Solar Youth at the Ivy Street Garden!

On Thursday, October 15^th, NHS staff and SolarYouth reunited in the Ivy Street Community Garden. Last spring, NHS introduced Solar Youth to some of the resident gardeners at Ivy Street, which you can read more about here. Our time together in the Ivy Street garden was so successful, and we were thrilled to have them back in the garden.

The afternoon began with snack time and a quick introduction to the garden. Seventeen kids, ages 4 to 13, walked to the garden from their home base at King-Robinson Magnet School. Several high school interns were also present to help the educators supervise the students.  Excitement was high, and everyone wanted to get their hands dirty as soon as possible. The exuberant Solar Youth explorers grabbed rakes and leaf bags to help tidy up in the garden before wintertime. A few students got distracted from this task when they discovered peppers, lettuce, squash and kale in the beds along Ivy Street, and decided instead to examine the area with magnifying glasses and to draw what they found; others took their raking assignments very seriously. At day’s end we had three full bags of leaves and a much tidier garden.

The Solar Youth crew’s curiosity was boundless. Kids discovered spiders and their webs, identified flowers and plants in the garden, and learned that mint leaves taste good (but that it’s a good idea to ask before you pluck). Solar Youth-ers loved entering the greenhouse and discovering how much warmer it was than the rest of the garden. They even found a grasshopper on the ceiling!

After cleanup time, everyone gathered for a group photo. We had a fantastic afternoon in the garden, and we look forward to several more visits from Solar Youth!