October 27, 2026
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The last meeting of 2026 for the Ripley Horticultural Society's "For Our Youth" Club was held Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Ripley-Huron Community Centre, where the group rented the kitchen for a few hours of cooking fun!
Leader Kim Lowry took Roll Call by asking the members what their favourite jam and muffin flavours were, since - spoiler alert - we were going to be baking muffins and making jam! Chocolate muffins were definitely a favourite, and strawberry jam was the most popular answer. This was a happy coincidence since that’s the flavour leader Rhonda Curran had chosen to make.
Rhonda reviewed the day’s agenda: baking, preserving, outdoor games and an overview of everything the club did together this year, plus announcing the Star Gardener. The club split into groups and headed to the spacious kitchen to begin making applesauce oatmeal muffins.
It's always a joy to see the junior leaders helping the group stay organized and participate equally. Brynn, Brie and Joslynn made sure the kids washed their hands, tied on their aprons and took turns measuring and mixing all the ingredients.
Baking as a group teaches important skills to the younger members, especially the hardest thing of all - being patient! Everyone did a great job levelling flour and baking powder and measuring trickier ingredients, such as oil and applesauce. Darcy kindly volunteered to rinse and wash the many bowls and utensils to allow other members to keep making muffins, and Brynn bravely took over the bulk of dish duty afterwards.
Once the sticky apple oatmeal batter was equally divided (mostly) into muffin tins and Kim popped them in the oven, the kids went into the social room where Rhonda had different jam-making stations set up. She explained the difference between freezer jam and shelf-stable jam, such as the fact that you don't have to water-bath the jars afterward and can store the finished product in the fridge or freezer. It was going to be a great experiment for first-time jam makers.
Station 1 was the prepping table. The members trimmed the green tops off the fresh strawberries, then measured and crushed them. Proceeding to Station 2, they measured and added sugar and pectin. Everything had to be given a very good stir so that the sugar could be absorbed properly.
Since it was a beautiful day, the kids went outside for a game of Cross-Country Canada with their junior leaders while the jam sat for the requisite 10 minutes. Rhonda called smaller groups inside, in turns, to Station 3 to cook the jam. There were lots of rosy cheeks as each group came in from outside to take a turn at the stove.
Cooking activates the pectin so the jam gels properly. The Ripley kitchen uses a gas stove with an open flame, so the leaders made sure everyone followed safety rules when stirring the hot jam.
The final station gave the kids a chance to fill their own jar with delicious, freshly-made jam using a funnel and ladle. It smelled heavenly! Once the jars were filled and set aside to cool, volunteers put out chairs in a circle for snack time.
The kids were eager to try the muffins they had been smelling for the past hour. As they snacked on warm muffins, fruit leather and teeny tiny tomatoes, called “Sprinkles,” that Rhonda brought, Kim polled the kids to take note of what their favourite activities were over the past year.
Making pizza at the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens in Ripley was definitely popular, as well as the snake information talk with garden manager Olivia. As a group, it was agreed to continue to maintain the garden plot at the food gardens. Next year, the kids might think about planting only specific veggies geared at a recipe, such as salsa, as some of the kids remembered how much they enjoyed making salsa in 2025. They also agreed that frog-hunting at the McLarty Education Centre definitely still needed a place on next year’s agenda.
Congratulations to this year’s Star Gardener, Dylan, who had the most visits to the garden plot and won a $10 gift certificate to Dollarama. Darcy was a close runner-up. The leaders appreciate all the kids and their guardians who made time to visit the garden over the season. Kim and Rhonda will look after putting it to sleep for the winter. They also gave a round of applause to the junior leaders for all their help with meetings over the year.
Everyone went home with a muffin, a jar of jam and something from the treasure box. Rhonda saved seeds from the Sprinkles tomatoes for anyone who wanted to take them home and dry them to try and grow in the spring. She will save a few for the garden as well.
Keep your eye on your E-mail in January for information about registration, the new schedule and the first meeting of 2027. From all the club members and leaders, thank you for encouraging your children to participate. Have a wonderful winter and we’ll see you in the new year!
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