Kelseyville >> Children at Kelseyville Elementary School are beginning an 11th season of propagation, seedplanting, transplanting, weeding, stringing harvesting — then preparing soups, salads and salsas to share at the table they set every chance they get.
The Kelseyville Kids’ Garden Club (KKGC) meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 3 p.m. in the school’s garden at 5065 Konocti Road in Kelseyville. Volunteers supervise children, ideally groups of four or five. Students who have shown they can follow instructions and work independently without supervision wear vests the colors of blueberry, grape, cilantro, raisin, celery, coleslaw and basil, or the much sought after checkered racing flag pattern
Children of all ages and learning abilities are finding a place in the garden. Instructor Helen Finch spends her Tuesdays and Thursdays there instilling the love of gardening and food as well as a sense of responsibility for that garden.
Students from special education classes attend the garden on Tuesday mornings and have taken responsibility for picking the blue lake green beans and then collecting the seeds from them. They’ve removed the dead plants and are looking forward to planting their collected seeds in May.
Kindergartners this school year went out to cut the trailers off of the strawberry plants in late fall and put them in soil in the greenhouse where they developed roots and planted them in a new raised bed last month.
Garden clubbers planted fava beans to harvest in spring and to feed their soil. A student from Kelseyville High School who has worked with Finch and the children since October, realized that he had achieved the necessary number of community service hours and chose to continue serving anyway. It is very nice to have a older student around who wants to help out when the younger children come out for a lesson, Finch stated.
“Some new fun is being had in the garden after school when the children attending garden club find time to play waiter games,” she said.
Children have been taught to set the table as they would find it in a formal restaurant. They then line up on either side of a row of tables and must walk with tray in hand the 30 feet to the other end to unset the table and pass the tray back to the next person in line who then hurries down to the end to reset for the next player to unset and so on. Coordination, composure, confidence and efficiency are just a few of the skills that are exercised in such a fun, playful environment, Finch observed.
She expects to put the skills to work as she develops the catering team. Children in the garden club have been hosting lunches for themselves and supporters for 10 years. They have dressed their table with flowers from their garden and set their table just so. They have made their salad dressing and grown their lettuce and snow peas and prepared their own soup and served it to groups of 20 to 25 guests. They will have an opportunity to showcase their talent this spring as Finch Gardens will host two dinners to help fund the 2015 Kelseyville High School (KHS) Sober Graduation Party and the catering team will be on hand. Garden clubbers and alumni will trade in their vests for aprons and work alongside KHS seniors to serve the dinners. They also look forward to hosting their own KKGC fundraising dinner in August or September.
Support the children by joining them for an hour or two in the garden at Kelseyville Elementary School Tuesdays or Thursdays rain or shine. For more information contact Finch at 279-9400.
