Ripley Horticultural Society's youth club enjoys fun with pumpkins

The Ripley and District Horticultural Society's “For Our Youth” club met at the home of leader Tryntje Eisen, Saturday, for the final meeting of 2017. The plan was to have fun with pumpkins - and they certainly did!

The day began with a hunt for pumpkins that were hidden in the yard. When the 11 youth had found their pumpkins, it was time to take the steak knives in hand to open them up. Bandages were at the ready for potential accidents. Thankfully, the only thing that got cut were the pumpkins!

The insides of the pumpkins were put in plastic baggies, so the parents could have fun roasting the seeds. An electric hand-held kitchen mixer proved useful to scrape the pumpkin bowl clean. Floral foam was inserted into the now hollow pumpkin to get ready for a fall arrangement.

Eisen then showed how to arrange the bouquet, with a “thriller,” such as corn stalk plumes, silver dollar, cattails sprayed with hair spray or wheat stalks for height; a “filler,” such as chrysanthemum, Chinese lantern or sedum for the bulk of the bouquet; and a “spiller,” such as silver sage or purple heart to spill over the edge and cover up the floral foam. The children had fun doing some creative magic and the results were fabulous.

Pumpkin seeds were used for the seed-spitting competition. After practising this delightfully messy art form, all were lined up to see whose seed travelled the farthest. Kolby Knoop won the competition with her pumpkin seed travelling a distance of 155 inches.

The group then gathered around for the “lava” pumpkin explosion demonstration. Scooping baking soda, dishwashing soap and vinegar into a hollow pumpkin, produced a somewhat slow lava flow. The children had fun adding more and more of the ingredients to cause a greater flow until the “lava” almost spilled off the table.

Leader Heather Newman shared her ideas on how to have colourful fresh blooms inside for the winter season by forcing spring bulbs to bloom indoors. She brought a collection of mugs, bulbs and stones for each to arrange and take home. They will hopefully bloom at Christmas and fill the homes with their fragrant aroma to be enjoyed by all.

Before ending the meeting with the club song, it was time to say goodbye to leader Mary Rose Walden as this was her last meeting with us. Tessa Neitzel presented Walden with a swan gourd and a card on behalf of the club.

The first meeting in 2018 will be held in February where entries for the Horticultural District 8 annual meeting will be prepared. The Ripley and District Horticultural Society will be hosting this district meeting in the spring of 2018.

For information about the “For Our Youth” club, contact Eisen at 519-396-6415 or by E-mail at eisendeel@hotmail.com.