Truro Public Library

Lots more rooster painting for our:

Art Opening & Celebration – Crow and Grow – Paintings of Roosters Created by the Children’s Community Garden Group

Sustainable CAPE’s Children’s Community Garden behind the library teaches children about growing fruits and vegetables in the spring, summer and fall and how food relates to health. In the winter months, we concentrate on artwork as a means of reflection about our garden experiences. Several participants (and Garden volunteers!) have chickens, we’ve visited with chicks in the spring, and we discuss organic soil amendments – some of which comes from chickens! The February exhibition focuses on the beauty of our feathered friends and what is needed to grow a healthy garden, a healthy flock, and a healthy community.
In addition, the children are raising money to buy chickens through Heifer International as well as garden supplies for the coming year. For just $20, we can provide a family in need with a starter flock of 10 to 50 chicks, along with the training that will empower them to turn your generosity into a steady source of nutrition and income. Donations can be made out to Heifer International or Sustainable CAPE and left at the library.

Using images of male chickens, called roosters, from Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds by Carol Ekarius, each child chose one to draw and paint with watercolors. The roosters picked were: a Bantam Brown Red Cochin, a White-Faced Spanish, an Orpington, a Golden Penciled Hamburg, a Delaware, a Rosecomb, a blue-lace red Wyandotte hen (she slipped in), a Plymouth Rock and Anna painted a Holland.

Brrrr, 38°, windy and overcast today. The kids warmed up quickly though as they worked to get the garden ready for winter.

After waiting patiently for many many days, Paige could finally pull up the giant carrot and it turned out to be huge and a light orange color! More carrots and celery were harvested too for tasting inside.

Next everyone helped clear out any dead plants and picked out all the leaves from the beds. Some kids used rakes to move the leaves to the compost pile and others shuffled the leaves with their feet.

Anna brought kale plants for transplanting and we covered them with a small greenhouse donated by Bayberry Gardens to keep them growing in every season.

We feasted inside and talked about how chickens help with gardens…their poop makes fantastic fertilizer!

Today we met inside while outside the air felt wet and the temperature was 49°.

Anna asked everyone to imagine what a farm might look like if they were the farmers. Each child wrote and illustrated the following ideas:

Aine wrote, “I would want to have a fat pig and cows, chickens, watermelons, tomato’s, stevia plant, carrots and everything.”

Eric wrote, ” I would have animals a pig a chicken a cow a bird.”

Dylan wrote, “I would have animals like a pig a cow and that’s it.”

Mya wrote, “I want a cow for milk…I grow carrots..I grow tomato’s…I grow corn…”

Bella wrote, “I like cows to milk. I like carrot…to grow.”

Sierra wrote, “I would plant only fruit and carrots and I would have pigs and horses and chickens and ducks. “I

Paige wrote, “I would grow my cows, goats, and pig live in a 100 acre farm that they would roam free in my property!”

Ella wrote, “I would have animals like 3 dogs, 5 horses, 4 cows, 3 potbelly pigs, 10 chickens. And food like vegetables and fruits and seasonings.”

Will wrote, “I would sell turkeys for Thanksgiving and I would sell wood for fire.”

A rainy 51° today and the kale leaves looked a little holey. After some investigation the kids found a bunch of green caterpillars hiding on the under side of the leaves. Carefully picking them off, we placed the caterpillars in a bag for Francie to feed to her chickens at home.

Next, each child chose one carrot to pull from the ground and Mya worked at loosening the biggest one! Then we brought the carrots inside to munch on and to talk about how animals might live on different kinds of farms.

Since it was a misty 58° everyone helped pick chocolate mint leaves, stevia leaves and some basil flowers from the garden to make some yummy tea inside. Each child combined the herbs on a coffee filter and then tied it up with a string for brewing their own cuppa.

Next Anna asked each child to choose a plant and focus on one area of it for a close-up drawing. Of course, there’s always time for a purple bean mustache shot!