Wait no, that's a throwback from my childhood. Let me hear it from all the Whitney lovers in the blogosphere!
Jan from Thanks for Today is hosting an annual Earth Day event called the Gardener's Sustainable Living Project. Check out her blog to see how others are being eco-friendly or taking action to create a more sustainable lifestyle. I do things that many of you do as well in order to live a more green lifestyle - shop locally whenever possible, garden organically, water with harvested rain, compost my kitchen scraps, and basically just reduce in lots of ways.
My entry for Jan's project is about a larger way I'm contributing this Earth Day. Though there is lots of paper in the photo above, I think it will be put to good use as I'm leading the merit badge for Boy Scout Troop 666 (I shit you not). This is a job I'm doing as a Master Gardener (still earning my initial hours).
Like Whitney, I do believe the children are our future and despite my slight hesitation at the rather satanic troop number (if you never hear from me after Saturday, you'll know why), I'm so excited to talk to the young boys about photosynthesis, building soil, growing vegetables, vermiposting, organic methods to control pests, etc. I'm trying not to go into this too naively, and I've been told sometimes there's a rush to simply check off tasks to earn numerous badges, but I DO hope to put my teaching and counseling skills to build some genuine excitement about gardening. I figure if I get just ONE kid to see the joy in growing his own food, that would really make it worth my time. And scout's honor, I don't even care if that sounds naive.
You are brave, Wendy. And yes, I remember that song. Ha ha
ReplyDeleteGood lucky with the BS. I cannot believe the troop number. Yikes. :0
If you can get those kids to disconnect from their technology for a few minutes and connect with nature, I say you have succeeded!
If you see just one kid that grow his own food, that's worth it? Yes I agree Wendy! Nowadays, kids are so overly blessed with many options of what they can do. One of them is technology as Rosey has mentioned here.
ReplyDeleteWendy, that is a great "ecofriendly-sustainable" work. It also means "instead of giving them fish, teach them how to fish". I am sure you know that the biggest producer of hazardous pollutants to the environment is the US, because of its consumption of fossil fuels, etc. Your way definitely will be ingrained in their young minds, i hope you put some drama to it, because if there is emotion the idea lingered or stick in someone's mind longer and efficiently. God bless and take care. More power to you, gogogogo!
ReplyDeleteWendy, I am proud of you! That's the way to go, teaching kids about food and where it comes from and being eco-friendly and eco-responsible in the process. If you can get 1 kid interested, it would have a multiplier effect when he/she grow up to have a family and influence children and grandchildren, great grandchildren ... Isn't that great? I am still using many eco-friend gardening principles my illiterate grandma taught me.
ReplyDeleteThe song "The greatest love of all" by Witney Houston is a favourite karaoke song among my lady corporate friends. It is indeed very meaningful.
It is a good thing you are doing. My prediction: all of those little boys will fall in love with you and try so hard to impress you that they will discover the joy of gardening in spite of themselves.
ReplyDeleteHow did it go? I bet the fact that you were going to incorporate worms and their poop in your talk probably went a long way toward getting them interested!
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy, I want to hear how your presentation went with the boys Merit Badges. That's a big job to take on and I hope all went well. You did a wonderful thing by teaching a section on the topic of gardening. What a cool project to do as a Master Gardener;-) Thank you for joining in on my project! Happy Earth Day! Jan
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