Green Youth Farm

This week, we went for the first time ever to Green Youth Farm.  It was worth the drive in the heat.

To give you an idea, Green Youth Farm is located in Greenbelt Forest Preserve off Green Bay Road in North Chicago.  It's a Chicago Botanic Garden project, which really got me interested.  Have you seen my post about Cabbage and Violets, just for a tiny sample of what the CBG has to offer to gardeners?

At Green Youth Farm, local teenagers from the area learn job and life skills while also learning about and working on a one-acre organic farm.  They work part time together with staff and learn about composting, natural pest deterrent options instead of conventional pesticides, and a ton of other great things. 

 The kids and I caught up to a local library group also strolling through the farm grounds and listened to a staff member explain the different plants and answer questions.  The workers, in the meantime, were all around taking care of plants and learning about different plants and methods of farming.

This familiar looking weed is purslane.  No, they don't sell garden weeds there.  But you can actually eat it!  And it's loaded with nutrients.  Purslane is another example of the Colombian Exchange, a weed commonly eaten in Europe that came over accidentally with white settlers just like dandelions did.

You can see purslane growing between these onions...

Check out this idea with tomato plants, basil and marigolds along the bottom outside edge of the row to deter pests and help the tomato plants.  Brilliant!  I plan on doing this next year in my garden.

This is what cilantro looks like when it "seeds".  The seeds become one of my favorite spices... Coriander!


Produce is sold every Wednesday and Saturday, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., starting July 9 through October 8.  The best part?  It supports their efforts and keeps the program going.

When we had arrived, I assumed I would give the kids each a dollar to buy some produce with. 

I left with a half-bushel of organic produce.  The cost was a mere $15 and we also received a $10 coupon for our next visit as well as a recipe for a "Green Smoothie".  By my estimates, the produce would have cost me somewhere around double at the grocery store for organic produce, if I could even get it all in it's organic form.

I actually spoke to two of the teenage workers who kindly offered to carry my produce and watermelon to the car while I walked with my kids. In their words, this was their first year each and they loved it. They each said "I've learned so much."

I chatted with Chicago Botanic Garden yesterday and loved this...

 @PolPrairieMama Yes, the idea is to sell fresh organic produce at an affordable price for people living in food deserts.

— ChicagoBotanicGarden (@chicagobotanic) July 25, 2012

 These are blackberries getting ready to be picked in a couple of weeks.

Some grapes growing on an arbor.

The kids and I were curious as to what this flowering vine could be.  Any ideas?

A better photo of the vine...





I'd love if you would vote for Chicago Botanic Garden to receive a $25,000 grant from Plante Moran. 


What they plan to do with the grant funds:

Chicago Botanic Garden - To promote the enjoyment, understanding, and conservation of plants and the natural world.

With a $25,000 award, the Garden can purchase a cargo van to deliver fresh, affordable or donated produce to communities in need as well as local businesses that support program growth and development.





Green Youth Farm was exactly what I had been looking for:

• Serves the community
• Organic produce
• Actually affordable (I've been wanting to join a CSA but it was always out of our budget, this works even better for us!)
• Informative and helpful staff

I hope you go and check out Green Youth Farm.  This will now be on our weekly list of things to do.

Na razie...



Disclaimer:  I was not in any way compensated for writing this post or talking about or even visiting Green Youth Farm.  We went because we were curious and ended up loving it, enough to write about it.

Kids Garden

Last Friday, my children and I had the privilege of visiting the new Grunsfeld Children's Growing Garden at Chicago Botanic Garden along with the new Butterflies and Bloom Exhibit with a few other guests.

My kids had been told about visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden a week prior and I had briefly told them what we would be doing, such as making art using different vegetables, watering the garden, and other activities.  All week, they kept waking up early and bouncing into my room, fully dressed, shouting "Can we go to the kid's garden today?" 

At the event...

Walking into the garden, we passed a living wall.

We made a herb mix and the kids got to smell several different herbs, including tarragon which I have not really cooked with that much. The herb mix can be used to make herb butter, which I use often to top broiled fish or baked potatoes.

We saw how plants draw water through their system with an easy science experiment that we can do at home (cut a length of celery and insert into a cup of water which has been colored with food dye, wait a few hours and you will see how the color has traveled through the plant).

 

The kids each filled a pot with dirt and a marigold plant to take home.

They used raw corn on the cob, potatoes, broccoli and other vegetables as stamps to make artwork. When asked if my 2 1/2 year old wanted to use the broccoli, she said "Tak!" and immediately wanted to eat it (yes, my kids love broccoli. And spinach, zucchini, and some other vegetables).

We had fresh fruit for snacks and then...  A storm was about to come.  The staff was very helpful, keeping an ear for weather updates and making sure all of us were safely and quickly moved into the Visitor's Center to wait out the storm.  While waiting, we sat in the Cafe and enjoyed a Mediterranean Grilled Cheese sandwich and a Roasted Beet salad similar to one I make at home.  I believe theirs contained heirloom beets, which I want to grow in my own garden.  We watched the Wierzbi blowing with the streaming rain through the windows and talked with fellow mommy bloggers. 

After the storm, we all went together to see the new Butterflies and Blooms exhibit.  My kids had been looking forward to this for a week now.  We carefully treaded on the pathway, looking for butterflies, which were all grounded due to the rain.  If you look closely, you can actually see tiny droplets of rain on them.

After the Butterflies and Blooms exhibit, we all went our separate ways.  My kids and I went back to the car to put on some dry shirts, grab the stroller, and walked back to the Grunsfeld Children's Garden. 

You are able to enter the garden anytime as a patron of the Chicago Botanic Garden as long as they are not holding any special events there.  Check out events at the Grunsfeld Children's Growing Garden.

My kids were very excited to see many of the same plants as we are growing in our own little Polish American garden, and some other plants which we now feel inspired to grow.

Later, we meandered over to Evening Island and the Plant Science Center.  My six year old was enthralled with their hands-on exhibit that helped her see more of what the garden does and environmental science.  She now wants to be a scientist and work at the Chicago Botanic Garden to help save our planet. 

All in all, it was another great day at the Garden and we will be coming back again and again. 

Disclaimer:  This article and tweeting using hashtag #kids2garden during the event was compensated with some passes to the garden and the Model Railroad Garden.  I chose to accept because the children love the Chicago Botanic Garden so much.  This article was written entirely based on our experience and personal opinions.

Related Posts:

Cabbage and Violets

Chicago Botanic Garden, European Plants

Our Polish American Garden

Word(y) Wednesday: Garden Inspiration, Cabbage and Violets

Kapusta i Fiołek Ogrodowy

Kapusta
(pronounced Kah-poo-stah)

Cabbage

Fiołek Ogrodowy
(pronounced feeoh-wehk Ohgrood-ohvih)

Viola
The literal translation is Violet of the Garden or Garden Violet.


Fiołek
(pronounced Feeoh-wehk)

Violet


Bratek
(pronounced Brah-tehk)

Pansy
The word loosely hints to the fact that the Pansy is the brother or friend of the violet.  Or that the Bratek is the brat (brother) of the Fiołek.

Violas are related to violets and pansies.  Violas tend to last better through the winter, so some gardeners prefer to use them.  You can use any of these plants interspersed and bordering your cabbage, lettuce, and other plants to protect them from garden pests.

Violet, Viola and Pansy petals and leaves can be eaten: 

• As part of a beautiful salad or dish garnish
• Crystallized on a dessert
• Make a jelly from them
• Use to delicately flavor a cake or icing
• Make a very traditional Torun dish called violet soup which is not common in modern cuisine
• Even the leaves can be cooked like spinach.

I must stress, however, that if you decide to eat the flowers and leaves, do not eat them if they have been sprayed with pesticides.

These photos come from our last trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden's Vegetable Gardens.

I hope this inspires you to garden and to think about non-traditional ways to grow your own food.

Watch for the next few Wordless (Wordy) Wednesday posts for gardening ideas and to see what we are growing in our own personal garden. 

The majority of my seeds come from Dom itp. Some seeds they offer are sunflowers, pickling cucumbers, Polish wild strawberries, several different flowers including violets and garden violas, parsley roots (I highly recommend trying this in some of your recipes), and many other varieties.  Their prices are comparable to going to your local chain or gardening store.  It's like having a piece of Poland in your backyard.

Disclaimer: The links and banner for Dom itp are part of an affiliate program. While the company does not pay for me to post their links and banner, I do receive a portion of all sales made using the links and banner in compensation. If you do purchase something from them this way, I sincerely thank you.

Na razie...

Related Posts:

Word(y) Wednesday: Our Polish American Garden

Word(y) Wednesday: Chicago Botanic Garden

Word(y) Wednesday:  Piękny Jaś

Word(y) Wednesday: Chicago Botanic Garden, European Plants

I hope you noticed something new last week on my Wednesday post.  I'm planning on sharing the Polish word to the majority, if not all, of my photos each week to help others learn Polish. 

Associating a word with an image is easier than associating a word with a translation of the word.  It's also the way children learn their "mother" tongue.

Think of this as a blog version of flashcards in a foreign language class...



Also, our own garden is getting along very nicely and I've added two new flower beds filled with seeds from Dom itp.  I'll be sharing photos as the seeds start growing.



Last week, we went to the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Czosnek
(pronounced Chohs-Nek)
Garlic

Jagody
 (pronounced Yah-go-dih)
Blueberries
These are the flowers

Wyspa

 (pronounced Vis-pah)

Island

Paproć
(pronounced Pah-proh-ch)
Fern

Maki
(pronounced Mah-kee)
Poppies

Europejski Ogród
(pronunced Eh-ooroh-pay-skee Oh-grood)
European Garden

Kwiatek

(pronounced Kvee-ah-tehk)

Flower

Lawenda
(pronounced Lah-vehn-dah)
Lavendar

Bodziszek Leśny

(pronounced Bodz-ih-shehk Leh-shnih...  Note: DZ is pronounced like the J in Jump)

Forest Geranium.  Also known as Geranium Sylvaticum or Wild Cranesbill

Na razie...

Related Posts:

More Spring

Our Polish American Garden

The Holes in the Wall