ntKvtei fil VibO ,yW»bIB«S ,gnnmi>-i mwmi*- 810-Uncaat*r Farming, Saturday, July 12, 1987 Kids Garden At School BETH MILLER Cumberland Co. Correspondent CARLISLE (Cumberland Co.) The courtyard of the Hamilton Elementary School is a lot more colorful, and a lot better for the environment recently. That is because the students of the school used their green thumbs this past school year. With help from the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, the children in kindergarten through fifth grade created a plant-filled garden in the center courtyard of their school. Don Showers was one of those kids who got to play in the din. “I liked learning about all the different flowers,” he said. He and the other pupils had plenty of different flowers to learn about. The color garden that was planted by the kindergarteners and first graders included flowers like the Black-eyed Susan, Moonbeam and the great blue lobelia. As with the other students, the main purpose for creating then garden was to teach the children the importance of conservation and how to prepare and plant gar dens. . All of the gardens were de signed to be low maintenance. They all contain beneficial plants that have uses for people and also attract wildlife. The second graders raised their own wildlife to put in their garden. They raised three butterflies in the classroom, then released them in their newly-planted garden. Those butterflies got to enjoy plants like blue false indigo, bee balm, cardinal flower, parsley fen nel, and gloriosa daisies. The third graders studied ero sion factors as part of their gar * dening project. They saw how sandy .101 l affects ornamental grasses that grow in those kindi of environments. The perennial ornamental grasses in their garden included yarrow, plume grass, switch grass, hairgrass, blue oat grass and Indian grass. Creating a fem garden was the big job for the fourth graders who learned by incorporating common woodland plants into their project. They planted wood ferns, sweet woodruff, ostrich fern, white wood aster, sensitive fem, cinna mon fem, royal fem and creeping phlox. The oldest kids at the school, the fifth graders got to plant an herb garden. To do that, they stud ied about how herbs can be used to make medicines and fragrances, and how they can be turned into dyes. The plants they put in their gar den included chamomile, corian der, lavender, Russian sage, mari gold, thyme, sweet marjoram, gar lic, chervil, and chive. This was a school project where everybody learned something and everybody had fun at the same time. Brandon Shipsook said he just enjoyed “being outside with na ture.” “We helped the first graders and I really enjoyed helping other people and helping the environ ment,” said Catrine Hall. Lindsay Hench thought about how these gardens will be enjoyed by people for years to come. “The gardens will always be here,” Lindsay said. ‘They will always make me feel a part of this school, that 1 helped plant this.” J*'# * Hamilton Elementary sth graders put the finishing touches on their courtyard gar den. Camp Teaches Farm Safety KAREN BUTLER Maryland Correspondent JEFFERSON, Md. Jane Smith is a woman with a mission. She wants to bring a message to farm youth everywhere about the potential dangers around them, and to help prevent farm acci dents. “If we can save just one life, then it’s all been worthwhile, said Mrs. Smith, safety chairman for the Frederick County Farm Bureau, referring to the “Safety Camp 4 Just Kids” that she founded. Now in its fourth year, the camp has delivered information on safe ly to hundreds of youth aged 8-13 throughout Frederick and sur rounding counties. As evidence of the program’s popularity, this year the 60 openings filled up quickly and a waiting list had to be formed. The camp is sponsored by Frederick County Farm Bureau, Farm Bureau Women, and many other organizations and individu- als. It is held at the Frederick County 4-H Camp Center in Jefferson. Sixty children participated In the farm safety camp. orfcetf /'V'.-'V* <• /’fy* v ♦ tv. * v< v" Mrs. Smith saw the need for a safety camp as the result of a heartwrenching series of accidents in her community. A little boy suf focating in a gravity flow wagon, a manure spreader fatality, a boy who drowned In kfartnpond, on* who drowned in a swimming pool, a sledding accident, and other tragic farm' accidents motivated her to take action. “Putting this all together, you try to think, can we make a difference, can we do something? And from that we branched off into forming a com mittee and going with our first camp,” said Mrs. Smith. “That one was so successful we’ve had three overnights and one day camp.” Campers arrived in the evening and checked into their cabins. They received farm safety T-shirts and played get acquainted games. Then there was a class on bicycle safety and a hands-on workshop where they made their own fire extinguishers. Following a fire safety lesson, ghost stories woe told around a camp fire. The following morning the children learned about sun safety, lawn mower safety, and sett belts, and airbags. The morning’s Clas ses were punctuated by a graphic lesson on tractor and: machinery accidents. In the afternoon there were lessons by a farm vet on ani mal safety, and by members of the Frederick County dive tcaih on water safety. 4-H youth serving as camp counselors were: Amy Jo Harsh man. Crystal Smijh, Gary Shankle, and Bradley Smith. Safe ty Commitee members and other volunteers helping at the camp were: Jane Smith, Mary Jane Roop, Peggy Garst, Lisa Gaver, Wayne and Jenny Rhoderick, Mite and Evelyn Wilcom, Ruth Lenhart, Brenda Nowell, Betsy Herbst, and Brenda Legget. Kitchen help was provided by Laveme Heffner and her assis tants. Marshall Savage, caretaker at the 4-H camp center, also helped with the camp. <1 * * A \ v
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