Post by Youth Garden Intern, Shaina Ohm and Garden and Nutrition Coordinator Stephanie Solomon.
It is has been another beautiful growing season in the Banneker Garden. This spring youth garden interns Shaina Ohm and Whitney Mayfield mapped and planned the garden and run weekly youth garden programming. With the attention of Shaina and Whitney as well as regular garden volunteers and youth from the Banneker After-School program, the plants are thriving. Each Wednesday morning MHC staff, interns, and volunteers meet and tend to the garden and compost. Later in the day, we meet with 5-15 youth from the after school program and learn how to grow food, work on garden crafts, and taste fresh vegetables from the garden.
A message from Shaina- I just got done with the youth program at Banneker garden and am extremely excited and pleased with all the wonderful happenings of today. Since the weather was sub-par, we were expecting a smaller group than usual and planned 
the activities accordingly. To our surprise, we had a crew of 9 enthusiastic children come who were ready for garden fun. Using creativity and spontaneity, we pulled three activities together that worked out wonderfully. All the children got the chance to harvest beautiful radishes, protect the plants from pests, and build a bean teepee! At the end of the outdoor adventures, we brought the kids inside for coloring and salad eating with lettuce, radishes, and field peas from the garden.
We even had some children saying that salad was their favorite food! Without the help of volunteers and fellow garden interns, the program today wouldn’t have gone over as well as it did. The internal and community support system of MHC has been blowing me away lately with all that we can get done together. I’m so excited for the rest of the season to continue growing and learning together.
