GEF Spotlight School

A few months back I submitted our garden to the Green Education Foundation "Green In Action" Award. While we didn't win, we are listed as one of their Spotlight Schools, which is still pretty cool.  Here's the link to our submission.  You can see the other Spotlight Schools in the column at the right.  It looks like we're in great company.

A Successful Party

I am a complete dope.  I remembered the camera.  I just forgot to take pictures.  Ah well, I did get a few early Saturday morning when I went to set up the canopy.

I'm still full thinking about all the great food: beef, chicken and mu shu lettuce wraps, tapenade, pesto, mango salsa, fruit, quiches and too much more to mention without running on and on.   I'll just say, I wasn't even tempted to cook any dinner on Saturday night.  I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

Anyway, great food, great company, great weather.  I couldn't have asked for a better day.  Thanks so much to all my friends, colleagues, students and families for coming out to enjoy the garden on a beautiful day.  We'll have to do this again soon.

I do have everyone's plates, bowls, containers, etc. so come by my classroom to claim stuff.  (Phil and Deirdre, I'll drop your stuff over at your place next week.  Don't worry I'll call first.)

We've only got one more Garden Club meeting left this school year.  I've got two activities lined up.  Guess what they are. . .  alright I'll give you a couple of hints.  1)  There's no rain in the forecast for this week.  2)  If we don't do our second activity, I would have to come to school everyday to get caught up.

It's been a great year out in our little gardens.  I'm really impressed with all of the work that we've managed to get done.  Keep your eyes on this blog to find out what's happening over the summer.  I'll post what's ready to be picked for those of you who want to take anything home.  What isn't taken will happily be accepted by the Food Bank.  Everyone wins!

So. . . lettuce is ready!  If anyone wants some romaine, green-leaf or red-leaf lettuce, let me know.  We have some chard and kale ready, as well.

Don't Forget - Party This Saturday!

Saturday, May 28th, 2011


Potluck Picnic and Garden Party


1:00-4:00 pm


The kids have worked really hard this year.  Come on out and celebrate!  Bring a dish to share and we'll sit down to eat together, enjoy the spring weather and check out all of the progress the kids have made in the vegetable garden. While you're here, you can also see the new flower bed on which we've worked so hard.  Also, if you time it right you can meet Mr. V (who I will forever refer to as "Job" for his patience) and our guardian angel/farmers Phil and Deirdre Armstrong.

Just Back From Harvest Thyme Herbs

Wow!  What a fantastic afternoon!  We got off right on time and were only a little wild on the bus, mainly because we were all so excited about our trip.  Mr. Phil and Ms. Deirdre had us working right away, digging compost and clearing out some irises (although, I'm not sure they realized how quickly and thoroughly we can clear stuff).  Then they showed us their kiwi vines and fig trees.  We learned how to make compost tea and learned that, no, you probably shouldn't drink it.  Plants do, though.  Afterwards, the Armstrongs gifted us with a new compost tea system and showed us how to set it up.  It's going to be great to be able to make this at school and give our garden beds a great natural fertilizer.  I really can't thank them enough for all that they've done for us.

We watered and fertilized the kiwis and an iris bed with the compost tea before we sat down for our snacks - fresh mint tea to drink with veggies and dip and then the most amazing chocolate brownie kind of thing that Mr. V made.  I was absolutely blown away by how quickly and happily the kids cleaned out all the veggies (peppers, carrots, celery and mushrooms).  I guess all my talk about healthy snacks is maybe paying off just a little bit.

Anyway, I'm totally beat and have lost my voice so I need to cut this short and get some sleep.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and close by again saying thank you to Phil and Deirdre Armstrong for inviting us to visit and helping us so much.  Also, a big thank you to Mr. V and his family and Lori Ann Stoddart for coming with us and keeping us all on track.

Oh, one more thing,  CHECK FOR TICKS!

We're ready to go.

Max is excited.

Checking out the irises.

Digging in the compost pile.

Ms. Deirdre showing us the kiwis.

Kiwis

Learning how to make compost tea.  Come to find out, it's not good to drink.

Straining the tea.

Putting compost tea in the sprayer.

Stirring and straining.

I think these two were born in the wrong decade.

Feeding the irises and kiwis.

Straining some more tea.

More fertilizing.

One should never underestimate the drawing power of something that's vaguely "icky".

Starting from scratch.  Half a bucket of compost and 1 ounce of molasses.

Add water to about three inches from the top, stirring the whole time.

Needs more water.  After all the water is added it needs to sit and aerate for three days.

After all the hard work of making compost tea and running wild,
mint tea and fresh veggies and dip were most welcome. 

Blake can't get enough of either tea.

After all the running around Kelsea needed a pole to hold herself up.

"It's gooooooood!"

I never even considered that kids would like mushrooms.
These guys love them.

Checking out the cherry tree.

Finishing up for the afternoon by running around in the meadow.
Oh, everybody should check for ticks.

The Big Day Is Here

Mr. V helps plant some of the flowers Phil and Deirdre
brought.  The Armstrongs have been over to help us twice.
We always have fun with them.

We're all very excited to head over to Staunton after school today to visit with Phil and Deirdre Armstrong of Harvest Thyme Herbs.

Phil and Deirdre have some great plans for us, showing us how to brew compost tea and showing off their fantastic gardens.  I went out and visited them last week and I know it's going to be great.

Look for pictures and stories this evening or tomorrow right here on this very blog.

Brewing compost tea for the gardens.

I need to say a big thank you to Ms. Jones, our most excellent principal, for helping to arrange for the bus.

A Brief History of School Gardens

Over at Kitchen Gardeners, Rose Hayden-Smith wrote a nice history of school gardens.  School gardens may seem like a relatively new thing to many of us, but they've existed in Europe and the United States for nearly 200 years.  In 1906 the United States Department of Agriculture estimated that there were more than 75,000 school gardens in our country.

Cale Spring Garden Party

Saturday, May 28th, 2011


Potluck Picnic and Garden Party


1:00-4:00 pm


Bring a dish to share and we'll sit down to eat together, enjoy the spring weather and check out all of the progress the kids have made in the vegetable garden. While you're here, you can also see the new flower bed on which we've worked so hard.

Spring Is Just So. . . So. . . Great!

The weather's warming up.  No more coats.  We don't get frost burns when we water plants.  It's all really good.

Watering is fun.  Brian was soaked before we were done.
He mostly did it himself.

We had yet another great afternoon in the garden watering, planting beets and weeding.  It looks as if the vegetable garden is full. . . for now.  Once the lettuces bolts (when it gets hot) we can plant some more stuff in their place.  Speaking of lettuce, Mr. V and I were talking about making next weeks snack from the garden.  I'm intrigued and can't wait to see what he comes up with.

Up in the flower bed, we had half the crew putting in a few perennial herbs, rosemary, thyme, oregano and sage.  The rosemary was a gift from Ms. Graff's class and the others came from the Burnsed family.  Thank you all so very much.  It's really great to see more people taking up an interest.

Speaking of the thanks, the Cantu family has given a wonderful gift certificate to Snow's.  It will be put to good use very soon.  Thank you very much.

Don't forget our field trip to Mr. Phil and Ms. Deirdre's farm is in two weeks so permission slips need to be turned in as soon as possible.  I have them for most of you all, but I'm still waiting for just a few more.

Oh, one last thing.  For the couple of people that always ask, . . . strawberry short cake.  Thanks, Mr. V!

Daggone weeds.

Weeding and watering. 

There will be no soaking of grown-ups. . . this time!  

Adaire watering the salad greens.

We watered a lot, actually.

We can grow some lettuce. . .and kale. . .
 chard. . . a few collards. . . 

"Hey Beamer, whatcha thinkin' about?"
"Snack "

Resting up for snack after a lot of hard work. . . er, I mean, fun.

Work On The Flower Bed Continues

I don't know if you all have had a chance to check out the recent work we've done on the flower bed by the basket ball court.  If you haven't, it's well worth the short walk.  All of our recent rain has really helped the new plants plants adapt well to their new surroundings.

It's interesting to me to watch how the kids play around the new plants at recess.  They play hard on the court and often have to chase balls through the garden and out onto the field.  They make these spectacular, gravity-defying leaps over the plants and are very careful to avoid causing any damage.  Despite the loss of a couple of our stepping stones and our bird bath to some local juvenile delinquents (nothing to really worry about since they left their sledge hammer behind. . . teenagers, ugh), the kids treat the garden with care and respect.  They're an amazing bunch.

Here is a link to what Phil and Deirdre Armstrong had to say about their last visit with us a couple weeks back when we put most of the plants in the ground.  We always have a great time when they come visit.  I just can't thank them enough.  Judging from how quickly I've gotten the permission slips back, we're ALL very excited about going to visit their farm on May 24th!

I hate to do it, but. . .

I need to cancel our Garden Club meeting for tomorrow.  There's a good chance of rain, a good thing, and I have to meet a repairman at 3:00 at home, a bad thing.

We'll rock the dirt next week.