MCKENNA’S GARDEN
PROFILE
I want to work at the garden because: I want to work at the garden because I want to learn more about the process of how my food is made. I really appreciate the way people work to make others life easier so I am really happy to have to opportunity to give back to that community.
Two of my personal goals for working at the Dallas Youth Garden this summer are:
Gain gardening skills/knowledge on the subject
Help to fund my NYLF Medicine and Health Care program to support my future career
Two things I hope to learn from working at the Dallas Youth Garden are:
How to successfully produce my own food
How to successful operate in a work like environment
I think my biggest challenge will be: I believe my biggest challenge at the garden will be knowing when my plants underground are ready and getting to them quick enough. I don’t have very much gardening experience so this will be quite a big challenge.
My favorite vegetable or fruit is: My favorite vegetable is cucumber. Although botanically speaking it is a fruit most people do consider it to be a vegetable which follows the culinary guidelines. I love the crunch and eating it as a nice refreshing snack after a day of school. They are delicious and a great way to supplement hydration.
I hope to contribute this to the garden this year: During my time at the garden I hope to help boost communication and contribute to the community by having a good attitude and work ethic. I want to help make this a really good year at the garden!
GARDEN PLAN
Vegetables and Flowers Planted (list in order):
Marigolds
Marigolds
Radishes
Radishes
Dark Zucchini
Dark Zucchini
Crookneck squash
Crookneck squash
Dill
Dill
Early Girl Tomatoes
Jory Tomatoes
Cabbage
Cabbage
Carrots
Basil
Rows of vegetables planted: 16 rows
Number of different kinds of vegetables planted: 10 different types
Planned Garden Yield: 376 lbs.
Planned Biggest Producer: Dark Zucchini (near 100 lbs. optimally)
Changes in my plan during planting: We ran out of carrot seeds by the time I got to the end of my garden so I switched carrots for basil.
GARDEN LOG
May 1-3:
May 1st -This was the very first day we attended the garden. We went over paperwork expectations and played a fun name game.
May 3rd - This day we learned how to remove the tarps from the garden. This was a great team building activity.
May 4-10:
May 6th - This day was a zoom meeting where we went over how to plan a garden and things to look out for. This zoom was only about 20 minutes long.
May 8th - This was another zoom meeting. We checked in oon our progress in planning our garden and how much our optimal yield is. This was about 30 minutes long and we had a Q&A section at the end.
May 10th - This day was designated to cleaning up after the plant sale. we spend our time packing up tons of tables and sweeping the floors. despite this being work it was a lot of fun to do with my peers.
May 11-17:
May 13th - This was an intro to planting and expectations in the garden I only got a few rows done this day because i was still trying to figure everything out. This day I only got two rows of marigolds (one was half way done for me as an example).
May 15th - This was our second day of planting. We got example of how to handle transplants. This day I planted two rows of radishes, and one row of dark zucchini.
May 17th - This was supposed to be our third day of planting but we did get rained out. Instead of planting we had a zoom meeting where we went over everything to do with our websites and projects. This included a list of expectations and what to do if we needed help.
May 18-24:
May 20th - This was our third day of planting. I planted one row of dark zucchini and two rows of crookneck squash. I had a lot of fun watering this day.
May 22nd - We continued planting our gardens and spent a bit of time watering as well. This was our fourth day planting and I planted two rows of dill and one row of tomatoes. This was the first day I started to see my radishes pop up and I was really excited.
May 24th - This was my last day of planting. I got tons done today because it was a longer day. This day I planted one row of tomatoes, two rows of cabbage, one row of carrots, and one row of basil. At break time we had delecious oatmeal cookies and had a short discussion about social media presence and the best way to advocate our program.
May 25-31:
May 27th - I was not planting this day because I had finished but some people were so I watered my plants very throughly and spend a long time weeding. This was actually a very calming time, weeding can be fun!
May 29th - Again I was not planting this day however I did get to start making my sign. I got everything preped for my sign which will soon label which garden belongs to me! I spent the rest of my day of work watering my plants and weeding a bit more.
May 31st - I was really sick this day so I ended up not going but this was supposed to be hay day.
June 1-7:
June 3rd - Today was very simple. I started by watering my plants then transitioned into weeding. I did get to put my sign in today as well.
June 5th - I started with watering this day because i was a bit early. I got to see some of my dill start to come up.
June 7th - This was another hay laying day for us. We got quite a bit done and most everyone has some part of their garden done with hay.
June 8-14:
June 10th - This day a did a lot of weeding. I got my carrots, basil, and cabbage all weeded. I also spent some time watering. I did notice that my zucchini was getting better after it was sprayed for cucumber bugs.
June 12th - This was a very basic day at the garden. I watered and did some weeding. Nothing really out of the ordinary.
June 14th - Today was another hay day. We got really good progress done today and a large part of my garden now has hay laid down.
June 15-21:
June 17th - This day was “stinky feet day” We use fish guts to fertilize our transplants. We did run out near the end so we will have to do the rest another time.
June 19th - Today was an optional day for the garden so I got a lot of weeding done on my marigolds, which was good becuase they really needed it.
June 21st - This was another hay day much like all of the other early saturdays. We came to an end early on this day because of the rain but we still made great progress. There was only 8 people that showed up bhowever we still got the whole right hand side of the garden done.
June 22-28:
June 24th - Today we got to weed our gardens all day and it was nice weather. I got one row of carrots and one row of marigolds done.
June 26th - I got to start with watering today because I was a little bit early. After this I did a little bit of weeding by my zucchini and some really tedious weeding by my dill.
June 28th - This was another hay day similar to all of the others I have previously participated in but we finally finished my garden so my weeding should get a lote easier. We still have a couple of gardens left but I have a feeling we will finish all of the hay next Saturday.
June 29-July 5:
July 1st - I turned in my W-9 today so hopefully I will get my first paycheck soon! Other than that my day was pretty normal I started with watering and did some weeding of my squash.
July 3rd - Today I decided my basil row was way underproducing so I spent a lot of time getting all of the weeds from that row out so I can start fresh with another plant. We also found out a new gardener will be joining us on Tuesday which is really exciting.
July 5th - We finished the hay today In every garden!! We also got some treats today (ice cream cake and cookies) which made today even better.
July 6-12
July 8th - This was my first harvest day. I got a couple zucchini and squash out of my garden. I didn’t have much time to weed because I was harvesting but I didn’t get to water.
July 10th - Today is what we call take it home Thursday, which was really exciting for most. I chosen to take home a zucchini today. Other than that it was a pretty average day. I watered and spent the rest of my time weeding my dill row.
July 12th - Today was pretty different from the Saturdays I am used to but it was kind of fun to have a change. We did a new activity called minions which really helped us out. During this we all spent five minutes in each garden on a row selected by the owner of the garden we got on row in every garden. Other than that I watered and spent some time picking (mainly squash).
July 13-19
July 15th - Today I picked a lot of food. I got a full bucket of zucchini and and half bucket of crookneck squash. I didn’t have a whole lot of time after picking and it was a pretty hot day so I watered for the last 25 minutes and went home.
July 17th - It was really hot again today so I made sure to water my tomatoes and squash a little extra today. We don’t generally pick on Thursdays but i got almost a whole other bucket of zucchini again today. I did get to take one home with me because it was Thursday which made me really happy. I got a little bit of weeding done in my carrots today as well right at the very end of the day. \
July 19th - Today was really hot compared to the other days this week. Other than that it was a pretty normal day. I watered, harvested, and weeded. My squash plants have been doing amazing recently, so I hope they continue to supply a lot of food.
July 20-26
July 22nd - Today was my last day at the garden before I left for my summer internship for a week so I wanted to really focus on weeding. I got two rows done today, and the weather was nice. Overall very nice day.
July 24th - I was absent this day.
July 26th - I was absent this day.
July 27-August 2
July 29th - I was absent this day.
July 31st - I was absent this day.
August 2nd - Today was our open house which was a lot of fun. I got to show people all of the progress I had made in the garden and what I liked about it. Overall super cool experience. It was also really warm which made it even better!!
August 3-9
August 5th - Today was a pretty average day at the garden. I got to water first today then went straight to weeding my carrots. I also got to help someone with harvesting their lettuce.
August 7th - Today was great. I was really warm and I got some help weeding all of my squash. I am really excited to harvest my dill soon as well, they’ve gotten really tall!
August 9th - Today was really nice in the garden because of the warm weather. I got to weed my cabbage carrots and some of my tomatoes today. We discusses a budgeting activity as well during break time which was really intersting to me. After completeing the activity I had $410 left over to put into savings.
August 9th - Today was really nice in the garden because of the warm weather. I got to weed my cabbage carrots and some of my tomatoes today. We discusses a budgeting activity as well during break time which was really intersting to me. After completeing the activity I had $410 left over to put into savings.
August 10-16
August 12th - Today was really hot but we did get popsicles which made it better. Near the end of our day after watering and harvesting we got to discuss the budget activity we had previously completed on Saturday. I had a lot of fun but we didn't get a chance to weed today.
August 14th -today was a lot better for our plants because the heat cooled down. We didn’t get a lot of weeding done because we had to plan some recipes for Saturday.
Final Thoughts:
My favorite garden vegetable was:
Because:
I harvested _____ pounds of produce from my garden.
My favorite job was:
My least favorite job was:
I could have done better at:
I did the best I could doing:
The two things I learned most at the garden this year were:
1.
2.
GARDEN PROJECTS
1.Project One
Question/Problem(s) Proposed: What are the small white butterflies around the cabbage in all of the gardens?
Answer(s) I found: These butterflies actually can go by many different names such as a cabbage white butterfly, imported cabbage worm, and Pieris rapae (scientific name). These little butterflies are a very common pest in gardens around Oregon and are considered minor pests especially when taking a look at the damage overall to your garden. The larva of this pest is often called “green worms” because of their color and tend to live on cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli plants. The larva can create small holes in the leaves of plants but the damage should not affect the crops severely. If however the crops are going to be sold and a larva is found in packaged food they shall not make it though to the stores because standards are high. You can try to eliminate their presence in your garden by using BTK (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki) but it would have to be sprayed within 7 days of the larva first appearing making it hard to make the time window for many home gardeners. Other solutions to the pest infesting your garden are using row cover barriers to exclude them, or you can hand pick your vegetables and thoroughly check each head to ensure there are no larva on your harvest.
URL Reference: Oregon State University Practice Organic Cabbage Worm Control
2. Recipe:
Name: Lemon zucchini bread
Vegetable Used: I used one zucchini from my garden.
Ingredients: For the bread: all-purpose flour (2 cups), baking powder (2 teaspoons), salt (1/2 teaspoon), large eggs (2), canola or vegetable oil (1/2 cup), granulated sugar (1 1/3 cups), buttermilk (1/2 cup), lemon juice (2 tablespoons), zest of one lemon, grated zucchini (1 cup). For the glaze: granulated sugar (1/2 cup), lemon juice (1-2 tablespoons), milk or cream (1-2 tablespoons this is optional)
Steps to Make it: Step 1: grease one 5in by 9in loaf pan, then set aside. Step 2: grate your zucchini then wring it out. You want most of the water out of the zucchini for this to work properly. (this will be the hardest part I promise) Step 3: in a medium mixing bowl combine your flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside for later this will be your dry ingredients. Step 4: in a large mixing bowl beat eggs thoroughly (make sure the mixing bowl is large enough to fit all of the ingredients) Step 5: add the oil and sugar and mix until completely blended. Step 6: add buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest the mix well. This mixture will be your wet ingredients. Step 7: fold your grated zucchini into your wet ingredients until completely combined. Step 8: slowly add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients using increments to make sure your batter is mixed well. This will be your completed batter once finished. Step 9: preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Step 10: pour your completed batter into your prepared loaf pan set aside in the beginning. Make sure your batter is spread evenly. Step 11: Bake for 50-60 minutes (you can check to see if it is done by gently inserting a toothpick into the center if it comes out clean you’re all good and should pull it out of the oven.)
For the glaze start by combining your sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan. Step 2: heat on medium until melted (roughly 3-5 minutes) Step 3: add milk or cream if you would like to thin it out. Step 4: drizzle over your bread for a sweet touch!
Opinion: My family and I loved this recipe. I wouldn’t classify this bread as a dessert however it is definitely walking the line. I would say if you generally avoid sweets it would be a great idea to avoid the glaze if you wanted to cut back on the sweetness. It is a very simple thing to bake and I feel confident most people could pull it off pretty easy. This took me roughly 25 minutes to prep and took around 55 minutes in the oven, but is totally worth the time in my opinion. I would rate this a solid 8.5/10. Definitely give it a shot next time you have some leftover zucchini, you might have a new favorite summer treat!
3. Another Project
Question/Problem(s) Proposed:
Answer(s) I found:
URL Reference:
MONTHLY GARDEN SUMMARY
May: Days Worked: 13 Days Off: 1 Extra Days Worked: 0 Days Late: 0 Total Produce(Pounds): 0 lbs.
June: Days Worked 12 Days Off: 0 Extra Days Worked: 1 Days Late: 0 Total Produce(Pounds): 0lbs.
July: Days Worked: 10 Days Off: 4 Extra Days Worked: 0 Days Late: 0 Total Produce(Pounds): 60.1 lbs
August: Days Worked _____ Days Off ____ Extra Days Worked _____ Days Late_______ Total Produce(Pounds):__
September: Days Worked ____ Days Off _____ Extra Days Worked _____ Days Late______ Total Produce(Pounds):____