Soup Bowls Project Supports the School Gardens

In the early weeks of August, I brought a 50 pound box of clay to the market. I asked kids and vendors, and other visitors to build a clay bowl as part of our Soup Bowls Project. Together we built about 60 bowls. Most of them are with the local potter Beth Gargano for firing. Next we'll glaze them and get them fired once again. Beth has donated the clay and the glaze. We'll pay her for her costs of firing. THANK YOU BETH! What a great gift she's given us!

The bowls project is a fundraiser for the school gardens that we have built and are planning to build in the fall. The original idea was to serve soup out of the bowls, but we fine-tuned the idea so that it'll work better, I think. We had this great brainstorming session at the board meeting last week about how to share this project with our supporters. The other members suggested filling the bowls with something to take home and prepare, such as a dried bean soup mix, or a cob of popcorn, or a bag of granola, or an apple with oatmeal and brown sugar. Then tie it up with some cellophane and a ribbon, it'll look like a special treat present. It'll be a nice way to support the school garden.
SPEAKING of the school gardens, I'm meeting with some moms from Hewitt tomorrow night to flesh out a proposal for adding a garden to the Hewitt school. Very exciting. I've been reading on this subject a lot and here are the ideas for garden activities.

First Grade

* A mini-field trip introduction to the garden and a follow up journal entry about the trip. 15 minutes. (Garden Volunteers can act as “tour guide.”)

* Storytime in the garden related to growing themes. (Suggested book list is available upon request) (15 minutes)

* Seed Study activity where students sort seeds of different types of plants, identify differences, plant seeds in the garden, then experience different plants as they grow. Suggested plants: beans, pumpkins, sunflowers (30 minutes of classtime, several weeks of growing time)

* Planting fall crop of cool weather plants, such as spinach, lettuce, or beans. Students plant seeds, watch plants grow for several weeks, and then eat the produce. (15 minutes to plant seeds. Seeds should be planted in early to mid-September for crops to mature before winter.)

Second Grade

* Measuring and gathering data. Students are asked to gather data from the garden, such as the length of the garden beds, the height of each type of plant, the distance between planted seeds, the depth of seeds to be planted.

* Explore the life cycle of wheat by asking students to observe wheat berries (seeds) learn the parts of wheat, discuss how wheat is processed into bread and then plant winter wheat crop in the garden. Students watch growth of wheat and harvest wheat in the spring.

* Plant a crop of garlic in the fall, demonstrating that each clove winters over and grows into a full head of garlic in the spring. (15 minutes to discuss and plant in the garden. Students harvest garlic and take it home.)

Third Grade

* Teach diversity and biological evolution through pomology using the newly planted disease-resistant apple trees in the front of the school. Students discuss life cycle of apples, record the growth of the trees, taste several varieties of apples, and draw conclusions about the importance of biological diversity. In the spring, students choose and plant another variety of apple tree to increase the orchard.

* Explore erosion in the garden and plant a winter crop of rye, an excellent “green manure” planted in fall for soil retention and enrichment. Discuss the advantages of planting winter crops to the soil, to the nutrients in the soil, and to the air. (15 minutes of class discussion, 15 minutes of planting time. Spring follow up and harvest.)

* Introduce a poetry or art in the garden project in which students use the experience in the garden as the inspiration for a creative work.

I'm still working on ideas for the forth and fifth grade, but I'm sure I'll come up with some more after I meet tomorrow night. The idea is to engage kids about growing food, to show them that it is not a complicated process, and to prove that the food they eat is the product of a person's labor.

Tomato Canning Class Success

Hooray for Kathryn! Here's what Karen had to say about the super canning class yesterday:
The lesson started and ended on time, the
instructor was well prepared, the hand out was excellent and covered
her main points. Katy (the canning chef) was warm and engaging as well as expert in
handling all the material and fielding questions as she went along. It
all seemed effortless.


It was a great day (not hot for all that boiling water!) and the
chairs worked well in the room of 10-12 people. The photographer
arrived and was in and out in no time, so there was limited
distraction. Although the space is not glamorous, it worked well and
we all felt welcomed at Weis. It was a very successful premiere of
what I hope are many more happy classes.

As I left, I turned to a neighbor/friend and mentioned how fast the 90
minute lesson went. She said, " I would do that again any day." This
from a woman whose mother gave her a birthday gift of classes at
Adventures in Cooking (Route 23). When I mentioned the possibility of
future classes, she was very excited.