“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try” -John F. Kennedy

 

I went to Cape Cod Massachusetts for a summer vacation. While I was there I saw a mug with this quote on it from President John F. Kennedy. This is my favorite quote because not only do I believe it’s true, I know it’s true. Take Ms. Elaine, a friend of ours who lives in The Palmetto House. Ever since Mr. Colin had to leave the homeless shelter, Ms. Elaine has taken care of the garden. She’s ridden her bike for miles to look at fences and fruit trees. Ms. Elaine didn’t have to do any of this, but she chose to make a difference, and it really shows. I love the way Ms. Elaine always works to make the garden could be bigger and better and more beautiful. Thank you Ms. Elaine for the difference you’ve made at The Palmetto House garden. I may have said this over and over again, but it is true. ANYONE can make a difference, and like John F. Kennedy says, everyone should try.  

 

 

Thank you for your votes! I won!

Thank you to everyone who voted for me in the Farm Rich Kids Who Give Contest. Great news…I won. The $1,000 grant to Katie’s Krops will help start two new vegetable gardens to help feed people in need. I couldn’t have done it without you. Your votes are making two new gardens possible. I also want to thank Farm Rich for supporting Katie’s Krops.

Congratulations to Andi, Olivia, Nathan & Anna (the other 4 winners)!

http://www.kidswhogive.com/winners.php

New School Year!

 

As Phineus and Ferb would say (wait a second, Ferb doesn’t say much, so as Phineus would say), 104 days of summer vacation and school comes along to end it, the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it. Well that’s not the case for me. I had a blast this summer working in my gardens, swimming, and playing tennis. School starts in two days. New year. New grade. Fresh start. And I have a locker now!!!! I am really excited about starting 6th grade!

                There are so many exciting things I am working on this year like working with a school in South Africa and starting a huge composting program in my school! I also see chickens in my near future.  That is just a sneak preview of the year ahead!   I also will be working closely with my 6th grade science class, planting seeds, testing soil, and creating “potions” to keep deer and fire ants away!

                Fall planting season is getting closer and closer.  We plan to have a big crop of lettuce this year. We will be using a lot of the seeds from Disney too! Thanks again Disney Gardeners at the Land in Epcot for all your help and support! And thanks to Mr. Bob and his AWESOME greenhouse we will be able to start tons of seeds there!!! We are going to re-till the Pine Forest garden to plant potatoes too. I can’t wait! I would go on and on in this blog but it there is a lot to do and I promise I will keep you posted on all of my new garden adventures!

 

Summer Vacation

I am in the car on my way home from a trip to Cape Cod, Massachusetts where I visited my grandmother. My grandmother lives in an area where lots of people come to vacation over the summer and rent beautiful houses near the beach. We stayed in a vacation home too. We had a full kitchen which was great and we made breakfast and lunch every day. When we left on Friday, we tried to bring all of the leftover food that we could home, but we had to leave some food there, milk, eggs, bread, etc.  We just didn’t have any room in our cooler.

My mom, dad and I started talking about home many people probably leave food in their vacation homes when they are done with their trip or just throw the food away. So much good food must go to waste. Imagine what could be done with all that food.   I know when people are on vacation they are most likely not thinking about the homeless and hungry. But what if they did? What if at the end of our vacations in those beautiful beach homes we all came together and found a way to donate that extra food to local shelters and soup kitchen. Imagine the impact we could have on the communities we vacationed in. Right now it is just a thought but there must be a way to save that food and help people in need. Maybe before you rented a house you were asked to fill out a form asking if you have an extra food left that you would be willing to donate it to a soup kitchen.  Volunteers could pick up the food and bring it to shelters and soup kitchens. Just a thought, but isn’t that how everything starts.

 

Ms. Lisa is back!!!!!!!!

Ms. Lisa is back!!!! For those of you who don’t know Ms. Lisa is my Master Gardener, my teacher, my mentor, sometimes my math tutor and my friend. We have missed her so much this summer! Yesterday I went to go visit her. The reason we have not been working together recently is because she just had a baby boy, Alexander, and he must be one of the luckiest boys on the planet because he has such an amazing mom. Ms. Lisa is so personable, genuinely nice and so much fun to be around.  She is so excited to get back out into the gardens and get dirty again. We started planning for the fall gardens and they are going to be amazing! I can’t wait to get back out and start working with her again. We are excited to have her expertise back! We missed you Ms. Lisa & we can’t wait for Alexander to come help us plant!!!!

 

 

Papa Stags Italian Eggplant Delish!

My friends at Bonnie Plants told me I had to try and grow their Ichiban Japanese Eggplant and they became a big part of my spring gardens. They are so cool. One plant can produce an amazing amount of vegetables. It is one of my new favorite vegetables to grow and eat. Here is a great recipe from my Grandpa Stagliano that my dad, my brother and I have fun cooking and even more fun eating!

Papa Stags Italian Eggplant Delish!

What you will need- 3 pie plates- 1 large skillet, 1 plate covered with paper towels. 3 Ichiban Japanese Eggplant, Wondra, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, milk, Italian Bread Crumbs, olive oil.

Peel Eggplant and cut into ¼ inch slices, lightly salt eggplant slices.  Prepare the 3 pie plates as follows:

1st pie plate filled with ½ a cup of Wondra, salt, pepper, ½ teaspoon onion & garlic powder

2nd pie plate- 2 eggs, 1/3 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese

3rd Pie Plate- 1 and ½ cups of Italian Bread Crumbs

Dip each piece of eggplant in 1st pie plate and coat well, move eggplant piece to 2nd pie plate and coat well, move eggplant to 3rd pie plate and coat fully with breadcrumbs.

Heat oil olive in large skillet over medium heat. Drop coated eggplant in oil and cook about 3 minutes per-side (or until golden brown). Remove eggplant to paper towel coated plate. Be sure to eat while they are hot.

I like to dip the eggplant in a dipping sauce of ½ cup of sour cream, ½ cup of mayonnaise and dried herbs such as dill, scallions, etc. My Papa served this with a marinara sauce. It is delish! I hope you like it!

Not a fan of my eggplant!

Delish!!!!!

 

 

 

Shipping Address

Thank you for support our efforts. If you would like to mail a check to help us grow, donations can be sent to:

Katie’s Krops

P.O.Box 1841

Summerville, SC. 29484

If you would like to send a donation of material goods that cannot be sent to our PO Box, please contact us via email, Katie@KatiesKrops.com and we will provide a shipping address. Thank you.

Katie’s Cabbage

“In a small Southern town not far from the ocean, there lived a lived a young girl with bright brown eyes that looked at the world with innocence and awe. Her name was Katie. She was just like many kids her age.  Katie loved to play in the sunshine, swim in the pool, and be with her friends.”

 

 

 

 

 

Neighbors on their evening walk with their dogs would pass by and comment on Katie’s cabbage.
“Hey, Katie, what are you feeding that thing?  It is almost as big as your brother,” one neighbor commented.
Another neighbor gave his approval, “Wow, Katie, that is truly amazing. I have never seen anything like it.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Opa, I need your help to protect my cabbage from the deer. I just can’t let the deer eat my cabbage.  Please can you help me?” Katie asked.
“Don’t you worry, Katie.  I promise no deer will eat your cabbage. We have a date for tomorrow after school.  We are building a cabbage cage.”

 

Yesterday I met a Prince

Yesterday I met a Prince. He may not live in a castle (though not many of us do these days) but he is worth his weight in gold!

Mr. Prince and I met by accident. He was looking for the weather and he found me. Maybe it wasn’t an accident at all. I think we were meant to meet because we both want the same thing…to make sure there are no hungry people!

When Mr. Prince came across an article on-line in our local newspaper about a food drive I was holding (he was looking for the weather) he wrote the following comment:

"How we can we learn from such a child’s action’s?
I know of what it is not to be able to eat for day’s as a Child and now as a disabled adult.I earn $10.00 too much for food stamp’s. How ever I use a medical service dog and well.. he take’s care of me. So I have to make sure he is healthy.I am cursed and blessed.There are no soup kitchen’s out here in Cross or Monks Corner.Nothing.One my be blessed to obtain a small plastic bag of out dated worm infested food.I have became ill once on a bad can.We don’t want to go there. The hospital bill was some thing else.When your hungry. That is that.I am blessed I have very fertile earth and over the 20 better year’s installed irrigation.My fruit tree’s are heavy and the vinyard will soon be full of quater sized grapes.The shame is I have all the tool’s.Picking poles(Wire basket’s with metal finger’s).I’ll contact this young lady’s Mom and Dad.Maybe they can start a winter garden 60’x140′ or just come and pick the fruit when it’s ready.I can only eat so much and it’s going to go to waste. How can we learn from her? Doing! Even I as desitite will be doing some thing. How about you? Roman Prince"

Yesterday I went to his house in Cross to pick those pears with my friends, dad & mom. His tree is loaded! We picked 223.6 pounds of pears and that is just the beginning (check back for the total number harvest from just one tree). There are still so many pears to harvest. As I promised I brought some food from my food drive & Mr. Prince is helping to get that food to his neighbors in Cross that do not have enough to eat. Thank you Mr. Prince, for giving. Thank you Mr. Prince for helping. Thank you Mr. Prince, together we can make a huge difference!

 

 

Katie’s Krops Wish List

Katie’s Krops gardens grow with a lot of love, help from volunteers, and donations from wonderful supporters. The following is Katie’s wish list for Katie’s Krops. We are grateful for your support.

A sponsor for our 2021 Seeds of Change program. Sponsorship would include all postage for seeds to be mailed to families across the country and packaging. Sponsorship $600

Giftcards to Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, or Tractor Supply to supply our gardens.

To-Go Boxes for our Katie’s Krops Dinners. We prefer to use environmentally friendly boxes.

Lumber to build new raised garden beds.

12 Garden Pruners

To support our Katie’s Krops Dinners: stuffing mix, cooking oil blend, cranberry sauce, canned corn, pepper, salt, cornbread mix.

For our Katie’s Krops Dinners: Lemonade Mix, Olive Oil, and a sponsor to provide milk for our young guests.

Grocery Store Giftcards to help with our Katie’s Krops Dinners

Thank you for helping us grow! We couldn’t do it without you!