Despite the rainy weather we
experienced early in the week, some of the Summer Associates here at the office
still managed to make the best out of a soggy situation. Even though no one
made it out for garden night at Northland Court Apartments due to the inclement weather, the Summer Associates
continued on with their planned activity for the evening and made ice cream for themselves and
the leasing office staff.
We often try to choose activities that the children at our community
gardens will enjoy; something that will keep them entertained while their parent
or guardian is working in the garden. In the past we’ve created watering cans
out of milk jugs with the kids and played games that were modified with a
garden theme.
Earlier this week, we planned to make homemade mint ice cream
with the kids, adapting a recipe from
Cookie&Kate.com for
Fresh Mint
Ice Cream. We felt this would be a fantastic activity for the children if only we
could find a way to make the process easy for them to recreate at home with
their parents; One of the goals of doing activities with the kids at community
garden night is to teach them something that they can then pass along to their
parents, as kids can be excellent teachers when given the chance.
Part of the activity involved using at least on ingredient
from the garden. The other part was to use a method that didn’t involve an ice
cream maker. We actually found that it’s easier to make ice cream without an
ice cream maker than one might think. So, easy in fact, a kid could do it.
We made the ice cream mixture in advance before arriving at
Northland Court, since the process involved cooking the mix beforehand and
letting it chill in the fridge. Once that part was out of the way, all we had
to do was get two Ziploc bags. One small Ziploc bag – the size of a
snack bag, and another quart sized bag. Bigger bags would also work, but the
idea it that one can fit inside the other bag easily and have room for ice.
The first step is to put about
a handful of ice in the larger Ziploc bag. Then, add about a tablespoon of
course sea salt. Next, pour some of the ice cream mixture into the smaller
bag – about a cup. Make sure that the seal is completely closed. You don’t want
any of the ice cream mixture leaking out. Once we filled the small Ziploc bag
with the ice cream mixture, we placed the small bag inside the larger bag.
Then, we filled large bag with a little more ice and salt so that the small bag
was covered. This is that part that we really wish the children would have been
around because the final step is to shake the bag until the ice cream mixture
solidifies. It is a ton of fun and you just can’t help but to smile!
It’s that easy! Had the rain not kept everyone away from garden night, we
think they would have really enjoyed this activity. We sure did! The best part
is that we used things that grow in the garden to flavor the ice
cream and we used fresh, natural ingredients, so we know exactly what is in our ice cream. Its fun, healthier than most
store brought ice cream and your children can be involved in the making of one
of their favorite deserts!
