Window Sill Garden Exposes Youth to Gardening

Adults have the opportunity to learn responsibility from many sources:  family, work, hobbies, etc.  Youth often have fewer options and those options may be dictated by adults giving the youth an opportunity to gain them.  Not every youth has the means to raise a show animal and travel to county fairs.  Green County 4-H wanted to offer a program allowing younger youth to gain responsibility and to learn the value of being appreciated.  

Green County 4-H reached out to the Green County Primary School about offering a window sill garden program to their students.  Youth would germinate flower seeds in peat pellet and then transfer them to larger pots as they grew through the spring semester.  At the conclusion of the project, you would present their flower to someone they chose in appreciation for what that person has done for them.  During the class, students learned about how seeds grow and the things they needed to provide them like routine watering, adding soil for larger pots, protecting from temperature changes, etc.  The classes also talked about different ways that people show appreciation from simple "thank yous" to giving items like homegrown flowers.  

All youth in the second grade participated in the activity.  All but seven of the 123 youth projects germinated and produced flowers. The classrooms had extra plants for these instances so that every child could present a flower to someone they appreciated.  When the youth were questioned about the experience, one child mentioned that "appreciation doesn't have to cost much; it can be free like being nice to someone."