The Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange is proud to announce their partnership with 4-H offering edible gardening education to youths 8-18 years old. The "4-H Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange" is the ONLY garden project 4-H club in all of Lee County. This newly formed club is also the ONLY 4-H club in Lehigh Acres.
4-H is a non-formal, practical educational program for youth. The Florida 4-H Youth Development Program uses a learn-by-doing approach and caring adults to help youth gain the knowledge and life skills they need to be productive, responsible citizens. To achieve its mission, 4-H accesses the expertise and resources of the University of Florida and a nationwide network of Cooperative Extension Service faculty and staff.
Interested 4-H members will meet at 5:30pm the third Thursday of the month at Veterans Park Recreational Center (with the exception of December). The 4-H meetings will run approximately 15 minutes prior to the regular meeting of the Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange. During this time, 4-H members will plan activities, assign responsibilities, and organize community service projects with adult guidance. Afterward, 4-H members will stay for the regular edible gardening meeting plus the raffle, free exchange, and snacks afterward. The cost to join the 4-H Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange is $1 (one dollar) per member to cover secondary medical insurance.
This month's guest speaker for the Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange will be Mr. Tom Becker who is our Lee County Florida Yards & Neighborhoods Program Extension Agent. He will be teaching us about soil improvement, use of organic matter, composting, water conservation, irrigation, mulching, and Florida Yard and Neighborhood practices.
The regular Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange meeting will start at approximately 5:45pm on Thursday, September 20th in the Veterans Park Recreational Building, 55 Homestead Road and will last about 1.5 hours. Regular members are welcome to sit in on the 4-H meeting. All members require a once-in-a-lifetime membership fee of $10 per person to Veterans Park after one free "trial" visit. There is no fee for the Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange.
A raffle ticket is provided to every type of member that brings in an item to exchange whether it be seeds, cuttings, plants, fruit, veggies, or a healthy drink or snack. Our raffle, free exchange, and snacking take place after the meeting has ended.
