More Service Work from the TEENs!

Last Sunday the TEEN group volunteered five hours at the Sonoran Desert National Monument, near Goodyear, AZ picking up trash and removing existing roads. The land has been closed to the public for over a year now, so that it can be healed from overuse and returned to a pristine state. It was a beautiful morning as it had rained the night before. We had 15 teens attend and really made some good progress. We encourage anyone to visit the Monument once it re-opens to the public next year.

Chiles and Chocolates

Today, (last weekend!) the TEENs did a variety of jobs from making tootsie roll necklaces to painting our TEEN garden wagons. Sammy Saguaro also made a guest apperance, and even though he was armless he still made the kids and adults smile. There was plenty of chilie inspired treats to try and of course..... chocolate! Overall, it was a good day and we got alot accomplished.

Rafting the Salt! 11/7/09

This past Saturday 13 of our TEEN volunteers enjoyed a beautiful day floating down the Salt River. This was just a fun day trip to get together and enjoy some amazing Arizona scenery. The weather was great, the water was pretty warm, and the views were amazing.

Dia de los Muertos! Whoo!

Today was an awesome day for the TEENs! We had Matt, Hailey, Nick, Sydney, and a bunch of new TEENs that helped out today. The day involved lots and lots of crafts - And kids. We had some cultural music to rock out to and tons of people in masks and costumes. There were kids dressed up in costumes with their faces painted and the day went by smoothly. The altar looked beautiful (Look at the picture above! Taken by Syd. ) and it was a wonderful day all together. Next Saturday is the rafting trip and we hope to see everyone there!

TEENs in Training....& a little work!

October has been a busy month for the TEENS. We've had about 15 new teens join the group which means training, mentoring, and showing them the "ropes". It's great to have more teen volunteers especially with our busy month ahead filled with festivals and other activites. In additon to training the new teens, we've also worked on Lumi bag set up for a Garden wedding and made some really cute pumpkin Lumi jars for the October Festivals. The Desert Vista Key Club helped us with this craft as well and did an outstanding job!

Scavenger Hunt - TEEN Meeting & Party

We had a great day this past Sunday planning our fall activites, eating candy, and then having out 1st annual Scavenger Hunt! The winning team recieved a dancing gopher trophy...what more could they want? The teams had to take photos of various activites in the Garden, such as playing ring around the rosie, wearing aprons and big hats, cartwheels in the bus loading zone as well as taking photos of certain plants in the Garden. It was a good day!

Planning a Park

Last weekend the TEENS were busy helping out with Teacher Open House and working on our Hassayampa Park Design. They spent 4 hours brainstorming ideas for the overall design and came up with some specific ideas for signage, discovery stations, and a possible observation deck for bird watching. They accomplished a lot and still managed to assist with those Teachers!

Day Trip to Hassayampa River Preserve!

The TEENs took their second trip to Wickenburg to finish the Hassayampa Nature Park plant survey last Saturday, September 29th. Well, it was a little hot, but we did just fine. We started early (but, still made time for a quick Krispy Creme stop), took lots of water, stayed in the shade and made sure that we were indoors by noon. We managed to take a few more plant samples, get more pictures, startle a beautiful owl, and this time we visited the Wickenburg Museum and the Hassayampa River Preserve. The Hassayampa, or "the river that flows upside down", runs underground with portions that seap above ground providing a beautiful habitat for more than 270 species of birds, mammals, and unique plant species such as, the Fremont Cottonwood and Goodding Willow, considered one of the rarest and most threatened forests in North America. It was a great day trip and now we are ready to use our information collected to start designing the actual park.