Youth Programs are in Full Bloom this Summer!

What’s new this summer with the LEAF (Learning about the Environment, Agriculture and Food) Youth Program and Youth Garden?

Our youth have been busy growing and caring for several new youth garden spaces.  Along with our main youth garden, we have added a hydroponic tower and 6 raised beds in front of the farm, which are all spaces that LEAF and other youth programs have been growing in.

Our hydroponic tower has been exploding with arugula, kale and herbs and is just starting to have cucumbers and tomatoes ready to harvest.

The youth garden had a great strawberry harvest already this year and now has kale and zinnias, as well as noodle beans and tomatoes growing.  We’ve also got lots planted in the raised beds, including a bed of sweet potatoes!

Students have helped prep, plant and weed the youth garden spaces, during LEAF class and during our new Youth Garden Open Hours, every Tuesday from 4:30- 6:00.  During youth garden open hours, youth of all ages can come help out in the garden, or just explore and play in our digging station.  You don’t have to be part of the LEAF program to participate during this time and you can come by for any length of time during the session.

For those who want the class experience and a chance to do some cooking on the farm, our LEAF class is on Thursdays and Sundays from 4:30-5:45.  We are also hosting LEAF Family Night on Sunday July 17th- a great chance for existing and new families to come meet our LEAF team and learn more about the program, we’ll be cooking and sharing a meal together!

Along with the hands-on gardening, we’ve recently learned all about pollinators, made hummingbird food and put new hummingbird feeders on the farm, learned about different soil and the plant life cycle.  We also had a great community effort to paint and decorate the raised beds. If you haven’t had a chance to see them, make sure to check out the beautiful art next time you visit the farm!

Looking to try some of our LEAF class recipes, we’ve got the most recent ones for granola bars, arugula pesto crostini and broccoli salad shared on the LEAF page of the website and will be adding more recipes there soon!  Now that so much more is in season, we love to harvest items and use them in our recipes, probably the closest farm to table you can get! 

Want to read even more about our LEAF program?  Check out our feature on the DC Action OST Voices Blog!