The kids are antsy and itchy and not because of anything in the garden, oh no–it’s almost spring break! Try corralling that kind of distraction for an afternoon of weeding and you’ll get dips and dives in enthusiasm–until they spot the strawberries.
“Can I have one! Can I have one!”
Zeroing in on the plants in question, I do the quick math in my head: 5 strawberries, 10 kids… And this is just the first group out for the day!
“Please, can we pick them?”
What could I say? This is the day they’ve waited for, the one I promised would come and fill them with more excitement than they could contain. Glancing between kids and berries I had no choice. “Yes”–hands flew outward–“but not before I get a picture!”
Talk about the difficulty of delayed gratification–you’d a thought we were on a ten-hour bus ride with no stops for bathroom breaks the way these kids were bouncing, bobbing, bursting for release. But the berries were worth it. 🙂
Upon our return, these cucumbers will be great fun. They’ll climb right up this fence–ours for the grabbing! (Someone sense a pickling lesson in our future?)
The kindergarteners joined us this week for the honor of planting the ever popular watermelon seed, dropping several into each hole. They have no idea how much space one watermelon plant needs, let alone five in each hole. But they had fun and each had a turn (THE most important factor in gardening with the wee ones).
While weeding, we noticed this little guy–another near catastrophe in the making. Poor thing had no idea what was going on, what, with all these little hands darting in his direction!
And speaking of things flying at high speeds I leave you with this note of caution: when gardening during Science Olympiad week, keep your eyes peeled. While supervising the garden activity, I was surprised by a splash on my ankle. Turning, I spotted the group of middle school boys–laughing. Never a good sign. Apparently, their project was some sort of water balloon launch and I was in range.
Eyeballing the little pumpkins, I thought, it’s all fun and games until the garden coordinator gets wet! (Though I had to admit, they’re distance and precision were pretty good.)
To his credit, the young man came over and apologized to which I promptly accepted. He’s just lucky it was my leg and not my lens.
p.s. The upper elementary kids surprised me with this wonderful shamrock filled with limericks about their *fabulous* garden coordinator, yours truly. Each and every rhyme is a true creative gem–I wish I could post them ALL here for your reading pleasure–you’d love them. I will cherish it and the salt and pepper snail shakers (my favorite kind of snails–the pretend kind!).
Thanks kids and have a GREAT spring break!
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