BEET Rangers Garden Maintenance class

Naz, Candy, and Rashida are hard at work, taking care of their garden beds!

Today the BEET Rangers learned all the necessary skills for General Garden Maintenance, including: Pruning, Watering, Weeding, Mulching, Cultivating, and Integrated Pest Management!

Katie Walsh led our lesson on Integrated Pest Management, and Arif Husain filled us in on the dangers of corporate control of our food supply. We talked about Monsanto, Cargill, and other companies who are making a profit off chemical seed technology that makes farmers dependent on products like Round Up in order to grow food to feed themselves.

We made the connections between organic pest control and the importance of knowing how to grow our own food without chemicals, without the influence of corporations whose interests are in making money rather than supporting a healthy community food system.

The highlight of the day was when Krystal pointed out that she was weeding without gloves on- this was a huge deal! Earlier in the program she was not into getting dirty in the garden at all, and now she does it with a smile on her face! It's the little things that count so much.