Second trip to Focus: HOPE in Detroit

Today the CC ventured back into Detroit for a second visit to the Focus: HOPE garden. Unfortunately I have no pictures from the event, but it was a very busy and very fun day! When we first got there we set to work putting in some compost bins for the garden. We set up two circular bins, along the back fence; we secured them using zip-ties. Then we prepared for the kids and walked down to the park to meet them. We received a late notice that there could be up to 35 kids in the program, so we weren’t sure what to expect, luckily for us there were only about 20 kids and 15 summer-in-the-city volunteers.
We introduced ourselves and then walked to the park. First we started weeding the plants and picking out all of the tomatoes that had an end rot problem. These we put in a pile to later add to the compost bins. Then we talked about what plants eat, some of the kids knew all about photosynthesis which was great! We then introduced kelp meal as an organic fertilizer and asked the kids if they’d eaten seaweed before… many hadn’t. Then we told them that seaweed is in chocolate milk! They were all surprised! We also offered them so real seaweed; some people loved it, while other people seemed a bit repulsed by it. Then we gave some organic kelp meal fertilizer to the plants in the garden, this should help make the plants more drought resistant and cold tolerant, it will also provide stabilization and nutrients to the soil.
Next we learned about compost and filled the compost bins full with different things: the rotten tomatoes, lots of weeds, tree leaves and branches… etc. After the kids learned about composting, what you can and can’t put in a compost bin, we then gave the kids their own containers to collect twigs, leaves and veggie scraps on their own. The kids decorated their containers with paint, stickers, and glitter. Everyone seemed to have a great time! The kids were excited to go home and search for compostable things in their own yard to fill up their buckets for the Focus: HOPE garden.
All in all it was a great day; things went more smoothly than last week. I’m looking forward to next week’s visit.