May Garden Celebrations
May has been filled with community-wide garden happenings! May is always a fun and fast month because we're simultaneously wrapping up the school year and leaping into the growing season, celebrating completed cycles while knowing that in the world of food and gardening, most "endings" are also a beginning. May is filled with the energy of cultivating relationships and tending soil, laying ground work for another season of exuberance.
This year once again one of the busiest (buzziest!) events of the month was wrapping up another season of Sprouts with farm field trips. What an amazing, fun, and inspiring few days we had taking students out to local farms for a day of nature! It’s hard to understand just how impactful these field trips are without being there in person to experience the excitement and shouts of joy; hopefully the photos below will help you glimpse the magic that happens when kids get to explore and play outside surrounded by grass, trees, and birdsong. Activities for the day included pollinator hunting, chlorophyll stamping, making clay seed balls, pond studies, flower planting, an obstacle course, field games, and local snacks, all while sharing the life-changing experience of using mind, body, and heart to engage with the wonderful world where we all live. It is absolutely heartwarming to see how experiences like these farm field trips nurture compassion, curiosity, connection, and confidence among the young folks who will shape future communities. We’re pretty sure the 200+ first grade students that enjoyed these special days will carry the experience with them always.
We’re especially grateful to Blackberry Sage Farm and Solid Ground Farm for hosting us again this year, and thanks also goes out to our partners at Ohio Valley Museum of Discovery, Live Healthy Kids, and Rural Action for providing some amazing activities. Thank you to COMCorps for providing a plethora of awesome volunteers, and to Athens Photo Project and ACEnet for taking photos to capture these moments.
Please read on for other spring festivities from a full past month!