Today was truly phenomenal

I have posted many times how happy I have been with the response of the campers to the garden.  I never could have dreamed of what transpired today.

My good friend Valinda stopped by yesterday and visited the garden.  Josh and I showed her the veggies stored in the refrigerator and she offered to come by and make some pickles with the surplus cucumbers we have been amassing.

After opening exercises with the campers Valinda was near the garden setting up her food processor and unpacking tupperware that she had brought.  I asked Tim the camp director to see if any groups would be interested in helping her with the cucumbers.  Within minutes the first grade boys showed up and we started helping the kids collect and clean the vegetables.  I left to attend a meeting and checked back on the operation an hour later.  A pop up tent was added and two other groups were there, older campers slicing cherry tomatoes and cucumbers and helping Valinda empty the food processor.

This went on all day.

By noon farmer Josh had 2nd grade girls skipping behind him in the garden collecting more peppers and corn for the batch of salsa they were making.  He was grinning ear to ear.  I loved listening to the children bragging about how good the cucumber salad was or the salsa or the pickles.  I was commanded to try everything that the kids were making. With Valinda's guidance each bowl could have graced the tables of the best restaurants in town.

I had to visit another camp at mid-day and I was  sure that Valinda would have been packed up and left when I returned at 2:30.  Wrong!!!  Closing exercises were fast approaching and the pool staff were there to see what all the fuss was about.  Bags of Tortillas and chips lay emptied by campers and staff alike and over 70 pints of pickles had been packaged.  5 or 6 gallons of sliced tomatoes, mangos (we bought) and ground cherries were collected in a bin to be made into salsa tomorrow.

These children have very likely eaten more fresh vegetables today than they have in weeks.  Kids were saying "I never eat pickles but I love these."  More than just teaching campers how to grow vegetables, we are teaching about good nutrition, how to make heathy food fun to eat, and to show children that they can make this at home. When summer camp is over our after school programs are going to be forming gardening clubs which will include lessons on how to prepare the food we are growing.

Today we stumbled onto the Why we are doing this not just the How.  I have never tasted a more delicious Why.