SIMPSON COUNTY, KY.- The Boys and Girls Club of Franklin Simpson is back for another summer of producing future farmers of Kentucky and future entrepreneurs with their gardening club that will become a vegetable stand.
Emma Bell, the garden coordinator shares her perspective on the garden. She says, ” I will say it’s exhausting, but I love it every single day. The summer is the best time of year for me. Doing the garden club and having the kids come out like extra. These kids are getting extensive garden training, so they really get more involved in it. They’re more passionate about it.”
A lot of learning and hard work can help the kids plant seeds that produces a passion. Kaylynn Henninger, a gardener and she sales vegetable garden, says “I like helping other people. Ground cherries out here, and It feels amazing.”
From ground cherries to cucumbers and even blackberries, the Boys and Girls Club and Franklin Simpson has it all, but this is not just impacting the environment.
Emma also says, “So a lot of these kids live in apartments or just in places where they can’t have a garden or even a pot on the porch. I think it’s important for them to have that connection to nature so that they realize, like, where their food comes from and what is involved in growing their food, and I think that will help them just be more connected to nature in the future.”
Interacting with nature and connecting with the community gives these kids the chance to discover the things that they like.
Merit Kendell another gardener and salesperson at the vegetable stand says, “You need to, like, help with gardening and be outside and have fun. I just love the outside. I get to do a lot of work and plant, and it makes me happy.”
Emma also shares how helping gardeners gives kids a purpose that will impact them in the present and in the future.
Emma says, “It makes them more confident. I hope it helps them feel more open with communicating with people in the community. I hope it makes them feel like part of the community. ”
The vegetable stand will be open this July. To stay up to date, visit https://www.facebook.com/bgcfs.
Source: wnky.com
