Junior Master Gardeners make History

Tonight there are 9 more Junior Master Gardeners in Robeson County than there were last week. That's right 9 of our Junior Master Gardener Day campers completed the activities they needed to become officially certified Junior Master Gardeners. They worked right down to the wire, and even had a little fun doing to get to graduation today. What makes this historic is that one of our graduates is the daughter of a newly graduated Master Gardener. It is our first mother daughter team in the county.

The day started with making Potato vases. Yes, you read that right potato vases. We took plain old fashioned potatoes and sliced them in half placing the flat side on a plate. Then the youth took colorful straws that they jammed into the potatoes. Then they cut colorful flowers and slipped them into the straws and filled each straw with water. The potato acted as a stopper and the water stayed in the straw for the water to drink. Mrs. Carolyn talked to the youth about flower arranging and one of the rules is that you should always use an odd number of flowers. We all learned something new today.

After playing with flowers and potatoes we learned about different fruits and vegetables that have seeds. Many Junior Master Gardeners save the seeds from their food to plant themselves or to save and share or trade with others. It is a very economical way for youth to grow their own food. One such piece of fruit is the avocado. The youth learned how to root the humongous seed from that piece of fruit, and even had the chance to place tooth picks in their own seed and start soaking it in water to see if they can start their own avocado tree at home.

Then it was time to finish some of the work we started on Monday. We pressed flowers and leaves between paper towels and heavy books on Monday. Today we took our flowers out of the press and found out how really neat they looked. To share our new found pressed flowers our youth made cards and bookmarks with their creations. The bookmarks are part of the JMG community service project and will be laminated to be shared with a local organization that promotes reading among young people. Many of the cards went home with youth and others were made for volunteers with the program as a thank you from our day campers.

Although our cards were picture perfect we made special nature prints on special photo paper. We took leaves, clovers, and our fun little shape bracelets to make neat designs on a special paper that when exposed to the sun turns blue. It only takes a minute or so for the exposure. Then we soaked the paper in water and let it dry. What was left was a really cool print that we had designed.

After lunch it was time to make and play with our food. Peanuts to be specific. We made home made natural peanut butter with peanuts, a little sugar, and a little oil. Mrs. Carolyn's group said they had the best peanut butter. Either way they seemed to like trying both batches over and over again.

Then we headed to the kitchen to sniff out some good stuff. Playing the snooty fruit game our Junior Master Gardener day campers closed their eyes and smelled the mystery fruit on their plates, they guessed what it was and then tried it. All of them tried at least one new fruit today and learned something new about the fruits they tried. They said the three top favorite fruits of the day were strawberries, bananas, and mangos. Grapes, watermelon and cherries were also mentioned by the group.

We then went high tech. We sat down and looked at the JMG website and all the neat things that are on there, including interactive games, curriculum, activities and stories about other Junior Master Gardeners.

So after fun and games it was time to graduate. All nine day campers who were there were officially certified as Junior Master Gardeners. They received their official certificates and will receive an invitation to join the "Dirty Rascals" Junior Master Gardener 4-H club. We watched a slide show of all the fun we have had over the last week and after, to celebrate, we made our own ice cream sundaes and had a spectacular time remembering all that we had accomplished all week.

We need to give a special thank you to some volunteers. Mrs. Anna who came all week to help us out with little and big things and kept up with us on our active field trips. Mrs. Carolyn who came on Monday and Friday to help out with hands on things and taught lessons, keeping us active. Mrs. Carol who came with us and talked about Master Gardener type things as well as beekeeping stuff (her husband is a Master Gardener and bee keeper too) at the zoo. Ms. Michelle and her mom who jumped in gave us a hand, and we hope we helped plant the seeds so she, and her horticulture agent can do this program in Richmond County in the future. Then there are our teen leaders who volunteered for active duty, Christopher and Tierra. they were with us everyday helping out, running various activities and doing there best to help us make sure everyone got the most of the incredible adventure. Of course we also have to say thank you to Mrs. Aggie, who grabbed important fresh supplies for us and Mrs. Penny who cooked some spectacular pizza, spaghetti, and grilled cheese sandwiches.

If you would like more information on 4-H, our summer fun program or the Junior Master Gardeners please contact the 4-H office at (910) 671-3276.

Now that the seeds of knowledge are planted it is time for our Junior Master Gardeners to grow, and spread their seeds of knowledge to others. Their work is already sprouting, as you can see in this grass person that was made earlier in the week. Congratulations Junior Master Gardeners!