A new volunteer at GROW

Hi, My name is Allen. I am a new member of the Grow Hartford program. The first two days were a little bit hard for me but I like it so far. In the past two days we planted, weeded and also raised beds. This was new to me because I haven’t explored this field before. -Allen Rosa

Mt Trip to the MDC (Wastewater treatment plant)

When this picture was taken grow hartford was at the mdc (municipal wastewater treatment plant.) When the waste water leaves your home it goes to the the mdc and then goes through a process. -Theresa.V.

Applying our lessons in compost

We learned a lot about the process of recycling and trash disposal at the CRRA trash museum. As the educator explained the process by which our trash in Hartford is converted to energy, (trash here is burned- the landfill is actually an ash landfill not intended for bulky wastes), Precious raised her hand with a question. Having just completed our compost lesson she wondered " ..what happens to the food waste? Does that go into the landfill too?" The educator told us that 40 year old hot dogs had been found in landfills becuase they don't get air and sunlight. Precious looked at me and we exchanged a wink. She got it!

The Day Recycling..

Monday, August 02, 2004 We were the CRRA trash museum with solar youth from New Haven. We learned how to play trash bingo. Me and rodney we were on the same team. First they thought that they had trash bingo and they didn’t have it so then we played it again they were mad because we won. They were mad at Laura because she told them that the frisbee was not recycleable. I .HAD. FUN.TOO. -PRECIOUS HAIRSTON

Why did we give you permission to run around the garden? What are we doing? Describe each of the steps. Laura and Shannon let us run around the garden because we had a new way to put our compost. (Here Donna is describing the "Compost Relay." Runners had to create compost by adding each of the main ingredients, wet materials (nitrogen) dry materials (carbon), water, and air. I had no voice the next day from screaming so loud. We were a little noisy but it was a blast!) We was in two groups with Javier, Jerica Precious, Theresa Donna, Rondey Daisy, Jonathan. First we started at the outdoor classroom. Then we ran up to the next group - they should have Broccoli in their hands and they put it in our bucket. We handed off the bucket to the next group - they ran around the bed down to the group that had leaves in they hand -they will hand it off they will run to the people that have water they will put it in the new compost bin then they will grab dirt and put it in the tire wheel then tag Laura. -ByDonna Mosley

Compost cycle

The living soil! Today we talked about composting. Composting is a serious and interesting topic that can be shared with all ages. While discussing compost we explored how composting helps in our garden. Composting is a type of recycling that returns nutrients left in old rotting foods back into the soil. Things that are alive have to decompose. Plants, animals, and human are examples of living things that are breathing. The F.B.I. stands for fungi, Bacteria, and invertebrate that can also be called decomposers. These decomposer help and work together to eat and poop the organic matter. When the matter is decomposed the minerals and other nutrients are released into the soil. When this happens the vegetables that we grow absorbs with the help of water and air and grows. Greens= nitrogen that’s serves as energy for the variety of organisms in the compost Browns= carbon that’s eaten slower that’s also full with nutrients water and air. When mixed together you end up with compost. -Jerica Sandiford DaisyHuertas

What we did at the Hartford Club..

The recipe for one of the dishes (at Hartford Club) is a vegetable salad. It was made from diced carrots, diced beets and diced cucumbers. The dressing was made from vinegar, honey, lemon, and lime. We learned that you have to make your food appealing. Like the tray we wrote about were a lot of colors together to make it look nice. The carrots were on the side, around the dish, the cucumbers were in the middle and the beets were on top of the cucumbers. We decided that we will make lasagna and beef brisket for the Community lunch. The reason we went to the Hartford Club is to practice making food for the community lunch. The community lunch is at Pope Park Recreation Center, August 28, 2004 12-1. - By: Rodney & Jonathan AKA AKA Hazel & Scorpio