A Day's Work: "Put Your Heart Into It" (CAASTLC Seeds of Hope Farm)

Vernon chopping vegetables as he teaches a cooking demonstration with Operation Food Search

Good morning community. My name is Vernon Hampton and I’m an 18-year-old graduate. My favorite hobby is making and listening to music!

A lot of times, we as people tend to think that we don’t have a major impact on our community or the world around us. But, you might be surprised at the reaction you get when you put positivity into your ecosystem, work towards a common goal, or even try to better your community. Here at Seeds of Hope Farm this plays an important role in our purpose.

There have been multiple activities we’ve participated in, but the one activity that stands out to me the most was our Green Teen Alliance (GTA) field trip to Forest Park. At this event, we met up with all the teens from the other programs that make up the GTA to learn about what they do and to give insight about Seeds of Hope Farm. Throughout this event, we performed various team-building exercises to get us more comfortable with each other and to learn from one another.

I believe that the most essential part of this was the activity where we had to make a physical and verbal presentation to exhibit what we do and why we do it. I believe that was the most powerful exercise because those types of activities make you feel more comfortable with people once you figure out that you have a common purpose or goal that you are working together to achieve and conquer.

Also, I believe that learning about other programs and realizing we have common goals makes you feel like you’re a part of something bigger than you could imagine – causing you to feel more important and needed in the world.

So, next time you feel like you don’t matter and you can’t make a difference – think about the bigger picture. It might surprise you what you can do if you put your heart into it.

A DAY'S WORK: Dig It Crew Dives In

Can you, DIG IT? Can you, DIG IT?

Hi my name is Alana and I am one of the Dig It program crew leaders. Our program started 2 weeks ago, we jumped in going to our first field trip at the Forest Park for the Base Camp. Crew got dirty doing their first harvest. We harvested salad mix, scallions, kohlrabi, turnips, and more. We ended our week with a workshop on crop identification and plant families. Crew did a relay race to name all crops and plant families. My team fell short but everyone had an idea about which crop was which and which family each one belongs to.

We jumped into our next week on one of the first hottest days of the summer so far. Most of our Wednesdays are spent doing farm work, otherwise known at Weeding Wednesdays. This Wednesday we weeded all the ends of the beds and mulched them with wood chips. It was about 100 degrees outside but the whole crew pushed through and weeded all the ends of beds. After lunch, we worked on elevator speeches. 

Our field trip this week was Food Roof farm (yes, it's a farm on a roof) and Fresh Starts community garden where we turned most of their soil. Friday was a chance for new crew members to do their first harvest with the team and also learn about soils in the workshop. We ended our week working on a communication workshop called "Walk in My Shoes." So far our program is going really well and our crew members are amazing.

A Day's Work: EarthDance Farms + Recipe for Carrot Muffins!

The Junior Farm Crew chows down on carrot muffins, fresh from the farm!

Wednesday kicked off the first Junior Farm Crew cooking session of the season at EarthDance Organic Farm School in Ferguson, where teens learn how to easily incorporate more veggies into their meals. On the menu this week: Awesome EarthDance Carrot Muffins.

Their time in the kitchen started with a trip up the farm hill to harvest the main ingredient where team members learned how to dig out this sweet, crisp root crop.  After reading through the recipe, JFC members got to work shredding carrots, measuring ingredients, and mixing the batter by hand. As the muffins baked, Logan University Nutrition intern Theresa Mesler led a discussion on healthy eating habits and importance of a plant based diet.

Once the muffins were out of the oven, they didn’t even have time to cool before the first taste test. Two big thumbs up all around. EarthDance carrots are must for this recipe, so make sure you pick up eggs and carrots at the Ferguson Farmers Market this Saturday and learn more about the Junior Farm Crew!

Awesome EarthDance Carrot Muffins

½ cup organic raisins

1 cup warm water

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

2 pasture raised EarthDance eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup brown sugar

1 ½ cups shredded EarthDance carrots

1. Combine raisins and water in a bowl and let soak for 15 minutes. Drain & set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees & grease muffin tin.

3. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt & cinnamon. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil, and brown sugar; beat well. Add wet ingredients to dry; mix until just moist. Stir in carrots & drained raisins.

4. Spoon into muffin tins (only fill each cup about ½ to ¾ full).

5. Bake for 30-40 minutes

A Day's Work: The Wild Side of Forest Park

The NatureWorks Crew putting on an epic skit for the Green Teen Alliance

A Day's Work is a series of posts that will transport you to the field with our summer teen employment programs. You might get dirty just by reading them!

Forest Park is widely known for its major attractions.  Hordes of visitors flock to the park to visit the St Louis Zoo, the multitude of museums, and to snap selfies near the Grand Basin. But this isn’t the only side of the park! This summer, a special group of 10 high school students and recent graduates are working to make sure the natural (dare we say wild?) side of Forest Park doesn’t go unnoticed.  They’re called NatureWorks.

The NatureWorks crew works primarily to restore the waterway in the park, creating a natural corridor for the native plants and animals of St Louis to thrive.  On a regular basis, you can hear the roar of mowers thundering to keep invasive species at bay.  You can see soil knives piercing the ground as the crew removes winter creeper and sweet clover.  You can smell the mud and algae as boots and waders trudge through the waterway.  Despite the long, tough, and sweaty summer days, the crew is always quick to a smile and ready for the task ahead. 

Determined to make our riparian buffers beautiful and a functioning ecological system, the work our Nature Works Team puts in will be enjoyed by Forest Park visitors now and forever. 

Billy Haag, NatureWorks Field Coordinator, Forest Park Forever

A Day's Work: Planting Seeds of Hope with Zayla

A Day's Work is a series of posts that will transport you to the field with our summer teen employment programs. You might get dirty just by reading them!

Hi! My name is Zayla Montgomery and I’m the newest member for the CAASTLC Seeds of Hope team. I’m a 17-year-old senior at Trinity Catholic High School (#TITANPRIDE), and I’m actually Senior Class Vice President. But, like I said, this is my first year with Seeds of Hope’s Teen Program and so far I’m loving it! There is this feeling I get when I come to work. It’s nearly indescribable. Almost euphoric. Seeing everything growing tall and strong and green in MY community gives me a sense of pride. Then I continue through the day and bond with “coworkers” who I’m proud to call my friends, and fellow community members.

As I progress with the program, I hope to become more familiar with the farm and everything and everyone on it. Before I sat down to write this, I took my first “farm walk” which is exactly how it sounds. Seeing all the different plants and vegetables and tasting several different things made me realize that so much hard work and effort goes into this place. I’d like to be a part of THAT. 

A Day's Work: The TERFers have arrived!

June TERFers pause for a photo at the highest elevation point at Tyson Research Center, one of the several places they had to find during the Tour de Tyson Challenge on their first day.

A Day's Work is a series of posts that will transport you to the field with our summer teen employment programs. You might get dirty just by reading them!

Tyson Research Center is Washington University’s field station and home to several large-scale environmental biology research projects. At Tyson we do BIG science and need a lot of helping hands. Through the Tyson Environmental Research Fellowships (TERF) program, St. Louis area teens can work as paid members of research teams alongside university scientists, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

On Monday, June 12 our first batch of TERFers arrived! After introductions and going through the “Guide to Being a TERFer”, they spent the morning getting acquainted with the many research sites spread across Tyson’s 2000 acres. Each of the TERFers will spend 4 weeks working with one specific research team, but we always want to make sure they get exposure to as many different projects as possible. 

The Tour de Tyson Challenge let the students brush up on their map reading skills and become more familiar with the layout and history of Tyson Research Center. Hidden at each location was a clue to help them get to the next spot. While seeing some of the sites where they will be working this month, the TERFers had to collaborate as a team using effective communication to find all the locations on their own.

• Living Learning Center
• Hoop houses
• Solar panel array
• Tyson Headquarters
• Research garden
• Research lab
• Observatory
• Forest Dynamics Plot
• Experimental glades
• High Point at Tyson
• SPFD Burn Plot 11
• Mincke Quarry Cave

The last stop on the tour provided a welcome break from the summer heat. The cool quarry cave is a favorite place for our research teams to visit as a reward for hard work. And we were lucky to see some cave salamanders wriggling away from us!

Once they navigated back to Tyson Headquarters, the TERFers joined their undergraduate teammates for lunch on the deck. Every TERFer had been to Tyson several times last summer as a participant in the Shaw Institute for Field Training (SIFT) program, so it was familiar territory and each of them fit right in. After lunch the TERFers were whisked away by their team leaders for new scientific adventures on the Tyson teams - the Forest Biodiversity Team, the Natural Enemies, the Clover Cyanide Bombers, and Team Tick-quito.

by Susan Flowers, Education and Outreach Coordinator, Tyson Research Center

Tyson undergraduate fellow Aspen Workman (left) explains how rain water captured from the roof is used to water prairie plant experiments in the Tyson research garden. Aspen was a participant in the SIFT and TERF programs during high school and now plans for a career in ecological research.

A Day's Work: Baden Outdoor Youth Corps Gets Rockin'

A Day's Work is a series of posts that will transport you to the field with our summer teen employment programs. You might get dirty just by reading them!

It’s 7:29 AM, day two of the Outdoor Youth Corps (OYC) program.  The sunshine sets the golden steeple atop a nearby church a’blaze as the crew of 10 teens gathers in the Baden Community Garden, just over a mile from the banks of the mighty Mississippi. On this fine morning we hop in a big van headed for the Bio Research and Development Growth (BRDG) Park at Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur for a tour of the facilities, and to experience Chromatography with St. Louis Community College’s Education Outreach specialist, and Baden Community Gardener, Angi Taylor.

After a quick trip across Northern St. Louis County, we arrive at the BRDG Park campus.  The students are eager to hop out of the van, having endured 20+ minutes of loud classic rock, (a pump up attempt dialed in by yours truly, Nelson Curran, supervisor for the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Outdoor Youth Corps).  Following a quick pep talk, we walk directly towards the thriving bio retention basin in the east lot for a quick, impromptu conversation on storm water management in urban settings.  It’s there we are initially greeted by our host, Angi Taylor, and after a quick introduction, we head inside to one of the many labs used by students, businesses, researchers and staff at BRDG Park for educational programming, and bio research.

I follow behind the crew as we stop to say “hello” to Dr. Richard Norris, Director of Life Sciences for St. Louis Community College, Florissant Valley.  “We can’t get our Bio Tech jobs filled fast enough!” he states boldly, as he pops out of his office to welcome the crew.  What a way to start our trip! After introductions and a wrap-up, we continue on to the lab.  The room is ripe with possibilities as we begin our first activity, a T-Shirt Chromatography activity in which students explore solubility, polarity, and diffusion while creating their own t-shirt to take home.  Angi explains how the activities we have lined up relate to current environmental challenges, innovations, and bio-research going on locally, across the US, and abroad; citing, specifically, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.  The OYC crew is locked in, and after some quick vocab review and a lab equipment overview, we take Sharpie to tee and alcohol to Sharpie, diffusing colored dots and shapes into tie dye designs of chromatic awesomeness. After a delicious lunch, we wrap up the day with another Chromatography lab, separating the components of grape Kool-Aid using Sep-Paks and various concentrations of alcohol.

Our day at BRDG Park is over, and based on survey comments from our crew, it was a good one.  One crew member said, “Just keep the hands on,” and another, “We need to have more things like this [in] our schools.”  Manager of Youth and Community Programs, Betsy Crites said of the day, "This group of young people proved today that they were quick learners, creative, and great team players. We are going to have an amazing summer." That says it all.  I can’t wait to see what the Outdoor Youth Corps can achieve this summer! Stay tuned!

by Nelson Curran, Supervisor, Missouri Botanical Garden’s Outdoor Youth Corps

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