Garden Hour Fun

 Enjoying our harvest!

 Harvest Art

Picture silliness!

September Sales Date!

This September the MarketKids joined the vendor lineup for our annual Garlic Fest decked out in the MarketKids t-shirts they screen-printed! It was a beautiful day, and the kids had impressive displays...it's not wonder they seem to sell out every market! :) Here are some pictures from the day!

As we near the end of August, a hint of Fall is in the air, and harvest season is underway! Here's a look at what we've harvested from the Hunger Relief Garden so far...

Soon to harvest: tons of butternut squash, potatoes, watermelon, basil, sweet potatoes, green beans, jalapenos, and MORE! Stay tuned for pictures of our bounty!!!

First MarketKids Vendor Day!

On July 12th the MarketKids set up their booths at the Blacksburg Farmers Market for the first MarketKids Vendor Day of the season. The kids had creative displays for their booth, and were selling a wide array of products from their home gardens: cut flower bouquets, dried herb sashays, fresh herbs, zucchini, chard, kale, apples, honey, cucumbers, berries, and potted plants. The kids had a steady stream of customers, and they all were beaming with pride by the end of the day!

Developments in the MarketKids Hunger Relief Garden

It's just starting to be harvest time in the MarketKids Hunger Relief Garden! With sprawling cucumber, squash, and sweet potato vines, plump green tomatoes, bushing potatoes, budding sunflowers and nasturtiums, along with beans, peppers, cabbage, and basil we're in for quite the yield! This past week we had our first harvest, picking 17 cucumbers and a big bag of basil. After harvesting we used a couple of the cucumbers to learn about lacto-fermentation in a pickle-making workshop! The rest of the cucumbers, and all of the basil were donated to Share the Spare this past Saturday at the Farmers Market. I look forward to the future fruits of our labors!

MarketKids makes it into the media! Check out our feature article HERE: http://www.roanoke.com/life/columns_and_blogs/columns/fridge_magnet/fridge-magnet-marketkids-helps-grow-an-interest-in-gardening/article_a5b8c75a-f65d-11e3-a646-0017a43b2370.html

MarketKids gathered for a third workshop this past Saturday, June 7th in preparation for next month, the first MarketKids vendor day! During this workshop the kids were led on a tour of the Farmers Market by long-time market vendor Ron Holdren. Ron took them to different vendor stalls to highlight good marketing skills, customer interaction, signage, samples, deals and more! The kids were encouraged to ask questions and use this experience as a way to help them be successful in their MarketKids business venture. At the end of the tour we gave the kids $10 in Farmers Market tokens to shop for seedlings and supplies that will help them have produce and value-added goods ready for the market next month.

Garden Hour

With Spring in full swing, yesterday marked the first Garden Hour at the Blacksburg Nature Center! Thanks to the hard work of Alex Hessler and I, the MarketKids Hunger Relief Garden was tilled and ready to go. We started the hour off brainstorming things we hoped to plant as the season progressed...carrots, cucumbers, beets, berries, flowers, sugar snap peas, and more!

We then discussed the layout of our garden...two long beds with a walkway in the middle!

We then split into groups--one group measured the width of the garden in order to determine the midpoint that would serve as the walkway between our two garden beds, and the other group began to hill the garden beds.

Once a garden bed had been formed, the planting began! We planted potatoes and cucumbers!

The kids learned about plant spacing and depth...

And how to water a garden bed!

All in all, it was a beautiful day and fun adventure with 15 young gardeners growing their garden knowledge!

MarketKids Hunger Relief Garden at the Blacksburg Nature Center getting tilled and ready to start up the weekly service Garden Hour! Garden measures ~7'x40'

A HUGE thanks to Alex Hessler--Kentland Farm Manager for his help tilling up the garden! I couldn't have done it without him!

Second MarketKids Workshop!

MarketKids had its second workshop weekend last weekend, May 3rd. A huge thank you to Tess Pangle and the other girls from Sigma Alpha Agricultural Sorority for all of your hard work organizing and executing a great MarketKids lesson about bugs in the garden.

Tess and her fellow sorority sisters helped the kids create their very own bug books with pictures and inquiring questions that spurred small group discussion about harmful and beneficial bugs in the garden. The kids learned about aphids, ladybugs, honeybees, praying mantis', grasshoppers, butterflies, snails, and caterpillars. At the end of the lesson they were given handmade bug boxes complete with instructions for the kids to make bug 'hotels' (habitats) for beneficial bugs in the garden: http://gardentherapy.ca/build-a-bug-hotel/

In other news, MarketKids has received additional funding from a grant from The Community Foundation of the New River Valley for $680.00!

Stay tuned for an upcoming post on developments in the MarketKids Hunger Relief Garden at the Blacksburg Nature Center!!!

MarketKids wins a Mantis Tiller!!!

MarketKids wins a Mantis Tiller just in time to break ground at the MarketKids Hunger Relief Garden at the Blacksburg Nature Center!!! Picked as one of 25 winners, out of over 500 applicants, MarketKids now has the resource it needs to cultivate creativity!!!

http://www.kidsgardening.org/article/congratulations-2014-mantis-tiller-award-winners

On April 12th The Blacksburg Farmers Market kickstarted the MarketKids program with Global Youth Service Day!

During this special event the program participants began their service journey by learning the basics of starting vegetable seeds in 'make your own' paper planter pots. In the two hour span we planted tons and tons of peppers, tomatoes, cauliflower, basil, eggplant, and squash seeds. Each participating child got to take home a couple of seedlings for their own home garden, while the rest of the seedlings will serve as the foundation for the MarketKids Hunger-Relief Demonstration Garden, located at The Price House Nature Center, a few blocks from the Farmers Market (see first entry for more information). The seeds have just begun to sprout into teeny tiny seedlings, and I am excited to gather the kids and get the garden going!!!