Just kidding...

Ahh the youngsters of Statia… so full of energy… and me… not so much! We've had a couple of kid filled days at the garden. The Mega D Youth Foundation came to camp over night on Tuesday. The Youth Foundation are a great organization on the island that are all about teaching the kids respect for themselves and others and focusing on the importance of education for leading a successful life. Through the activities and mentoring they offer the kids gain confidence in themselves and learn vital social skills.

So as part of their summer activities they have a camp-out. Last year they camped in the MYF clubhouse in the old SDA church in town, this year they came to the garden. Well as you cam imagine the kids loved it! The helpers, yeah I think they probably went home the morning and had a little nap! It was great to have them at the garden for the night and hopefully it’s something they can do again another time.

We also had summer club at the garden on Wednesday. They did quizzes and a treasure hunt and we went for a walk around the fruit garden and they learnt all about the fruit trees and how they grow. They planted a seed (sunflowers) and we will water them over the next couple of weeks and then at the end of the 5 weeks they get to take them home and plant them in their own gardens. Then in the last hour they got to run around and enjoy being outside in the fresh air playing with their friends.

We have a whole ton of things to occupy them this year, making grass heads, planting flower beds, weeding, composting, designing posters and making pizzas using herbs from the garden for their final week. We also have a ton of fun games for them to play. It’s all about them having fun in their environment and maybe getting a few of them interested in coming to our after school activities we run for the rest of the year. It also gets them out of the house and away from in front of the TV for a few hours each day during the summer holidays. It’s hard work running around after 30 kids but it’s fun and the volunteers were great with them and their help was very much appreciated.

I have also been able to get in the shadehouse this week as well… so excited, it’s great to have the new pots and soil at last and get propagating. I’ve planted seeds, Sugar Apples, Pink Poui Trees, Gum Trees, potted on all our Mahoganys, Seaside Mahoes and Lignum Vitaes and taken some cuttings of Crotons to get started with. Loads more to do next week. Kate picked up the last of the pots order on Wednesday… we have over 1000 pots now… her words….”more pots than you could ever fill” so the challenge has been laid down… watch this space…!

Much love from the garden on the golden rock…