A Garden Field Trip

Renisa with the large leaf she found

"Good night beetle. I'll see you later," said camper Renisa, after observing the beetle bug she found while planting a bean plant. He had burrowed himself in the dirt for a good night's sleep. Our campers are encouraged to look for the elements of nature and make observations in order to learn. And they found a lot of these elements yesterday on their scavenger  hunt in the Permganic garden.

Permaganic Co. is an eco-garden in Over-the-Rhine that serves as an educational resource for the community. Gardening is a large part of camp curriculum at Peaslee. We have our own backyard garden in which many hands-on lessons are taught. While this garden is a great at-home resource for our campers, we value hands-on experiences in our neighborhood. Therefore weekly field trips to Permaganic are a part of this July's camp curriculum.

When the group arrived, they started with a scavenger hunt. Bird feathers, plants with a furry texture and tomatoes were just some of the many things campers were searching the garden for. It was fun to watch them take what they've learned through our garden education program and put it to use in a game. One of those times when the campers don't even realize they're learning.

Nascear harvested a beat!

Peaslee Garden Coordinator Sara Reddick thinks these weekly field trips are important.

"It's good to introduce the kids to different ways of gardening and different spaces in their neighborhood that are full of nature and wonderful things," said Sara

Permaganic is more of a farm-style operation with fruit trees and a wider variety of plants. So the campers got to test their own knowledge in a new environment as well as learn new things.

After the scavenger hunt, the campers planted bean plants. They each marked their seed with a stick and watered them.

The heat was beating down, so the group went inside for a snack and song. Angela from Permaganic had boiled the beats they harvested. Most of the campers loved them and kept asking for seconds. The trip was wrapped up with fun chant and stomp about gardening and healthy eating.

Here are some more photos from the trip:

Campers with our Permaganic friends!

Planting bean seeds

Scavenger hunt!