On our third day of Growing For Good, we visited the Novick Urban Farm, located at historic Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia. We met with our guide, Erin, and learned about the history of the Novick Farms. We learned about how Philadelphia is becoming more and more urban and how Novick Farms strives to make the city as green as possible. Next, we split into groups and planted different kale, broccoli, and scallion seedlings in garden boxes. We learned how to properly plant these vegetables and made hoop structures to protect them from the heat and the deer that enjoy eating the plants.
When this was finished, we took a walk across the property and sat on some picnic tables with Erin. There, we asked questions about what the organization does. We learned about food literacy and food deserts and discussed possible ways to solve these problems. After this talk, we took a walk around Fort Mifflin, an old military fort from the Revolutionary War era. We learned a little about the haunted history of Fort Mifflin and walked through different tunnels and buildings.
After this, we said goodbye to Erin and got back on our bus and returned to school. We spent a lot of time outside, having lunch and enjoying the somewhat-nice weather. Then, returned inside and started to ice-dye our tee shirts. We laid ice and different dyes on our tee shirts, making colorful patterns. We are excited to see how our shirts turn out tomorrow!
