Girl Scouts Grow

Girl Scouts Grow

I have been working on my Girl Scouts Grow patch this Month
For the Discover part I needed to do 3 Activities.
I decided on: 

Learn about what Plants are native to your state and what plants are invasive species. How are the invasive plants impacting native plants? What is being done to prevent the spread of invasive species?

 We went to the BLM office and talked to them about local invasive species.

They gave me some post card sized pictures to help me identify them while I am out hiking or on the walking trails.

You can get more information on Wyoming's Noxious Weeds at:
https://www.invasive.org/species/list.cfm?id=40

I Learned what insects are good for plants and which are pests by reading a lot of books. What can you do to help increase helpful bugs and prevent pests from destroying your garden?

Butterflies, bees and lady bugs are all helpful to my garden.

Most ants, aphids  and grasshoppers are harmful to my garden.

I went to The Boys and Girl's club and talked to Mrs. Bev about their garden.

 They have a garden that I help with. It is located in the basement and now that the weather is getting nicer we will be planting outside too.

 This garden is designed to help people learn how to grow their own food and take care of themselves.

 It is fun to take care of the garden, planting seeds and watching them grow makes us happy.

I enjoy helping with the garden and I like it when I get to eat the results of our hard work!
 I even get to grow my own watermelon plant!

 Here the worms are composting the soil

Learn about wild plants that are dangerous and wild plants that are edible. Learn how to identify these plants and how you can keep from getting sick from exposure to the dangerous ones. 

For the connect part of the badge I needed to do 2 of the Activities.

I chose:

To help with a local Earth Day Event. The Boys and Girls club did a trail and park clean up which I was happy to help with.

I also went and talked to Mrs. Bev at the Boys and Girls club about how the use plants to improve the mood of the club. The Kids enjoy taking care of the plants and feel accomplished when the survive a fruit and bloom

Finally I needed to complete two of the take action activities. 

I chose:

Spend a day working to remove an invasive species from a local park.
We went up to the Dry  Creek Petrified Forest (we go there every year)

 We found some Thistles that shouldn't be there by using the invasive species cards I got from the BLM.

They were very pokey, but we removed them anyway.

It was an afternoon well spent if it means we saved some of our local plants from having to compete with the thistles.

and I chose:

 To continue to use our composting bin.

I am happy to use our compost in our garden.