Over the Fence Urban Farm

Cooperatively farming small patches of Earth in Columbus, OH

Tag Archives: Kids Garden Club


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End of Season Report – Kids Garden Club

It’s been a tough season on the farm. July into August was SUPER hot and SUPER dry. It was hard to get our CSA members motivated to come out and work. It was hard to get myself motivated to work.

A shining point was the Kids Garden Club, subsidized by the Clintonville Farmers Market. After three seasons leading the group, I felt like I hit my stride. We had a few established traditions to build on and fresh faces and energy to keep things interesting.

Yesterday I received a thank you note validating my feelings. This parent and her child showed up the second week of club and when I asked, “How did you find out about the program?” she told me she saw a picture of a friend’s child holding one of our chickens and she was sold.

She wrote, “When I signed H up on a whim after seeing a friend’s Facebook post, I figured she would get a little hands-on experience…. Instead, she got something much better; she learned (through fun!) about the many ways food gets to her plate. Your approach—field trips to local farms, stories, marketing lessons, talking to the kids like the intelligent, creative beings they are—made this an exceptional experience. Watching the kids debate the charity they would designate their remaining funds to was one of the best moments in democratic debate I’ve seen in some time. So thank you, thank you. I wish every child could experience this club. I firmly believe it would make our community, nation, and world a better place.”

Oh my god. So lovely. And just the validation I needed at this time in the season, and with big changes happening in other parts of my life.

Here are a few snapshots of the final third of our season. For more check out Season 3: Kids Garden Club and Update on CFM Kids Club.

We wrapped up our field trip circuit with a late July visit to Mother’s Peace Urban Farm located just a few blocks from us. As we walked through an ocean of zinnias in Fawn’s backyard, it dawned on me just how incredible it is to share with kids (and their parents) different ways to make use of one’s greenspace. We’re privileged to have land at our disposal and it still amazes me to imagine all the possibilites for using it beyond a boring patch of grass.

Fawn also talked with the kids about her bee hives and showed them some of the tools she uses (and generously lets me borrow from time to time).

Our second sale at the market was a success! At the meeting prior to the sale we reviewed and expanded on ideas for how to engage customers and lure them into our booth. One of the kids suggested tap dancing chickens which we all found hilarious. When she arrived for her shift the morning of the sale, she was disappointed I didn’t have any with me. Without hesitation, she stepped out in front of our table and started singing and tapping her feet. It was a riot and definitely got us some attention.

The kids sold out of everything we brought to market – tomatoes, potatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, flowers, garlic, peppers, flowers, and zucchini banana bread. They earned over $175 between the two sales, half of which was spent on an end of season pizza and ice cream party (before you start wondering what kind of garden club this is, there was also garden salad and veggie snacks!) and a donation to the Ohio Wildlife Center.

I had a wonderful time getting to know these kids and seeing them open up over the course of the season. And I’ll look forward to seeing them, and their folks, around the neighborhood.


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Update on CFM Kids Club

The Clintonville Farmers’ Market Kids Garden Club is having a great season. In late June we visited Swainway Urban Farm’s indoor growing facility for our second field trip. The kids were interested to see how Joseph mimics natural temperature fluctuations and creates humid conditions that encourage mycelium to fruit into mushrooms, even if most of the kids said they had no desire to eat them. The parents, on the other hand, were all drooling at the sight of the oyster, shitake, and chestnut mushrooms we saw.

As we moved from the mushroom tunnels to the microgreens grow room, Joseph surprised the kids when he announced, “Please don’t pet the greens!” But as soon as we were inside, we all understood the nature of his request. Trays full of thousands of tiny plants sat under grow lights, glowing like pillows of moss in the forest, begging to be touched. Joseph described his schedule for germinating and growing the greens as well as the rich compost he makes with the potting soil and roots they leave behind.

Honestly, this tour was a little tough for the kids because it was inside, in a small space. But I’m glad we went. I’m glad they got to see that people are growing food professionally in spaces like this. With climate change, more people are talking about the future of indoor farming.

And, this trip offered a clear example of how this club benefits parents, not just their kids. Some asked if they could join the outing even while their kids’ were away at camp or visiting relatives. They had a desire to peek behind the curtain at one of the longest growing and commercially successful farmers in Clintonville. I don’t blame them. I’m always inspired when I hang out with him too.

July 13 we had our first sale of the season at the market. This is always exciting for the kids. Our group is on the young side this year and the crowds intimidated some of them, but others jumped at the opportunity to talk to people who stopped by and get them to buy the vegetables and herbs we brought from their garden.

(Photo Note: we had our potatoes and garlic in the basket seen on the left for the first hour or so of the market. Once we took them out and put them on the table, as seen on the right, they started selling better. Lesson learned about booth display!)

I also continued the tradition of bringing an activity to extend the garden club members’ learning and help them introduce market patrons to new things. In the past we held a basil versus radish leaf pesto taste test (guess which won?!) and blindfolded herb identification test (sniff sniff). This time we brought eight flowers blooming in the garden and on the farm.

We had lots of folks (mostly women and girls now that I’m thinking about it) stop by to play “Test Your Flower Power.” We all had fun watching them try to match the flowers with the cards I made with their names and some information on their growing habits, benefits for pollinators, and medicinal and culinary uses. Potato proved the toughest to identify. Others included borage, mint, chamomile, tomato, calendula, yarrow, and nasturtium.

The little kitchen scale I bring along isn’t certified for sales, but it is a big hit. The kids love to try to get to a perfect pound. And I am always impressed, and cheer loudly, when they do!

Our next sale is August 10th. Come find us!


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Scenes from the Field: July 15, 2019

Wow. What a difference a month makes. The last time I posted, it was unseasonably cool and rainy. Now it’s hot as Hades and hasn’t rained in nearly two weeks. I HATE JULY. This is the time of year when I feel like I’m failing as a farmer. Every damn year.

Turning over from Spring to Summer crops is hard. Our small scale, with related drawn-out harvests, and intercropping practices are part of the issue, but also a benefit. Our celery and radicchio bed, for example, provided offerings for over a month. But for much of that time I was in a holding pattern planning for what would come next. Once enough of that spring crop was harvested, I set beans. They germinated well but it will be a little while until we’re eating from them. Where the garlic came out a few weeks ago, I had winter squash seedlings ready to take their place, but keeping those happy in their move, as the sun beat down on them, wasn’t easy. There were casualties. But we carry on…

Radicchio interplanted with Blue Lake bush beans.
  • Garlic out.
  • Squash in.

Today, as I take a break from the hot jobs of moving compost and fiddling with the irrigation system, I’m happy to share some images I captured during the past month.

  • We had a good fava bean harvest.
  • Family visited…
  • …and lent a hand.

We enjoyed lots more greens and herbs…

… roots …

…and the first tomatoes of the season.

Members of the CSA have been showing up to help get the irrigation installed in an effort to ensure the second half of the season is as strong as the first.

For more regular updates about what’s happening around the farm, follow us on Instagram and/or Facebook.


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Field Trip: Freshtown Farm

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One of the best parts of my gig leading the Clintonville Farmers’ Market Kids Garden Club are the field trips. These three evenings provide a great excuse for me to get out during the season and see what other farmers in Columbus are up to. Tonight we visited with Marcie Todd at Freshtown Farm, at their northside growing site. 

The kids (and their parents) had a great time walking around checking out the space, a parcel FF leases from a generous long-time supporter of urban growers. The site is just over two miles from our farm, but feels like the country.

We tasted young hibiscus leaves, broccoli, zucchini, and mulberries. And we got to meet and pet the property owner’s two goats – both males so no milk, sadly…

This aspect of the program really gives the kids perspective on the various ways people are growing in our city. Meeting the folks they see at the market is good for the farmers too. Our kids (and their parents, aka the ones who have the money!) are excited to go find Marcie’s booth and buy her produce.

A final note of thanks to the folks at Acre for a gift card we presented to Marcie to thank her for the time she gave us. If you haven’t eaten there, summer is a perfect time to try their farm-to-table offerings.


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July and August Review

This season has been rough. I was under a lot of stress in the spring in various other aspects of my life and like Tita’s emotion-infused cooking in Like Water for Chocolate, I believe it had an impact on the farm. The erratic weather (a week in the high 80s, rounds of 2-3 inches of rain over two days followed by 7 dry days…) and an influx of animal pests displaced by road and sewer constructions throughout our neighborhood didn’t help either. And so, it isn’t surprising that I haven’t posted much in this space. I didn’t feel like I had much to celebrate.

Thankfully my friends and loyal CSA supporters have assured me, repeatedly, that they’ll support our work when times are good and when they’re not so good. They understand that that’s what community supported agriculture means. When the harvest is good, it’s great, and when it’s ain’t, it ain’t.

I suppose you could say part of what members received in their share this season was emails from me outlining the challenges we faced, as we faced them. I like to think of this as the “get to know your farmer” bonus CSAs and farmers’ markets provide.

With all this going on,  I had no idea two months had gone by since I posted here! And, in retrospect, it wasn’t all bad. Here are some highlights.

The Clintonville Farmers’ Market Kids’ Garden Club continued their meetings, field trips (Franklinton Farms and Rock Dove Farm), and had two great sales at the farmers market. They raked in over $100 which we’ll split between their harvest party and a donation to a yet to be determined local nonprofit.

We grew popcorn for the first time this year – in the kids garden and on the farm. Visitors who stopped by for the Clintonville Midsummer Garden Tour were surprised to see it. Thanks to our early planting, it was way more than “knee high by the fourth of July!”

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Edible Columbus featured me in the Local Hero column. It was great to run into people throughout the summer who saw the article. Made me feel almost famous. And appreciated.

We have a bunch of events coming up in September including the Simply Living Sustainable Living and Garden Tour – an answer to the wish my friends and I had for such an event in the spring after visiting the mainstream H&G show at the fairgrounds (see Follow-up on The Columbus Dispatch Home and Garden Show).  We’ll also be celebrating the beauty of small scale agriculture at Global Gallery September 14th for a reception celebrating “In the Footsteps of a Farmer: Fleeting Beauty,” a photo exhibition sponsored by an Greater Columbus Arts Council Artists in the Community grant.

Thanks for sticking with us in the good times, and the not so good times.


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Kids Garden Club update: 6.27.18

The Clintonville Farmer’s Market Kids’ Garden Club returned to the farm last night after a week off site for a field trip to Chadwick Arboretum. The kids (and their parents) were amazed to see how much things had grown in two weeks!

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As you can see, we’re trying to grow a lot in a pretty small space, so the garden is a bit of a jungle at this point. It seemed appropriate to begin club with a reading of Strega Nona’s Harvest, a great picturebook about gardening with the moon and a plan to keep beds “orderly so it is easy to pick the vegetables.”

We broke into three groups and rotated between tasks – weed/seed/feeding in the garden, making soil blocks and planting winter squash seeds, and painting signs.

It was a productive meeting, and we’re all looking forward to our first sale at the market on July 7th! Come find us at the CFM booth on Dunedin.


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Celebrating Earth Week Columbus with the Kids Garden Club

Members of the Clintonville Farmers’ Market Kids Garden Club came to the farm today to celebrate Earth Week and get the garden ready for the 2018 season.

Here’s a few scenes of the garden before we got started.

One of my goals for the event was to move the fence from the edge of the raised beds to the space beyond them. This will provide the kids a lot more growing space and room to move. With the help of a few handy moms, we got that job done. Now the kids have a bigger space to grow, and the chickens have better boundaries.

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The kids cleared the straw blankets that were sheltering the soil over winter and spread compost all over. Then they played around with the broadfork.

We planted some seeds even though though my go-to garden calendar said it wasn’t a good day for it. We aren’t due to start regular club meetings for a few weeks. I’m hopeful that Persephone will look kindly on our efforts and the kids will have some seedlings to welcome them back.

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In all the excitement of getting to know new garden friends and keep activities moving throughout the evening, we forgot to water. Luckily, shortly after we said our final farewells, it rained. Fingers crossed for more good luck ahead…

Thanks to Trish Clark for suggesting we have a pre-season event as park of Earth Week, and thanks to Green Columbus for sponsoring our activity as part of Earth Week Columbus, “the largest Earth Day volunteer service opportunity in the nation, [planned] in partnership with community leaders, non-profits, and businesses.”

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Kids’ Club Harvest Party

The Clintonville Farmers’ Market Kids’ Garden Club finished the season this past weekend with a delicious harvest party featuring fresh food from their garden.

First, they harvested lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, chives, and basil to make a colorful salad. They didn’t all agree on what to add to the bowl, but agreed they could just eat the parts they liked, and maybe, just maybe, try a bite  of something new.

They used pre-made tomato sauce and radish leaf pesto as toppings for pizzas we cooked outside on the grill.

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Some of the kids hadn’t tried pesto before our second market day in August when we ran a pesto taste test for people who stopped by our booth – radish leaf versus basil. The basil version won, but only by a couple of votes. The kids, the participants, and I were all surprised by the results. (If you missed the post about our first market day, you can find it here.)

The kids had a great time working together to put the meal together in between playing and feeding scraps to the chickens.

Since the party didn’t cost that much, we paid for the few supplies we needed (like cheese and beer for the grownups) out of our dwindling supply budget leaving the entire $84 dollars we collected in market profits available for a donation to the Clintonville Resource Center.

I’ll admit I had mixed emotions about running this program. I have wanted to add some formal programming to our farm activities – drawing on my experience as an educator and our mission to help others learn how to grow their own food. Until this time, however, I hadn’t made the move to offer any classes or workshops. This opportunity pushed me into that and I’m so glad! I learned a lot. I hope the kids did too.


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Kids’ Garden Club: Sold Out!

The Clintonville Farmers’ Market Kids Garden Club sold out their first market booth this morning! We brought a few pounds of new potatoes, a dozen or so cucumbers, bouquets of flowers and a few purple green beans (just for sharing as taste tests). The kids raised $50 which we’ll spend on provisions for an end of the season harvest party.

We organized the morning into three shifts – one hour each with two kids working each hour. It worked out well, no one had any meltdowns, no one got lost, all the kids got to interact with customers and one another as they learned new things, and we had fun!

I brought a bunch of activities to keep us busy.

A clipboard to tally our sales:

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a scale to weigh things:

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and buckets of flowers, jars, scissors, and string so they could arrange bouquets.

We discussed how to greet customers, did lots of addition and subtraction to figure out sales totals and make change, and thanked everyone with a smile. We’ll work on a few of these a little more before our next sale.


We didn’t get a ton of folks at our booth–we were a little hidden by a road block sign and often mistaken for the token booth sales booth–but those who did take the time to stop and say hi were excited about our project. One woman told me, “I didn’t want any potatoes today but then I saw the kids and I was like, “OK!”

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We’ll be back at the market August 19th. Come see us!

 


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Catching up with the Kids Garden Club

The Clintonville Kids Garden Club has been chugging along. So far we’ve talked a lot about weeding, seeding, and feeding as well as working with what you find at your site, including volunteer plants and the bounty they offer with minimal effort. Two weeks ago the kids harvested 3 pounds of potatoes from plants that came back from last year within the bounds of their garden. This week, we harvested seed from an overwintered cilantro plant. As we collect things, we discuss how we might sell them at our first market day – July 15th.

This week we had a pretty small group. The girls who were with me harvested a nice bunch of cucumbers. They had a snack at club and took a few home to share, maybe, with their families….

Here they are harvesting cilantro seed. We talked about how amazing it is that one little seed made this plant, which produced so many more seeds!  We also talked about selling packets of these seeds and encouraging people to plant them now. It’s never too late to “seed” afterall!

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After some weeding, feeding, and seeding (radish, beets, and squash), the girls and I made some line drawings of flowers we’ve been growing. We hope to get a little coloring book together to sell at our stand.

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Everyone went home with a small bouquet.