Master Gardener Season!

 

Spring was in full swing this week, and with it, lots of time outside, including the start of our spring sessions with the master gardeners.  We were so happy to see them on Tuesday!  Returning to Grove Christian Outreach Center to volunteer on Wednesday and Eaton, for Jorie's birthday on Friday, were additional highlights to an "on the go" week.   And, be sure to check out Adia's lesson on ASL Day for us, too!  She was awesome on Thursday!

Tuesday

Seeing many of our master gardener friends on a beautiful Tuesday morning put smiles on our faces.  When we got seated at the tables, we learned we would be learning about dirt and soil today!  Krafty Karen had jars of each, which she mixed with water so as it settled, we could observe how it is made of layers.

MG Pat explained that soil is better for growing plants because it is considered more "nutritious" than dirt.  Soil usually contains more minerals.  That's because it is made of materials that have been decomposing for years.  Dirt is sort of like what we "track in the house."  😃

Karen and Pat told us that there are test strips which can be used on soil samples to help determine if it has a good "balance" for growing seeds and plants.  We each had two different samples, which we mixed with a spoonful of water and then tested with the strips.

Karen showed Erik how to compare his test strip to the results chart on the bottle.  If the test strip turned particular shades of blue, pink, and green, it meant the soil was good for growing most plants.  The MGs gave us worksheets and extra test strips so we can continue to do soil testing on our own!  We're going to collect samples during our travels the rest of this week, and test them next week.  We'll be soil scientists!

This is what the soil and dirt looked like after about 45 minutes.  It had begun to settle and we could see some layers.  Heavier parts, like bedrock, went to the bottom.  One of the worksheets we will complete next week will help us understand what the layers are in more detail.  A cool fact about this experiment is that MG Barb said that if we left it a while longer, the water would almost clear up!

After our soil lesson, we split into groups and did some gardening work.  Barb and Rick helped us plant two types of carrot seeds (colorful and "just orange"), as well as seeds for arugula, lettuce, and spinach.  What a great salad this bed will become!

MG Liz assisted this group in planting radish seeds in one pot and spinach plants in another.  These pots came back to the center with us!  We'll have to figure out how to keep the critters from eating the already growing spinach...

Karen's group gave the Fairy Garden a makeover!  They pulled weeds, added fresh soil, and checked the decorative items for wear and tear.  They also added some new pieces!

We wrapped up today's session with a quick lesson about the herb, dill.  We learned that ancient Greeks and Romans would make crowns of dill for their soldiers to give them valor and courage.  We also learned that dill is in the same family as celery, and it's tasty in pickles and potato salad, but also on fish, chicken, and pork!  The MGs gave us fresh cucumber slices and a homemade dill dip for a snack and it was deeeee-licious!  So much so, that we asked for the recipe.  Move over, ranch dressing!  

Here is the Therapeutic Gardening Journal Page put together for documenting this session.  Rich takes the pictures and Carolyn tells the story!  So nicely done!!  Thanks, MGs, for a wonderful first lesson of the spring session.  As always, we learned a lot AND had a lot of fun!

We really enjoyed eating in the warm sunshine today...the pollen wasn't visible (even though we know it was there), and there was no humidity!  Ahhh!

We had plenty of time for a nice walk after lunch.  These guys were ahead of the photographer.

And these were behind her!  LOL!  Freedom Park's paved trail is great because we can walk at our different paces, and still keep our eyes on each other.

Wednesday

Our morning began with an email from our friend Nancy's sister-in-law, Sally.  Sally wanted to let us know that Nancy entered an art contest in Kentucky, and won first place!  It was a contest for the Frankfort Reforest Festival, and Nancy's picture is of a Kentucky Coffee Tree.  We're so happy for her, and very proud!  She's doing well at her home in Kentucky, and we can't believe it's been almost 2 years since she moved.  We miss her!

This morning we volunteered at GCOC.  The first group helped set up tables, bring in the Wednesday food delivery, and then bag it up for distribution.  They were accurate and efficient, and even picked up those boxes before leaving!

 
These guys from the second group were good sports when they learned we would be helping set up for GCOC's Prom Boutique.  Many dresses, shoes, and jewelry items are donated so high school girls in the Grove Community can select prom outfits.

The girls, on the other hand, thought all the shoes, dresses, and jewelry were "so pretty," and they were!

After about an hour of organizing, we had set up a beautiful jewelry table and shoe rack.  (More jewelry tables were to the left.)

  We know the high school girls will enjoy making their selections from the GCOC Prom Boutique!

We made birthday cards for Jorie this morning, too!  Her special day is Monday, but we will see her on Friday when we work at Eaton.

We managed to make one of our favorite lunches, too.  It was National Grilled Cheese Day, so of course, we added blueberries, apple slices, and honey to ours!  So tasty! 😋

 April 12 is also National For Twelves Day.  It was started by a group of Seattle Seahawks fans in 2019 as a way to celebrate the "twelveth man," also known as football fans.

We decided to celebrate it with a math lesson.  12 is a number that is "magnificient," at least as far as division goes. We made a lot of equal groups out of our 12 beans!  Patrick and Laura were working together to make 3 equal groups.  This activity challenged us.

On a day with a lot of National Day celebrations, April 12 is also Big Wind Day.  This marks the day in 1934 that the largest wind gust on Earth, 231 mph, was recorded at Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.  It has since been surpassed by a wind gust of 256 mph in Australia, but we didn't let that stop us from making parachutes to take outside and try to catch a big wind!

We were also still talking about "The Candy Bomber" we had learned about at the Army Transportation Museum.  So, as a shoutout to Col. Halvorsen, we tied candy to our parachutes!

Some of us took turns carefully climbing up a few rungs of the ladder (with spotters in place all around) to launch our parachutes.  Even though Annmarie didn't go up very high, her parachute still floated gracefully to the ground!

Alexis got hers a little higher before it also floated quickly back to the ground.  Some of us learned that adding two or three pieces of candy for the weight made the parachute descend too quickly.

 

There also wasn't a Big Wind today, but we still had fun making parachutes out of plastic bags, and pretending we were candy bombers!

We put out the hummingbird feeder yesterday...and today, one of our friends from last year (we think) came back!  It has an emerald green back like one of the ones that visited last year, and we think it's a female because males have a red throat and this one didn't.  Last year, we also had a male, so we hope he joins this one soon!  

Thursday

Mike had to reschedule today's visit with us at the Watermen's Museum, but it was such a beautiful day, we decided to visit Yorktown anyway.  Before leaving, we had some morning business to take care of.  Adia has been planning a lesson for us to celebrate National ASL Day (which is Saturday), so she got the big board prepped.  ASL stands for American Sign Language, and Adia is proficient in it!

Michelle, Kate, Adia, Erik, Alexis, and Liz prepped the May mailing for The Arc.  You know the drill:  Check the calendar and fill out your sign up sheet.  They are due to Kellie at the office by April 26!  📅

Once we arrived at the Battlefield Visitor Center parking lot in Yorktown, we collected a soil sample.  We are collecting samples from everywhere we go this week so we can test them next week for a follow-up to the lesson we had with the master gardeners this week.

We took a nice walk from the visitor center, over the footbridge, and down Main Street.  We noticed that Kevin, Drew, and Dev B were all wearing the navy 5k shirt from a couple of years ago!  Are they trying to change our dress code?!?!  Looking so sharp, fellas!

After our walk and lunch, we played corn hole and bocce "for fun."  Not to be confused with keeping score...though things still got a bit competitive!

We missed seeing Mike today, but we were thrilled for extra time to spend outside on this gorgeous afternoon!

Back at the center, Adia was a little bit nervous, and a lot excited, to give us a presentation for ASL Day.  She did a fantastic job!  Here, she was explaining why she decided to study ASL in high school.

Part of her lesson included a story about a deaf baseball player named William Hoy, who is credited with creating the hand signals that are still used in baseball today.  He played from 1886-1903 and his stats were really good.  In 1901, he hit the first ever grand-slam in the American League!  Adia hit a homerun with her choice of this book, as it really caught the attention of our many baseball fans!  Great choice, Adia! ⚾⚾⚾

Adia showed us a video and she paused it at just the right times so we could practice learning some signs!  Liz and Dev B both said this lesson was fun!

Michelle and Patrick enjoyed trying ASL, too.  They were working on "slow."

We were an attentive audience, and we showed Adia our appreciation with the ASL sign for "yay" or "applause."  We learned a lot Adia, and you are a very good teacher!  Thank you for this engaging lesson.

We kept the ASL vibe going when we had a yoga session with Jaime.  Actually, it was the BSL vibe, as her interpreter was using British Sign Language.  Jaime has started adding BSL signing and lower music levels to some of her yoga segments, which we think is awesome. 🙌🙌🙌  Oh, in case you are wondering, today's yoga installment was called "Betsy Banana."  Ba-namaste! 🙏

Adia had one more surprise for us.  She chose a couple of handouts for us to take home, and she brought these colorful ASL-inspired stickers for us, too!  Thanks again, Adia.  We really enjoyed your presentation!

Friday

Believe it or not, it was time for another Eaton work day!  It was business as usual, except for a special birthday celebration we threw in... 🥳

Upon our arrival, we collected a soil sample for next week's testing lesson.  We will let James know if this area near his warehouse would be a good spot for a garden!

We can't call Kate, Adia, Liz, Alexis, and Nan the "Lightbulb Ladies" today, because they had an assist from Kevin!  He was helpful with gathering bubble wrap, and making trips to the recycle bin!

We had two different sizes of screws to count today...50 to a bag.  Dev B, Xavier, Laura, Drew, and Annmarie were on it!

Over at the big bins, Patrick, Erik, Dev T, and Sam sorted three different parts today!  Good eyes!

Carol had to make a run to James' warehouse for extra gaskets, so she took Drew, Sweet T, and Patrick along to help her carry stuff!

While we enjoy working on the many tasks we do at Eaton, we can't resist a celebration, either!  Jorie's birthday is on Monday, and we made cupcakes and thoughtful cards.  We set up this colorful display and waited for her to stop by...

Jorie finally arrived and we were thrilled that James, Russell, and Kim came with her!   We chatted for a bit, and Jorie told us about a new project we will work on starting next week at AFCC.  Next, we posed for this great picture.  Aren't we a nice looking group of dedicated workers?!  

Happy Birthday, Jorie!  We love that we have celebrated you for 7 years!!  We hope all of your wishes come true, too.  Thanks for being our cheerleader and advocate, and for all you do to keep us engaged at Eaton!

We wrapped up our work around 1:30 and decided to head back to the center instead of to the park because it looked like it might rain at any minute.  By the time we enjoyed Choice Time and squeezed in an end of day dance session, it was pouring outside, and time to call it a week.  ☔🌧☔🌧

Everyone hightailed it to their rides, and we hope no one got too wet trying to make it home.  We already checked, and the weather forecast looks great for next week, so here's how we'll be spending our time:

Tuesday:  We will remain at AFCC this morning so we can test the soil samples we collected last week to complete the "homework" the master gardeners assigned us!  It's also National Animal Cracker Day, so we'll sing along with Shirley Temple and have a snack while we work. (It's a tradition!)  After lunch, we will travel to The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg for a lesson with Christina, so please wear Arc shirts.  Lunch on your own today, and the JRES Cafeteria is available.  They are offering Chicken Fajita, Pizza (school pizza, not Domino's), or Chef Salad.

Wednesday:  We will enjoy a visit from the therapy dogs today!  It's National Banana Day and we're going to make doggy treats for them with banana, oats, and peanut butter.  Later, we'll be baking zucchini bread, which we will store in the freezer until Tuesday when we will take it to the master gardeners as a celebration of National Zucchini Bread Day.  We'll also have a lesson about the Titanic, since we ran out of time on Titanic Remembrance Day last week.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is available for Chicken Sandwich or Hot Dog.

Thursday:  There is a lot going on today.  We'll send a group to work at Pet Supplies Plus while the Cooking Crew remains at the center to prepare pasta aglio e olio for lunch, which we last made when our friends from The Mariners' Museum were here.  This time, we'll be using fresh garlic from the garden that we picked last week.  We'll also have raw veggies, and we'll use fresh dill to make the dressing that the MGs served us.  We got the recipe from Barb!  Later, we will celebrate High Five Day, and also find a way to slip in Lima Bean Respect Day... 😊

Friday:  It's Party Time!  We're celebrating Kate's birthday today with a special visit from her friend (and ours), Sandra.  Sandra is going to do a fun craft project with us, and she's providing her delicious Colombian pork, rice, and empanadas for lunch!  Thank you, Sandra!  Fun, fun, fun!  After the party, we'll wind things down with yoga, so dress to stretch, too!

REMINDER:

Don't forget we're supporting The Arc's Aktion Club in their April Food Drive which benefits Grove Christian Outreach Center and Williamsburg House of Mercy.  Thank you for the donations that we have already received!  We've got plenty of storage boxes, so please help us fill them between now and April 26, when we will deliver what we collected to GCOC.  Thank you, Aktion Club, for organizing this.  The Arc of Abilities is honored to help!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang