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Child Gardeners Hold Annual Fair At Garden:From LittleBY LIZ KOCHWith the children%u2019s garden still blooming profusely in the background, youngsters who took part in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden%u2019s program for children this year, pushed their farming skills one step further Saturday, putting on a Children%u2019s Garden Harvest and Crafts fair. All the trappings of a country harvest fair were on display, but instead of sun-bumed weathered farmers hawking their produce, 13-year-olds exhibited their bumper squash and helped adults created dried flower arrangements.%u201c I like working at this booth,%u201d says Justanna Birzin confidently, %u201c because everyone wants to try and put the flowers together, but you%u2019re the only person that can show them how to do it.%u201dThe persistent presence of the young teenagers managing their harvest fair, created a mixture of youthful exuberance and matter-of-fact, self-assured adultness. Teenage boys patiently helped five and sixyear olds with their block printing at one booth and at another coached poor throwing arms over at the cherry tomatoes throw. A bucket of cherry tomatoes was quickly depleted by enthusiasts who attempted to throw the petite vegetables through a clown%u2019s mouth. Those adept at aiming were rewarded by their choice of a wheel-barrel full of squash, and more than one mother bemoaned the thought that the family would be eating squash for dinner indefinitely if their five year-olds didn%u2019t start missing more often.For many of the youngsters working behind the booths this day, their connection to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is one that has been nurtured over the years. They are all veterans of the Garden program, some had even graduated to being junior instructors, and all spoke devotedly of their plot of land in the Children%u2019s Garden which received their attention all summer long.%u201c I like the gardening more than the classes because I already know most of the things they are teaching,%u201d 15-year-old Birzin says. Now in her third year with the program, Birzin finds two rewards in the program. One is associated with her favorite moment, which she says, comes when her work in the garden is finished: %u201c When you%u2019ve done your work and you see that you%u2019re all finished, then you know your garden is perfect and you sit down,%u201d she explains, but adds as an afterthought, %u201c but then sometimes the instructor comes and tells you you forgot something.%u201dHer younger brother, also enrolled in the program, comes over to show Justanna a bracelet-shaped squash. She rolls her eyes in response and says: %u201c My mother thinks it%u2019s very good that we%u2019re in the program because now my brother and I are getting along a little better,%u201d she says. %u201c It%u2019s a little better because now we talk about ... vegetables,%u201d she says in a sudden burst of laughter and more rolling of the eyes.As Justanna talks she continues to cut dried flowers and twist small bouquets of lavender, sporadically instructing passersby on how to design their flower arrangements. %u201c It%u2019s a little hectic,%u201d she says of her work at the booth, %u201c but I don%u2019t mind it.%u201dDeirdre Love, a 13-year old engaged in selling fresh cut flowers, has also stacked up several years of work at the Children%u2019s Garden. Her plot of land at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is only one aspect of her gardening. Now that she has developed her horticulture skills, she says she puts them to use at home too where she tends a flower garden that she says she %u201c fixed up real nice.%u201d%u201c Working here in the summer is good because you keep learning even though you%u2019re not in school,%u201d she says very practically. 'The fair, she says, is a good fundraiser and provides the opportunity for the young gardeners to meet otner people and to share their gardening knowledge. Again this year, the youngsters attended the Harvest Fair at Floyd Bennett Field in August where many of them won prizes forSprouts Do Giant Zucchinis Growthe vegetables they produced in their Brooklyn Botanic Garden plots.The garden program, which stretches from April, when the youngsters plant their crops, until harvest time. The young gardeners spend two hours every Tuesday and Friday weeding their gardens, attending classes on horticulture and crafts and mingling with their fellow city farmers. %u201c You meet lots of people and make a lot of friends,%u201d Deirdre says.For some, the program acts as a springboard for developing an interest that perhaps might never surface otherwise in an urban environment. Benjamin Leswold, 16, started in the program when he was only nine and now he muses that he may go down south and visit his relatives who live on a farm. Standing behind the herb standon Saturday, surrounded by pungent bunches of hanging chives, basil and sage, he says the gardening program sparked his interest in horticulture in a scientific way. As a student at Stuyvesant High, he says he has now become interested in botany. %u201c The vegetables. The gardening,%u201d he replies succinctly when asked about his motivation for participating in the program.Similarly, Gwendolyn Leathers, who started as an eight-year old in the program seven years ago, now works as a junior instructor in the program. It%u2019s a responsibility which she finds very enjoyable and an educational extension of the skills she developed in the program. %u201c Now I help teach the kids how to weed and cultivate and raise the beds,%u201d she says.The Children%u2019s Harvest Fair SaturdayC h ild re n fro m all o v e r th e b o ro u g h c o n %u00adve rg e d o n th e B ro o k ly n B o ta n ic G a rd e n to s h o w o ff w h a t th e y %u2019ve d o n e o n th e ir s u m %u00adm e r v a c a tio n s . In a d d itio n to th e m an y h o m e -g ro w n v e g e ta b le s th a t w e re o n sale, s o m e o f th e k id s h e lp e d o u t at c ra fts b o o th s , te a c h in g a d u lts th e fin e r p o in ts o f flo w e r a rra n g in g an d s e llin g ite m s . (P h o e n ix /K o c h P h o to s )was an overall youthful effort, even though strollers at the fair ranged in age from small babies to elderly grandmothers. Money changed hands quickly and competently as the young gardeners sold their wares and some booths sold out their wares early in the day. The dried flowers quickly vanished, and Justanna said a bit regretfully, %u201c you always hope they%u2019ll last through the winter.%u201dBut even though the season was coming to an end, as symbolized by the fair, the young gardeners had no doubt they would be back next vear and once again next fall be standing in the warm sun for another Harvest Fair to pass along with pride the fruits of yet another summer%u2019s labor.For information on the Children%u2019s Garden, call 632-4433.S eptem ber 18,1986, THE PHOENIX, Page 13