Grow Your Veggies, and Eat Them, Too!

 

 

No, the dude in the picture above isn't another new member at the Arc of Abilities!  But he does represent that we celebrated Eat Your Vegetables Day (June 17) this week!  We actually celebrated it all week long, starting on Tuesday with the master gardeners who grow wonderful vegetables with us.  On Thursday we added vegetables to our casseroles and added them as a side dish, too.  We culminated the week on Friday when Liz's mom visited to cook some of Liz's favorite veggie recipes for us!  Check it out, and see what else we did this week!  🌽🍅🍆🍠🧅🥦🥕🥒

Tuesday

The rain forced us indoors for the first part of today's session with the master gardeners.  Krafty Karen welcomed us and thanked us for the birthday cards Devin B. delivered to her on Friday.   She said she really did wait until her actual birthday on Sunday to open them!  Good job, Karen!!

Karen introduced Angela, who told us about Flag Day, since today is June 14.  She mentioned that historians now think Betsy Ross didn't really create the "first" American flag, but that a flag designer and member of the Continental Congress named Frances Hopkinson probably should get the credit.  Later, in our Flag Day lesson back at the AoA, we learned that there were several designers who contributed ideas, and that Betsy Ross may have been the person who suggested a 5 pointed star instead of a 6 pointed one be used.

We learned about "good bugs and bad bugs" in the garden today.  Ladybugs and pollinators are generally good bugs, but aphids and most beetles are not.  Barbara was showing Laura and Nan a picture of a plant being eaten by a bad bug.  We learned that some ways to keep bad bugs from destroying plants is to grow things that they don't like while also growing things that attract the good bugs.  The good ones will eat the bad ones!   A lot of herbs are also off-putting to bad bugs, so growing them alongside veggies might help.

Karen told us that there are about 6,000 species of ladybugs and they are beneficial in the garden!  If you have them in your gardens, leave them be. 🐞🐞🐞

The rain stopped so we were able to walk out to check the garden.  Kevin, Drew, and Sam are standing in front of a beautiful bee balm plant.  Barbara told us that bee balm is in the mint family, and that it is very attractive to pollinators.  It also has a square-shaped stem. This bee balm plant is certainly adding a lovely burst of color to the garden!

Oh, no!  Adia spotted a bad bug.  It's hard to spot in the photo, but a beetle was turning the leaf of this calla lily into what looked like a piece of lace!  Adia flicked it away, but it landed on another leaf... Hopefully the good bugs will show up soon!

Karen's husband Steve was watering today and Devin T. offered to help!  He's watering the colorful nasturtium flowers that we planted by seeds back in April.  They sure grew fast!

By the time we finished in the garden our time with the MGs was ending.  We stayed at the Interpretive Center to eat lunch, which was topped off by Krafty Karen's dee-licious zucchini bread!  (She's famous in our eyes for this!)  Thank you, Karen.  It was awesome, as always!!

Here's a screenshot of MG Carolyn's Journal Page for today's session.  It's great, and highlights the addition of master gardener interns Beverly and Elizabeth!  We didn't get a picture with them, but we welcome them and look forward to working with them in the future!  Also, on the Journal Page is a picture of our potatoes.  They are growing great...we checked and then covered them back up with dirt so they can grow a few more weeks.

Back at the center we enjoyed Choice Time followed by a lesson about Flag Day.  Besides what Angela had taught us about the (likely) "urban legend" of Betsy Ross, we also learned that a young school teacher named B.J. Cigrand may have originated the idea for an annual Flag Day when he had his students write essays about the flag back in 1885.  But it didn't become a national holiday until President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation in 1916.

Our Flag Day activity consisted of coloring pictures of the flag, but instead of using red stripes, we used red patterns.  For each red stripe, we answered a "This or That" question, then filled in the space according to the pattern that matched our answer.

We learned a lot about each other, such as Patrick prefers "quiet" while Abraham prefers "loud" (especially when we're playing music)!

No two flags were the same, yet they all are clearly symbols of American pride!  Happy Flag Day, Everyone!

Wednesday

Today was National Megalodon Day so we tried to scare ourselves by learning about this gigantic shark, which, thank goodness, is extinct!  Our resident shark expert, Michelle, read about the megalodon from a book she brought from home.  This ancient shark was so big it was able to eat whales!  We watched a video that debunked a myth that "the meg" is still lurking at the bottom of the sea somewhere.  It's too cold for it way down there!

We also made Father's Day cards which Erik and Xavier were working on here.  Recently, we had a lesson on puns that went over very well, and we've been referencing puns ever since.  So, we found a fun card that expresses our feelings about the amazing fathers and other "men"tors in our lives, and it uses a great pun, too!  

Our "turtle-ly" awesome cards look like this! 😉  We'll add some goodies to a treat bag and send them home for this weekend!

So far, no summer kids' programs are at JRES using the gym, so we took advantage of the space today.  It's nice and cool in there, with plenty of room to spread out.  

We had basketball shooters, walkers, and some playing with the flying disk.  It's a great space!

Annmarie's mom sent us a video today showing Annmarie without her trache!  She's breathing all on her own, drinking with a straw, and speaking in whispers.  We heard her say her name!  Her table mates Sam and Michelle (and all of us) can't wait for her to be able to return to the AoA!  💙💚💛💜

To celebrate National Smile Day, we talked about how powerful a smile can be to boost the spirits of others, as well as ourselves.  We also used this day as an opportunity to learn about our teeth, such as how many we have, what they are called, and how to care for them.  We learned that egg shells and tooth enamel have similar properties, so we did an experiment where we soaked eggs in 4 different liquids to see the effect they would have on staining our teeth.

After a few hours of soaking, the eggs that were in the soda and the blue flavored water, were definitely stained, but when we brushed them, as Laura is doing here, it helped remove some of the stains.  The eggs we soaked in milk and water remained clean and bright.  Our takeaway was that drinking things like soda, coffee, tea, "colorful" drinks, and even eating chocolate, can discolor our teeth but brushing can help mitigate the damage.  Brushing and flossing also remove plaque, and we noted how important that is, too!

Thursday

It's been a while since we had a cook-off, so we had one today, sort of!  It was National Fudge Day and we had all the ingredients we needed for two teams to make two different versions of chocolate fudge.  Xavier, Sam, and Laura made a no butter version that included vanilla.  Everyone agreed it was very tasty, with a hint of vanilla coming through the chocolate!

Kevin, Devin T., Abraham, and Drew followed a recipe that called for butter, but no vanilla, and also added nuts.  We all agreed this one was delicious, too!  It was a little creamier than the other one, and we concluded that was because it included butter.  There were no complaints about either version!  Happy Fudge Day!

We hoped to have a Sloppy Joe Casserole cook-off with two teams, too, but Lisa forgot to bring the ground beef!  We scrambled to work together as one big team, using the chicken we had on hand...for tomorrow's lunch!  So instead of a competition, these two teams pooled their resources and skills to create a "chicken sloppy joe casserole."  Here, Patrick had gathered corn, cheese, ketchup, and mustard.  Alexis, Michelle, and Liz were slicing green and red peppers which we were going to saute with onions and garlic.

We had already cooked the pasta, and Erik had sauteed the chicken for us (we didn't get his picture), so Kate and Adia combined all of the veggies, some cheese, and a couple of cans of fire-roasted tomatoes.  We had a quick "taste test" and decided it was ready to bake!  After about 30 minutes in the oven, our "happy accident" had turned out well!

The chicken sloppy joe casserole was savory and sweet (from the corn and a little brown sugar), and we really liked it.  With grapes and celery for sides, it was a great lunch!  We're going to repeat the recipe with the forgotten ground beef soon!

Sunday is not only Father's Day, but Juneteenth, which is now a federal holiday celebrating the freedom of slaves at the end of the Civil War.  We tried to understand how slavery could have ever existed in America, and also how it could take so long for word that slaves had been freed to finally reach the entire country in 1865.  These friends worked on a reading comprehension worksheet that had color-coded answers.

These friends each colored a fact sheet about Juneteenth that made a nice history booklet for us to add to our book collection!

Our final activity on this busy day was Disney games!  We had run out of time last week, so we fit them in today.  Everyone got to rotate through three of the games.  Kate, Adia, and Michelle were seriously focused on the game Eye Found It in which they had to spot hidden pictures on the very long gameboard in order to advance to the castle at the finish line, before the clock struck 12!

Laura brought the game Frozen Pop Up, which had her, Kevin, Devin, and Drew racing around the gameboard after popping a die to see how many spaces they could move.   Popping the die was the most fun part of this game!

Liz worked with Sam, Xavier, and Abraham on a matching game.  They were keen on having Xavier on their team as he is pretty good at this game!

A new game we have is called Color Brain.  The object is to identify the colors of people, objects, animals, etc. in Disney movies.  With Erik and Patrick looking on, Alexis was explaing to Carol that she thought colors on the dog Bolt were red and white.  She was correct!

Friday

One thing we were focusing on today was vegetables!  June 17 is Naitonal Eat Your Veggies Day, so we watched a video which reminded us that plants have six parts, and they can all be eaten depending on what the plant is.  If you ask any of our guys, they should be able to name yummy vegetables that come from these plant parts:  roots, stem, leaves, fruit, flower, and seeds!

We were really busy cooking most of our veggies today, so we didn't get any pictures, but here are Devin T., Liz, and Abraham making us an apple-strudel like dessert because today is Apple Strudel Day, too!

To go along with our grilled and roasted veggies, Adia and Xavier helped make a chicken Caesar salad!

Michelle and Kate had an important job that didn't involve cooking.  They had to make sure our yoga mats were numbered on both sides so we could more easily find our assigned mats at yoga time, no matter which way they were rolled!

Meanwhile, we had a guest chef today, Lise (aka, Liz's mom!), and she prepared glazed carrots and this tray of SUPER TASTY roasted cauliflower!  Lise said they tasted like "French fries" and would "melt in your mouth" and that was true!  Michelle, Kevin, and Liz couldn't wait to try it!  Thank you for joining us today, Lise, and for showing us an easy, healthy, and delicious way to include cauliflower in our diet!  We WILL be making it again!

This was our lunch plate, with the glazed carrots and roasted cauliflower.  Lise said it got a little too "roasted" but we thought it tasted great that way!  We also had a serving of mixed grilled veggies that Carol made for us, and our Caesar salad.  Happy Eat Your Vegetables Day!

Yet another day we celebrated today was National Flip Flop Day!  We like to observe this one every couple of years by bringing in a collection of flip flops and playing games.  In the Flip Flop Mix, we have two teams race to collect as many matching pairs as they can.  Here, Alexis and Abraham were quickly trying to find two of a kind!

Kevin got to the pile first in this race, but Kate was coming on strong!

Our second game was called the Flip Flop Flip.  The object was to flip the shoe off your foot so that it landed in a ring.  The rings had different point values.  This game started off a little on the quiet side.

But as we went through lots of turns, the enthusiasm grew!

Laura even figured out a way to get points that was non-traditional, but we still counted it!  National Flip Flop Day was started by Tropical Smoothie Cafe and serves as a way for them to raise money for Camp Sunshine, which serves children dealing with serious illness.  If you wear flip flops to Tropical Smoothie on Flip Flop Day, they will give you a free smoothie, and ask for your support for Camp Sunshine.  It's a win-win!  Just like our games!  Everyone had fun, and everyone won!

We would like to thank Drew's mom, Donna, for donating cute flip flop decorations and Kevin's mom, Debbie, for the flip flop napkins!  They were both perfect additions to our delightful Flip Flop Day!

After our busy morning, we settled in for an episode of Gilligan's Island.  It was Adia's first time seeing this silly show from the 1960s, but she laughed out loud just like the rest of our gang!  

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Lisa had to leave a little early for an appointment, so we didn't get any pictures of us ending our productive week with a quiet session of yoga, but here's a screenshot of Jaime doing a segment of chair yoga with us!  That was something different with her, and we liked it.  We followed it with a more active segment and then a quiet "Peace Out" segment.  As always, a great way to end our week!

We have news about two of our friends.  First, Annmarie was released from the hospital and is home now!! Next up for her will be occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy.  Wow...she will be busy but it will help her get better faster!  Hang in there, Annmarie! We miss you and we're still pulling for you!

Next, news on Devin B.  He wasn't with us starting this week as he is trying the Next Move Program, a supported job-training experience, at William and Mary.  It runs for six weeks.  We don't know where this may lead Devin, but we want what is best for him.  If he ends up back at the AoA, we will be happy!  If he ends up in an employment situation, we will be proud of him...and miss him!  Keep us posted, Devin!

Here is a look at what we have planned for next week:

Tuesday:  Summer begins today so we'll celebrate by learning about the summer solstice.  It's also National Smoothie Day, so we'll make fruit smoothies to go along with lunch on your own.  You'll get a small smoothie to go with what you bring from home.  After lunch, we will join Christina at the Art Museums of CW for our June lesson.  We hear she's planning something to help us celebrate two things today:  Seashell Day and Selfie Day! 

Wednesday:  We are scheduled for an Eaton Work Day, but as of the publication of this blog, the AC is still not repaired.  We may end up with Eaton work to do at AFCC, but if not, we will have a lesson on the country of Iceland, tackle a few organizational tasks, complete the ladybug craft Karen gave us last week, play Summer Bingo, and slip in a mini-celebration of National Eclair Day!  Lunch on your own.

Thursday:  We'll harvest cherry tomatoes, basil, and oregano from our Pizza Pot that we made with the master gardeners so we can make pizza for lunch in celebration of Detroit Style Pizza Day (we'll learn what that is).  It's also Pink Day, so wear pink today if you can!  We'll top our pizza with pink ham and also have a pink grapefruit and spinach salad, plus pink lemonade to round out the meal.  It's also Hydration Day, so we'll have a lesson on water (which we always drink unless it's a special day!)  We'll also catch Mystery Doug episodes about bees and butterflies, and complete a butterfly learning activity our master gardeners gave us!

Friday:  Today is a Pet Supplies Plus work day, so please wear your PSP shirts!  The cooking crew will make sides of cole slaw, baked beans, and Jell-O salad for lunch, to accompany bbq sandwiches provided by Lexi's Gdad.  Yummy, and thanks, Gdad!  In other activities, we will prepare our room for cleaning and pack up a few things to take as next week we are NOT at AFCC.  We will relocate to the Rec Center on Longhill Rd to allow for maintenance work to take place at AFCC.  We'll end the day with yoga, so dress to stretch!

Happy Father's Day weekend to all the amazing fathers and other "men"tors in our lives!  We appreciate and love you!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang