Spring Flower Session Sign Up

Here is our first sign up for the What's Growing On club for the Spring Flower session. During this session the kids will be able to plant flowers in a hanging basket to take home. This session will be ornamental and allow the kids to get their hands a little dirty and start working with plants. During the session they will learn about seed germination, light and watering needs of their plant, and feeding on a regular schedule. This will give them an overall idea of how a plant grows and what care they need to place in plants to provide for good growth. Each child will go home with a hanging basket, planted seeds, informational card about their plant, and a food packet to jump start its growth.

Sign ups are limited so please get your child signed up as soon as possible. I will be taking 20 children for the first spring session that will take place in March 2014. Exact date and time will be released at a later date. The cost is $5 for each child and this will cover all the supplies they will need for planting their flower basket. After 20 sign ups I will also start a waiting list and you will be contacted if there is an open spot. Payment is due by February 1st 2014.

To sign up please fill out the form below. I am so looking forward to working with your child and teaching them about all the things we can grow!

*Please put "Spring Sign Up" as the subject. All of your information is strictly confidential. I will contact all sign ups with more information.
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Fall Pumpkin Harvest

Looking for ideas to use up those pumpkins from your harvest this year? I am thinking chips and dip in a fun, decorative way. The kids will love it! This year I threw a Halloween party for my kids and needed ideas for the food. With the help of Pinterest I found loads of things to do. One thing I chose to do was make a dip holder from a pumpkin. Pretty crafty huh?

You can make any dip or soup you like and fill er up. I chose a small pie style pumpkin for the dip and cut the top off, cleaned the inside, and filled it with dip. I then served it up with a platter of chips and the kids loved it.

 

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Mummies Best Banana Bars

Okay so I know we do not grow bananas in Iowa. Fruit is still a very important and vital part of our nutrition, however. Just because we cannot grow something here does not mean we can not eat it. I prefer to eat home grown or locally grown foods, but if we want bananas around here we just have to give in and buy them. With that said, here is another fun recipe to make with your kids for a little treat that is a much healthier alternative to store bought boxed items that may contain preservatives and other chemicals. Please enjoy! Oh and remember, let your kids help prepare your food... they are much more likely to eat it.

Ingredients:
Banana Bars
1/2 c. butter
2 lg. eggs
3 medium ripened bananas, mashed (mashing is the fun part!)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 c. sour cream
2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda

Icing: (if desired)
1 cup powder sugar
4 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Let's get the kids in the kitchen! Real simple here. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large sheet pan or 9x13 cake pan if you would like them thicker. Mix all ingredients in order provided, pour into greased pan and let bake 20-30 minutes. While baking mix together the icing. Remove bars from oven and coat with icing.

Have you tried this recipe? We want to hear from you! Share your pictures on Facebook or Twitter and post a comment here with a link to your post. 

 

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Goblin Stew

GOAL: Get your kids to get excited and eat healthy foods during our oh so loved Fall Soup Season.

You want to know how to get kids to eat better? Make it fun! It really is that simple. I wanted to make beef stew the other night so instead of having beef stew, we had Goblin Stew! Doesn't that sound so much better? I absolutely love October when it comes to making food exciting for kids. There are so many things we can grow and harvest in the fall that is fun and good for us too. Adding in the ghosts and goblins is loads of fun too. Oh and you have to eat soup in the Fall (I am positive that is a law somewhere). I encourage you to try this recipe we made at home with your kids. The most important factor is to allow your children to actively participate in the prep of your meal. It really makes a big difference. Please enjoy the Bozeman family Goblin Stew recipe with your kids this fall!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. butter
1 lb. of beef stew meat or substitute with ground beef
3 carrots
3 stalks celery
1 onion
1- 29 ounce can tomato sauce (preferably some you canned this year)
2 cups broth (any kind you prefer)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp. seasoning salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup cream (optional)
2 tbsp. freshly snipped parsley

This is real simple folks! You can do it! I always divide cooking jobs up by age group. It allows a special job for everyone and safety is always important too! Let's divide jobs up according to age group.

4-8 group gets to help get everything out and measuring. This includes washing any vegetables, measuring out spices or portions, and getting everything ready to start.

9-13 group gets to help with the vegetable prep. Please use caution! With proper teaching and knife safety our kids can participate in chopping vegetables up to eat. Yum!

14-18 group gets to work the stove! This is the job of placing ingredients in the pan and stirring.

Let's get started on that yummy Goblin Stew!

 

Group 4-8: Get all ingredients out. Wash all veggies and measure spices and liquids.

Group 9-13: Grab your veggies and herbs and dice them into small but not tiny pieces with a parent.

Group 14-18: You will work the stove. This includes adding item to the pan and stirring. Time to get cooking! 

 

In a medium stock pot or pan, place 1 tbsp. butter of medium heat. Salt and pepper beef tips or hamburger and brown in the pan. This will take 5-7 minutes. We just need it to brown. It will simmer later. Remove from the pan and set aside. Do not scrape out your pan. Leave all that brown good stuff in there. Add your chopped carrots, celery and onion to the pan and let simmer for about 5 minutes while stirring occasionally. Add your tomato sauce and all spices and simmer for another 5 minutes. Now it's time to add the beef back to the pan. Next add your broth. Simmer for 1 hour stirring occasionally. Finally add your cream if you want it and the fresh snipped parsley. Give it a good stir and vaboom! Goblin stew for all your little munchkins. Wasn't that fun?

 

 

Have you tried this recipe? We want to hear from you! Share your pictures on Facebook or Twitter and post a comment here with a link to your post. 

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October: Pumpkins Please!

 

Okay. So we garden right? We garden to grow food. But whoever said we can't play with our food? Okay, okay... so maybe that is sometimes appropriate. Not here though. We grow our food and of course we should handle it, love it, and from time to time play with it. What better time than pumpkin season I ask you? This is one of my favorite times of year. I love encouraging children to eat fruits and vegetables and getting their hands on food is sometimes the best solution. Studies have shown that children are more likely to eat better if they are actively participating in the preparation of it. Get them involved! Allow them to plant a seed, watch it grow, and devour its goodness when ripe. You know what I'm sayin?

Pumpkins are so much fun for the kiddos. They get to explore food in a different way. They become hands on and that is exactly what we did with this beautiful fall day. We did the traditional carving for Halloween but we also talked about ways to eat pumpkins, and trust me... there are loads of ways to dig your teeth into them good ole' pumpkins! Did I mention that your children are more likely to eat something they can participate in making?

After carving our pumpkins today we decided what we would do to eat this yummy stuff. The kids decided on roasted pumpkin seeds and I agreed that sounded yummy!

The moral of the story? We can use gardening as a tool to get our children to eat better. And of course it is okay to taste nature's goodness and enjoy a slice too every once and awhile. Most importantly get your kids involved in growing food. It is an important and vital resource to life. Oh and it sure does get fun, sticky, and yummy from time to time.

PS. Don't forget to save some of those yummy seeds to plant again next year kiddos! Happy Fall!

Pumpkin is our plant of the month! 

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A Pizza Party: a glance at 2014 activities!

Kids love pizza. I think it just comes naturally to them. You want to know what I think is great about pizza? You can put anything on it! I am so excited about planning upcoming activities for next year for the kids of Appanoose County's What's Growing On Club. At the end of our warm growing season here in Iowa next year we will be having a Pizza party! This will not be any ordinary Pizza party, however. We are going to use the great outdoors combined with our crops that we have grown throughout the season to top off the end of the warm season celebration!

I have lots of exciting activities planned for the kids and one activity I would like the kids to participate in is the Growums gardening. Growums offers products for kids that teaches them to plant and care for their plants. They have a variety of kits, including the Pizza kit that the kids and myself will be growing next year. Another great bonus is that there is an interactive site online which allows the kids to see the progress of their very own garden. The official dates and plans will be added to our calendar at a later time along with a sign up for the Pizza activity.

Would you like to donate to this project? Please leave a comment below and I will be in contact. Your donations are very important to the local children in the community. Each Growum kit is $9.99 per child. With your help, less fortunate children that may not otherwise be able to afford participating can get involved with growing their own food and learning a healthy, sustainable life.

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Gardening in the Fall?

 

Most town people like myself might think that winter in Iowa means it's time to put up all the gardening gear until next spring, right? Wrong! This winter I will be busy working in my green house to get things ready for spring 2014. Snow does not mean we can not grow! One thing we are enjoying around our home right now is the winter prep. We are cleaning up the garden beds and making fun of it. Plus it's time for pumpkin picking and what kid doesn't love that? Did you know that you can grow pumpkins too? Even in a small space. This year we tried to grow our pumpkins vertically but only produced three pumpkins. But those three good sized pumpkins could be just enough for your little one for carving and some roasted seeds and pie too!

What activities are you doing with your kids right now?

Here are some fun fall-to-winter activities I am enjoying with my kids right now!

 

• Up cycling garden plants to stuff Jack-O-Lantern Leaf Bags
• Using twigs to make scare crows
• Carving Pumpkins
• Making Pumpkin Pies
• Roasting Pumpkin Seeds
• Exploring squash varieties and eatin em too!

 

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