to cure Americanitis. What is Americanitis you might be thinking. Well the following link will take you to Alison Pebworth's website and you can find out for yourself. http://www.beautifulpossibilitytour.com. There was so much excitement generated from the fabulous artwork and the elixir tasting. The Possibilitarian’s exhibit was very interactive and it was certainly a challenge getting the kids to leave when it was time to go. One would come out and another would pop right in. I must say though I had to go in a couple of times myself it was so much fun and very thought provoking. All of the elixirs were quite tasty as well! I must say that being among so many creative and positive people cured my Americanitis and the pride I felt in our City Rising Farm campers will stave off another bout of it for months to come! Elle |
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