Theme: Honoring Farm Workers

 Hola todos - hoy, celebramos los granjeros!

Today, we celebrate farm workers!

*Each year, we honor and celebrate the lives of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta - Mexican farm workers who are famous for uniting workers in their fight for better wages, conditions, and basic human rights.

*Working in the fields is very hard work and without people to care for, plant, and harvest crops, we wouldn't have any food!

* President Barak Obama declared Cesar Chavez Day on March 31, on Cesar Chavez's birthday!

AND - it was Dolores Huerta who began using the phrase, "Si, se puede!" during strikes (Obama later adopted the phrase for his campaign!)

* A less-often-told story is the life and legacy of Larry Itliong - a Filipino farm worker who actually started The Delano Grape Strike.

*It was Itliong who walked off the grape fields and reached out to Cesar Chavez to unite the Mexican and Filipino farm workers' unions!

*Itliong demanded wages equal to the federal minimum wage - this means that for YEARS, farm workers were being paid LESS THAN the minimum wage and many farm workers lived in labor camps.

*Because both unions joined together, they were able to win better working conditions and they formed the United Farm Workers in August 1966.

*Call to Action: Help your community today in some small way:

- Clean up

- Wash dishes

- Prepare food

- Take out the trash, recycling, and compost

...How does it feel to help out?

...How does it feel to do the right thing?

Theme: Amazing Pollination!

 Did you know that 1 of every 3 bites of food depends on bees?

Pollinators are the essential workers of the planet and without them, we couldn't survive - we wouldn't have food! 

* Plants need to be pollinated to produce fruit (and seeds) and there are many ways that plants can be pollinated.

Some plants are pollinated by wind and some are pollinated by other animals!

As we head into the season of Spring, beeeeeee on the look out for pollinators like bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, flies, moths, and other helpful critters!

*Bees don't actually pollinate plants on purpose - they are gathering pollen for their food! They collect the pollen and nectar and use it to make honey!

Activity: Draw your favorite meal!

Which parts of the meal were pollinated by bees?

Theme: Plant Magic

 Hola Jardineros!

Hoy vamos a aprender de la magica de algunas plantas comunas!

Today we're going to learn about the magic of some common plants!

Last time in garden, we started to learn about photosynthesis - the process by which plants take sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen and sugar!

AMAZING!

Plants help us in many ways and humans have been using plant medicine for thousands of years.

*Before picking or touching plants, please be sure you completely recognize what plant it is! And never eat a plant unless an adult helper is close by!

*Before picking a plant, be sure to thank it!

*In our garden, we grow many plants that we use as tea, aroma therapy, and of course, as food!

*Which plants do you recognize?

*How have plants helped you? 

*Go for a walk outside or scavenger hunt in your own kitchen - which plant helpers can you find?

Buenos dias, Jardineros - nos vemos pronto! Hasta luego!

Theme: Photosynthesis

 Welcome Gardeners!

As the longer days of sunlight return as we head towards Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, plants are beginning to put on new growth!

Today we'll focus on photosynthesis - the process by which plants make their own food from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water - and then give off oxygen and make sugar!

Plants take up water and salts through their roots in the soil and exchange air in their leaves. 

*They make sugar as their own food!

*Can you think of a plant that tastes sweet? 

When we eat plants that taste sweet, we're eating their plant food sugar! YUM!

Try this activity: 

- Look for the plant's chlorophyll - it's the green chemical in the leaf that helps plants do photosynthesis!

1. Pick a green healthy leaf (ask for help if you need it!)

2. Cover a section of it with dark paper (use tape)

3. Leave it in the sun for a few days... 

4. Check the section under the paper and notice any changes!

*The chlorophyll will stop being made if covered up. You might notice that the section under the paper has changed color.

Have fun noticing new green leaves, amazing plants growing, and remember to say, "THANK YOU" to a plant every day!