Nature Friends LC

Today's monthly park cleanup marked an exciting milestone as we celebrated our commitment to showing up every single month to care for one of our city's parks. It is amazing what a dedicated community can accomplish together!

A huge congratulations to the Grant Family, who took home our grand prize for being the most consistent volunteers throughout the year. Your dedication and service inspire us all!

We also added a little friendly competition with our "Who Can Collect the Most Trash?" challenge. Congratulations to Aspen, who collected the most litter and earned the title of cleanup champion! She took home a huge pack of reusable and earth-friendly water balloons🎈

The celebration didn't stop there. We also celebrated Director Hibah's birthday, along with a few of our wonderful members celebrating birthdays this month. And celebrated our dear Conservation Crew Coordinator, Ms. Mindy!

To thank everyone for their hard work, we enjoyed burritos, donuts, popsicles, cupcakes and coffee for our amazing parents who make these community days possible.

🍑 This morning's adventure took us to the orchard, where our families enjoyed a beautiful morning picking a half peck of fresh peaches, courtesy of Nature Friends.

As everyone wandered through the rows of trees, they searched for the juiciest Coralstar and Red Globe peaches to take home. The excitement didn't stop there. Ms. Felicia hosted a fun "Pick the Biggest Peach" contest, complete with peach-themed prizes that had everyone comparing their biggest finds!

We can't wait to see all the delicious peach recipes our families create!

🍅🌼 Closing the Circle, One Garden at a Time! 🌱♻️

Nature Friends had an incredible opportunity to collaborate with the City of Las Cruces Solid Waste Department City of Las Cruces and Manger Mr. Philip Glasson to learn about an exciting new step in our community's sustainability efforts.

For years, the city has turned yard waste into compost. Now they're expanding those efforts by transforming food waste into nutrient-rich compost that will be available FREE to Las Cruces residents.

Our Nature Friends kids were honored to be THE VERY FIRST RESIDENTS to put this new compost to use, planting beautiful flowers while learning how everyday kitchen scraps can become a valuable resource instead of ending up in a landfill.

This is what a circular system looks like: 🍎 Kitchen waste become compost. 🌱 Compost grows healthy plants. 🍅 Those plants produce more food for our families, like tomatoes, squash, and so much more. Then the cycle begins again ♻️

By working with nature instead of against it, we're helping reduce waste, improve our soil, and grow a healthier, more sustainable community for future generations.

🌽🎉 What an incredible way to wrap up our Desert to Dish Corn Series!

Our Corn Recipe Showdown was bursting with creativity and amazing flavors! Our young chefs put their cooking skills to the test, preparing delicious corn-inspired recipes to share with their peers, families, and judges.

The menu was packed with delicious creations, including creamy corn chowder, crispy corn fritters, Mexican street corn salad, sweet cinnamon corn tortillas, and so much more! Every recipe reflected the knowledge, confidence, and skills our kids have built throughout this series.

We are so proud of each participant for stepping into the kitchen, trying new things, and sharing their creations with our Nature Friends community. Thanks to our sponsors, everyone walked away with a ribbon, prize and copy of our recipe book.

Send us a DM if you'd like a copy of our kids' corn recipe book!