For 7-year-old Kamryn Smith, there is nothing quite like getting out into nature and digging in the dirt.

“I love putting my feet in the mud,” said the Cassopolis girl while standing at the Niles Community Garden at Northside School in Niles Friday with her mother, Melissa Freer-Smith. “I like trying new things and I like being outside.”

Kamryn is one of a handful of kids enrolled in the Niles District Library’s junior garden club, which meets at 1 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month in the children’s department or at a local garden.

Library Youth Service Assistant Ann McOmber is hoping more people, like Smith, can benefit from the free program.

There are only six members currently participating, she said, down from 15 about a year ago.

“It is always a fun learning experience,” McOmber said. “All the kids enjoy it, but for some reason we are having a hard time getting people to join.”

During the summer/spring months, the club travels to the Niles Community Garden location at Northside School, while in the fall/winter it meets at the library.

Monthly activities include crafting an item to take home and learning about a new gardening topic.

In recent months, participants have done everything from raising a sunflower from a seedling to learning how to arrange flowers.

They even helped plant, maintain and harvest a “pizza garden” at Northside shaped like a pizza and containing items found on pizza, such as basil, parsley, peppers, onions and tomatoes.

McOmber said she got the idea from the social media website Pinterist.

“I get a lot of ideas from there,” she said.

Although 18-year-old Abby Middleton is too old to be in the club — it is for kids ages six to 12 — she participates as a volunteer.

Middleton said she learned that planting marigolds around a garden could help keep out rabbits and how to pick produce when it is ripe.

“It is a good thing to know. Otherwise you will be eating nasty tomatoes,” said Middleton, a 2014 Niles High graduate who will be attending Spring Arbor University in the fall.

To attract new members, the library is offering a free garden club T-shirt to those who sign up soon. To do so, stop by the library or call the youth services department at (269) 683-8545.

Smith’s mother said she is glad her daughter is in the program.

“It is nice to find a fun opportunity like this for her to get out and meet other kids,” Melissa said.

Niles Community Gardens allows the club to use the Northside garden free of charge.

 

Junior Garden Club

Schedule

Sept. 13 — Drying Flowers

Oct. 11 — Pumpkins

Nov. 8 — Salad Garden in a Container

Dec. 13 — Evergreen Swags

Jan. 10 — Squirrel Treats

Feb. 14 — Make Your Own Pet Rock

March 14 — Carniverous Plants

April 11 — Pests in the Garden

May 9 — Broccoli