Planting And Playing In The Edible Peace Patch

     It was a gloomy morning out when I arrived at Sanderlin but despite the clouds I came ready to plant some new veggies we haven't yet experimented with. I picked up some Kohlrabi seeds on my way to Saint Petersburg today and was really excited to get them into the ground. It's a really interesting plant, similar to a turnip but a bit of a different flavor and a real beauty to see when it's just about ready to be harvested.

     Although the garden is looking a bit plain we have sown hundreds of seeds in the past two weeks. It's going to be amazing to see the development of the garden in the next month or so. I can't wait until I pull up to a lush and overflowing garden buzzing with life!

    I was thrilled to see someone had donated some kitschy bordering path stones when I walked in today. I hope we can get more student art to mark the beds and to add a cozier feel. The path stones look amazing and the kids loved them when they arrived for class. Thursdays are a crazy day as I'm the only volunteer educator for nearly 40 students in a span of an hour and a half. It was so fun to work with the teachers as we asked questions about the shape and texture of seeds for our lesson today. It was amazing how many of the pre-K students could identify the seeds of corn, peas, watermelon, and sunflower! They're really retaining a  lot of information for such young minds, but I guess they say the minds of kids are like sponges.

      There is still a lot of work to be done at Sanderlin and I look forward to watching our team of volunteers gain experience through teaching and garden maintenance. It's not always fun to weed and dig but I know they all love working with the kids and being a part of the community around our college. It'll be interesting to hear the experiences at our early morning meeting tomorrow from those volunteers who have only been working with the Edible Peace Patch for a few weeks now.

-Erin Mattick

Gardens Manager