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Involving youth

 

Although Iowa is an agricultural state, most of today's kids are not from a farm.   Most have never even helped with a garden.  Part of the mission for the Iowa Gardening for Good is to help educate children about how food is grown.  While we are not focused exclusively on youth, we do welcome kids of all ages as long as they come with adequate supervison.  We have had families, church groups, Parks and Rec day camp groups, corporate volunteers, college students and service fraternities.  Below is a series of pictures with explanations to give a better idea of what kids might expect.  Also, go to the kids page to see other opportunites that parents/leaders may want to consider when they come such as fishing, bon fire, animal petting and more.

Learning how to plant

 

These volunteers are holding up row markers and seed for the planting they did that day.  They are holding up kohlrabi seed.

youth volunteers at Iowa Gardening for Good

Team work for problem solving

 

These middle school-aged kids were told to plant rows 4 feet apart and plant the rows straight enough so the the area between rows would permit use of a rototiller.

Iowa gardening for Good youth volunteer planting opportunites

Learning how to transplant

 

This volunteer is transplanting pepper plants.  Most of the items planted on this farm are planted into plastic mulch that has a dripline for irrigation underneath.

Iowa Gardening for Good transplanting into plastic mulch

Putting up a fence for support

 

Volunteers below are putting up a woven wire fence that is used to support tomatoes.  The tomato plants are tied to the fence with twine as they grow.

Harvesting is like a treasure hunt

 

For many of the younger volunteers, the new experience of finding vegetables to pick is exciting.  The bigger and more unique the find, the more exciting it is.  .

Planting a fall garden

 

These volunteers are planting carrots, radishes and turnips for a fall garden.  Many people only think about spring planting, but harvest can occur through October in Iowa.

Iowa Gardening for Good volunteer opportunity

The power of an army

 

Although some groups only come for a few hours, many volunteers for a few hours can do a lot.  These volunteers are planting a fall garden.

Iowa Gardening for Good volunteer example

Team work for families

 

The three volunteers in red (mother and two daughters) are working together planting sweet potatoes.  The youngest on the right is poking holes in the plastic, the middle person is separating the transplants, and the Mom is firming the soil around the transplants.

Iowa Gardening for Good volunteer planting

Enjoying the picking

 

For many of the kids, the actual picking of the vegetables is a fun and new discovery.

Learning where food comes from

 

Not many kids have ever thought about where their stringbeans come from.  They actually are produced from a plant, not a can or freezer bag. 

Harvesting tomatoes needs TLC

 

These young volunteers are picking cherry tomatoes.  They learned the importance of carefully placing the tomatoes into the crate as opposed to just dropping or tossing them.  .

Harvest and weeding

 

Although we try to reduce the need to weed by using plastic mulch, there are weeds that need to be pulled at times. This volunteer was pulling weeds while picking peppers.

Harvesting the produce

 

These volunteers are carrying a crate of zuchinni.  They learned that picking the veggies is just part of the work.

Harvesting the produce

 

These volunteers are picking produce.  As they pick enought to fill a crate, they get another one.  For many of the vegetables, picking can be a fun family activity.

Logistical support

 

These volunteers are moving crates to areas where picking is going on.

Weighing the harvest

 

Aftering picking the vegetables, we weigh each crate for our own records, but also to let everyone know how much they picked.

Group activity

 

This project provides a nice outdoor activity that lets youth groups do a service project that also exposes the kids to how food is grown.   

Carrying out the harvest

 

Most of the harvested vegetables are loaded into plastic crates for the food bank.  Some of the crates can weigh over 50 lbs.  It is interesting to note that younger kids tend to naturally team up to carry where as adults tend to struggle themselves or defer the task to others..

Measuring the success

 

For most groups, we weigh  the produce they picked so they know just how much they picked.  Many times, the volunteers like to have a picture of their accomplishement.

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