"When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and hope"

Today at work we planted an 'Autumn Splendor' Horse Chestnut tree in memory of Dr. Wangari Maathai as part of our summer camp program at work.  Dr. Maathai passed away at the age of 71 two years ago on September 25.  She is no longer with us, but her memory lives on in her organization, the Green Belt Movement, and in the actions of those she inspired.  Wangari Maathai was an environmentalist and was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  She did a very simple thing, she planted trees and she encouraged others to do the same.  She said "When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and hope."  This summer the children who came to camp learned about Wangari Maathai's message to plant trees and voted on what tree we would plant in her honor.  Wangari showed us that anyone, even the smallest amongst us, can make a difference, simply by planting a tree.  

Photograph taken by Kenneth Brunson

Cookbooks & Passports in Australia

Lemon Punch

Today was the final day of Cookbooks & Passports summer camp - we ended our culinary journey around the world in Australia!  We began the day by reading Are we there yet?: a journey around Australia by Alison Lester and If You Lived Here: Houses of the World by Giles Laroche.  The campers really enjoyed both books - they tried to guess what country each house was from in If You Lived Here and were correct quite a few times! 

Cookbooks & Passports in China

Flowering Green Tea - Shooting Star

Today was a super busy day in Cookbooks & Passports!  We visited China!  We started the day by reading What's for lunch?: how schoolchildren eat around the world by Andrea Curtis and Yeh-Shen: a Cinderella story from China by Ai-Ling Louie (other books I checked out from the library for today include The Runaway Rice Cake by Ying Chang Compestine, Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim and Thanking the Moon by Grace Lin).  What's for lunch? showed examples of school lunches from all over the world - and it made the campers hungry!  

Cookbooks & Passports in Mexico

Mexican Spiced Hot Cocoa

We had a lot of fun learning about Mexico today in Cookbooks & Passports summer camp! We made four Mexican snacks, a craft, learned un poco (a little) Spanish and danced to festive music!

Before we began our adventure in Mexico, we sidewalk chalked for the Conservatory's weekly summer farmers' market. The early morning rain left the pavement damp, which gave our chalk a fun, slick texture and made it a little easier to write with - a nice surprise! Campers drew fruits, vegetables and arrows pointing in the direction of the market location. It's a fun weekly tradition for summer campers at the Conservatory!

Cookbooks & Passports in Brazil

Brazilian Black Bean Soup with sour cream and an orange slice

Today was a busy day in Cookbooks & Passports summer camp!  We learned about Brazil by exploring the rainforest, visiting the Brazilian butterflies, listening to Brazilian music and making Brazilian foods and crafts!

We started out by finding Brazil on our world maps, getting our passports stamped and coloring a picture of a toucan and cattleya orchid, both native to Brazil.

Cookbooks & Passports in Kenya

Crackly Banana Bread

Today was the first day of Cookbooks & Passports summer camp!  This week we will be 'travelling' to Kenya, Brazil, Mexico, China and Australia through food, crafts, music and garden/biome visits!

To begin our journey to Kenya, we read First Come the Zebra Lynne Barasch.  This story is about a Masai boy who becomes friends with a Kikuyu boy, despite their tribes not getting along with each other.  It taught the campers a little bit about Kenyan culture and the plants and animals found there.  Next we worked in our recipe journals/passports, finding Kenya's location on a world map, coloring in the nation's flag and learning a few facts about the country.  We also colored a picture of an African elephant and baobab tree, both native to Kenya.

Global Chefs Visit Germany

A flock of black eagles!

Today was our last day of Global Chefs summer camp!  We 'visited' Germany by making a German salad, German chocolate cake with a secret ingredient, a German craft and had a lesson on German numbers.

While looking for Germany on our world map this morning, one of our campers passed out chocolates his dad had brought back from a famous chocolate shop in Berlin.  The chocolates were delicious and it was a nice treat!  Two of our campers have been to Germany before and were very excited about today's theme!  The plant and animal picture for today was of the black forest and a black eagle.

Global Chefs Visit India

Henna designs painted with Indian spices

Our Global Chefs summer campers had a very spicy day today in India!  We made three Indian dishes and a beverage for snack time and incorporated Indian spices into a craft.  While making our craft and cooking today, we listed to traditional Indian music on Pandora.  We also did a tiny bit of yoga - I taught the campers savasana, or corpse pose, after being outside in the heat for a while.  It helped cool them off and gave them a moment to relax and really enjoy the air conditioning in the building!

As always, we began our lesson on India by finding the country on our world map and coloring in the flag.  While Nicole stamped the campers passports, they colored a picture of a banyan tree, the national tree of India, and a peacock, which is native to India.

Global Chefs Visit French Polynesia

Banana Po'e (Tahitian Banana Pudding)

Today was all about bananas and coconuts in our Global Chefs summer camp as we learned about French Polynesia! All of our recipes contained coconut milk or cream and two of the three used bananas as the main ingredient - very tropical and tasty!  

We started the (very hot!) morning by sidewalk chalking for the Conservatory's Farmers' Market.  The market is held every Wednesday during the summer.  Campers drew fruits and veggies and helped color a big 'sign' advertising the market times.  Ohio is in the middle of heat wave this week so to help keep cool I misted the campers with water from a small spray bottle.

Global Chefs Visit Brazil

Pão de Queijo - Gluten-Free Brazilian Cheesy Bread

Today was a very busy day for our Global Chefs campers!  We traveled to Brazil in every way we could  - without leaving Ohio!  We made and ate delicious Brazilian foods, went on a scavenger hunt for plants and animals native to the Amazon rainforest, listened to fun Brazilian music and made some colorful Brazilian crafts!  

We started our journey as we did yesterday when we visited Kenya, by finding today's country on our world map and coloring it in. We went over some basic facts about Brazil and got our passports stamped.  We also colored in the flag of Brazil and a picture of a toucan and an orchid.

Global Chefs Visit Kenya

Sukuma Wiki - cooked onion, tomato and kale!

This week I am teaching a summer camp called Global Chefs.  We'll 'visit' five countries through food, music and crafts!  Our destinations include: Kenya, Brazil, French Polynesia, India and Germany.  Today we visited Kenya!

To begin our discussion on Kenya, we first found the country on our world map and colored it in.  We then went over some basic facts about the country on the passport page of our recipe journal and colored in the flag and a picture of an African elephant and a baobab tree.  

Very Blue Mulberry-Raspberry Muffins + Recipe

We made these very blue mulberry-raspberry muffins today for our last day of Culinary Creations camp.  I modified the Ginger Mulberry Muffins recipe from A Spicy Perspective.  

Culinary Creations Books

These are the books I chose for Culinary Creations this year - we probably will not read all of them, but as of day three of camp, we have read fourteen of them!

Stone Soup

We made Stone Soup in Culinary Creations camp today!  We also went over kitchen rules and safety, played 'two truths and a tale', read several food themed stories, made creamy parsley dip with veggies, went on a garden scavenger hunt,  decorated the covers of our recipe journals, and made a mess in the kitchen!  I am wiped out!  Tomorrow we are making Thundercake and salsa!  

Chalk!

These are my summer campers hands after sidewalk chalking for the Farmers' Market today at the Conservatory.  I think they had more fun getting the chalk all over themselves than they did drawing pictures of fruits and veggies!

The Farmers' Market at the Conservatory is held every Wednesday from June 5th to September 4th from 3:30 to 6:30pm - come and check the delicious fruits and veggies, jams, honey, soap, meat, eggs and cheese - all from local Ohio farmers and producers!

Mad Botanist Experiment

The 2013 season of summer camp started today at the Conservatory!  This week I am teaching Green Thumb, a camp that focuses on 'all things green' for 6 to 11 year olds.  We do a few 'mad botanist' experiments and this is the final product of our "Taking Out the Color" experiment.  The green liquid in the glass is chlorophyll in rubbing alcohol, which we removed from the brownish-green leaf on the left by boiling it briefly in water then letting it sit in the rubbing alcohol.  The experiment we did is very similar to this Chlorophyll Experiment from ThinkQuest.