By Renata Solan
Community GroundWorks
This summer, the Troy Gardens Day Camp at Community GroundWorks Troy Kids’ Garden will be back for its second year, bringing fun, innovative and healthy summer activities to local children.
The Troy Kids’ Garden, located at 502 Troy Drive, continues to serve schools and youth groups on the Northside and throughout Madison. Students from the Northport Community Learning Center, Kennedy Heights, Mendota Elementary and Vera Court have enjoyed weeding, harvesting, cooking and exploring in the garden.
Troy Kids’ Garden also offers weeklong summer programming for children ages 7‒11. This year the camp will return with variations on beloved themes, including cooking, animals, permaculture, movement and music, and art. The camp has also expanded to offer two weeks of full-day camp and six weeks of morning camp.
“This camp is 100 percent outdoors. We focus on growing and eating healthy food by way of outdoor adventure,” said Community GroundWorks Education Director Ginny Hughes. “Troy Gardens is such a magical place. We have 17 years of experience teaching kids in the garden. We have a working CSA farm, a prairie and hundreds of community garden plots. It’s a rich environment to roam and explore while learning about — and eating — fresh food.”
Hughes and the camp staff received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the innovative camp’s first year. “The kids loved the structure, directions and freedom. This was far and away their favorite camp,” said an enthusiastic parent.
Campers’ families noted that many children developed a love for cooking vegetables. Hughes even saw a change in her own children after they attended the camp’s cooking-focused week. “My kids generally don’t like vegetables and don’t show much of an interest in cooking at home,” she said. “But they loved making zucchini noodles and pesto at camp, so now we make it at home.”
Most important, of course, is that children love it. “Last year was a success because all the kids who came had fun and left wanting more,” said Hughes.
Come June, they can have more at the 2018 Troy Gardens Day Camp. More information and registration details for Troy Gardens Day Camp are available at communitygroundworks.org.