The Project Is Finished

A couple weeks ago I was able to present the Black Hills Raptor Center with the money we raised for them from the sale of the tomato plants we planted from seeds.

 

-The money we gave the Raptor Center will be enough to buy 7 bags of mice to feed their birds.

 

-The money we gave the Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum will go toward buying a tree for the park.

 

-The money we gave Ground Works will be used to make kits for local teachers who wish to do growing and garden projects with their classrooms.

 

Total we raised $431.40 just by growing something from a seed.

 

Here are some photos of the tomato plants I saved to plant in my own backyard.

 

 

These are some of the first to turn red.

 

 

If you look closely there are at least nine tomatoes in this one photo.

 

 

 

I hope your plants did well too!

 



KGG Challenge #5, Go on a Garbage Walk

Happy 4th of July!

 

Well, today is really the 5th of July, but it is a great time to give you a KGG challenge.

 One great way kids can help the environment is by picking up garbage when they go on walks. Just bring a garbage bag with you when you go on a walk.

Today we thought it was the perfect day to go on a garbage walk around our block because it is the 5th of July and there was a lot of fireworks going off last night in our neighborhood. This is the bag we collected while walking around or block.

It is good to get this stuff off your yards and out of gutters. If it was to rain much of this would have ended up in the sewer system and the toxins such as burned sulfur would end up polluting the water  in local drainage ditches which provide a habitat for local animals.

 

 

Researchers have not yet determined how much the shooting of fireworks really effects human health because it is hard to pinpoint a cause and effect for much of the problems they may cause, but they are filled with toxic chemicals that do pollute the air and heavy metals which can be toxic. We may not be able to stop our country from shooting fireworks on the 4th of July. But we can all help clean up afterwards to help keep more pollution from happening after the celebration is over.

 

 

Help your neighborhood be a safer healthier place by going on a fireworks garbage walk today!

Mary Jo Wegner Aboretum

What can you do at the Arboretum.

You can take a class, or sign up to bring a field trip here and they will have different classes and activities for you to do. I took a nature photography class.

You can learn about different kinds of rose quartz.

You can see the formal gardens, where every thing is labeled so you know what kinds of plants they are. They almost have one of everything that can be grown around here.

See you are learning already.

Even the trees are labeled.

You can sit by a pond.

 Or walk the figure 8 trail.

Out front you can learn about different leaf shapes and what kind of tree they are from.

You can find a quiet shady place.

With a trickling stream.

 With clear sparkly water

You can get your feet wet.

You can find wildlife.

You can explore.

You can climb rocks.

You can take nice family photos.





You can enjoy the view.

You can walk down the road.

You can have a picnic.

You can take a break.

You can visit a replica of an old school room, and visit with an arborist, like my friends from

Kids Grow Green and I did.

You can watch the video!

 



 

KGG Challenge #4 Screen Free Week

Ok so I am not going to ask you to totally go without power for a week, although that would be a rather large challenge not many would even try to do it, so let's try something that is still a challenge but a little bit easier.

 

KGG Challenge #4

I challenge you to have a Screen Free Week.

I am not talking about window screens but TV and computer screens of all kinds. This means No TV shows, No Movies, No computer games, No DS handheld systems either.

 

We do this at our house (parents too) for the first week of summer after school is out. That is why I was not able to post on the blog. My parents still check email only after we are in bed.

Otherwise they took take a break.

If you do a screen free week send us photos of some of the things you did!
kidsgrowgreesf@live.com
We will post them on our blog.

 

What did we do?

We..

Put our feet in a nearby lake.

 

Explored Pioneer Village in Madison SD

 

We visited the Outdoor Campus

 

 

We played at a park

We went on a bike ride

We prepped and planted our garden

 

 

We got a great start on our summer Kids daily Bible study.

We ran through the sprinkler and turned our swing set into a water park.

We turned our living room into a tent city and even slept there one night and each threw a separate party in our tents and invited each other to come with initiations and party games and snacks.

 

 

We went to the library, twice!

We checked out craft books and drawing books from the library and did some art projects.

We visited our cousins to play with their games and toys.

Planted some seeds (sort of)

 

We went to the Museum of Visual Materials to play Legos on their GIANT Lego table

We visited the Courthouse Museum

Climbed a tree

 

We played board games because we wanted to, not because we were bored

We made up a math water game called SPLAT involving some dice and a tray of water.

We colored a HUGE chalk picture on our driveway

Spotted things we are sometimes to busy to see.

 

We tied a large jump rope to the fence and played jump rope games and we only needed one person to swing the rope instead of two.

Built a sandcastle

 

We blew bubbles

Had a picnic in a park

Took a bunch of photos of us and animals (we didn't count the camera as a screen)

 

 

We did more than this but this is what I can remember and still have a bunch of things left we wanted to do. We might make a day or two a week totally screen free for the rest of the summer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Millennium Recycling Video Contest

Millennium Recycling is having a video contest to help people know what they can and can't recycle in Sioux Falls.

I love making and editing videos. If given the choice, I make videos for my school projects. So this was a fun contest for me, keeping it to two minutes was the hardest part.

The contest ends May 26th so if you are bored this weekend you can make a video quick.

 

Here is the one my brother and I made.

 



 

Those milk cartons look familiar... and they have holes in the bottom. :)

 

My little brother's middle name is actually Henry so he thought that this was funny.

 

2014 Tomato Sale Total,

Hello everyone!  I am happy to announce that this year we raised $452.75 selling our tomato plants. Considering last year I raised about $64 at the garage sale by myself, I think that this is a huge jump. We ended up giving some of our extra plants to teachers at our school, and then brought some more to the outdoor campus who put a free-will donation box out for those who wanted to give and take home a plant.

Thank you Outdoor Campus!!!

 

We will post updates as we deliver donations to our three causes.

 

We finally got our tomatoes planted in our garden too.

 

 

You are probably wondering why it looks like I planted a plastic bottle. We burry an upside down plastic bottle, with the bottom cut open, next to our tomato plants roots. We water our tomatoes all summer long by putting water into the cut open bottom(now top) of this bottle. Tomato plants don't enjoy getting wet and this delivers water and even some extra air (in our clay soil) to our tomato plants roots. Seems to work well for us and a wise gardening friend once they are full size, they need one bottle full a day to produce. Its a simple built in measuring system. It is also a new use for an old plastic bottle.

 

 

 



 

 

Book Fair Plant Sale

School here is coming to an end soon. Next week Thursday is our last day! We still have some tomato plants left so our principle said we can sell after school next week during the book fair.

 

We will make recycled signs out of cardboard to hang up in the hallway to advertise.

 

The Book Fair is Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

3:00 to 4:30

 

We will plan on setting up shop and we will sell until our plants are gone.

So come get your tomato plants before it is too late and help us raise money for the Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum, Ground Works, and The Black Hills Raptor Center.

 

Where: Garfield Elementary School

When: May 12, 13, and 14

3:00 pm to 4:30pm

 

 



Plant Sale Farmer's Market!

 

 

FARMER'S MARKET!!

 

 

We brought along the plant stand although we have outgrown it a bit. It made a good check out counter.

Set up shop!

 

 

 The morning crew all lined up, waiting for customers.

 

 

Working out or sales methods.

 

Fans of Ground Works showing up to buy.

 

Early in the morning ready to work.

 

 

Would you like to buy a tomato plant for your garden?

This side are our specials.

These are Celebrations and those are the Better Boys.

Wheelin' and Dealin'

Nice sunny day!

There was a little wind.

I am Kids Grow Green!

I am Kids Grow Green!

I am Kids Grow Green!

 

Plants waiting for their new owners.

In the heart of Downtown Sioux Falls.

 

 

These look good.

I will make you a deal!

How many did you want again?

Taking a break from selling all day.

Money box is filling up!

 

 

 

 

Handing out magazines to tell about our project.

 

Letting people check out the merchandise.

 

This tomato is good for slicing and sandwiches, and this one is great for salsa.

 

 

Would you like a box for those?

 

Let me help you carry those to your car.

 

My friends had a lot of fun selling today!

They did a great job.

Thanks everyone!

 

We have some plants leftover. Please send us an email if you are interested.

Better Boy's and Celebrations $2 each

Unknown varieties where we lost the labels are $1 each or 6 plants for $5

Email us at kidsgrowgreensf@live.com to arrange a time to come get them.



 

Proceeds go to Ground Works, Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum and The Black Hills Raptor Center