Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit...

the more you eat the more you toot!
Not only is this a funny chant, it is also quite true.  There are bacteria in our bodies that help to break down the beans we eat.  Well, as the bacteria do this they create gas which leaves our body.  We didn't eat beans today but we did use them to make mosaic pictures to take home. Our bean teepee gave us lots of beans.  Some were ready to pop in our mouths, others were already dried on the vine. 

  
Last class while learning about herbs, we happened upon a giant pickling cucumber growing in the garden.  One student thought it would be so awesome if we could pickle it.  So I found the largest jar possible and popped the cuke in along with vinegar, pickling salt, garlic, and dill.  Voila....a giant pickle!  It was really sour and everyone's face was puckered.

Puckered Faces

There was some friendly competition playing "Name the Part of the Plant We Eat" for lack of a shorter name.  Students were showed a picture of a vegetable and then buzzed in to answer what part of the plant we eat.  For instance if you have celery you are eating the stem of the plant.

The big surprise for class was cooking a pasta meal right their in the garden.  The students harvested tomatoes galore. They used a food mill to remove all the seeds and skins from the tomato fruits.  Other food harvested for the sauce was basil, parsley, thyme, onion, and garlic.  Amazing to think we grew everything we needed to make pasta sauce. 

Listening to the story Jack and the Beanstalk

Herbilicious

Herbs may sound like a fancy word that only adults use but they are something everyone can benefit from.  Herbs are any plant that can be used as a spice, medicine, or perfume.  This class was designed to use herbs in all three ways.  The first way we used herbs was by making oatmeal and lavender bath tea for a soothing soak.  We used lavender flowers and its oil for a pleasing aroma.

To use an herb as a spice we took basil leaves and skewered them onto a stick with our cherry tomatoes growing in the garden and a piece of fresh mozzarella.  It is called a Caprese salad.  Caprese is an Italian word and the red, green, and white colors of the ingredients are the colors in the Italian flag.  Hey, that is pretty cool!  We had purple basil and orange tomatoes. I wonder which country's flag are those colors?

We took a walk around the garden to find our third way to use an herb...as a medicine. Growing in the ground like a weed is a plant called Plantain.  When the leaves are chewed up and then applied to a bee sting, it is suppose to help draw the stinger out as well as ease the pain.  Not too bad for what most people call a weed.

As a result of the kids taking me up on the challenge of eating a rainbow for a week, they were rewarded with a super fun rainbow marker. 

Colors of the Garden

Every color of the rainbow you can find in the garden.  No really!  Red from tomatoes, Orange from carrots, Yellow from corn, Green from lettuce, Blue from blueberries, and Purple from beans.  The garden is a pretty colorful place.  We made rainbow salads this time in class and every color was present. 

Now, the goal is to try to eat a rainbow everyday or at least most days.  Everyone took home a chart to map their progress toward the goal.  There will be a prize for those that fill out the chart!

We shelled a bunch of peas to plant next year and played Human Camera, capturing beautiful snapshots of the garden with our partners. 

Creepy Carrots was the title of the book this week.  Luckily no one got too creeped out although I was able to make volunteer Malia jump pretty good.  At the end of class we acted out commercials to encourage people to eat their veggies.  "Red, red, it's in my head," some of the jingles really stuck. 

We've Got The Beet

We've definitely got the beet...with about a 5" diameter.  We pulled up all sorts of beets during class, long ones, red ones, gold ones, and round ones.  Some were washed and sliced for fresh eating. Others were sent home for the veggie kids to share with their families.  Still others were juiced to make a paint.  We drew pictures and then filled them in with beet paint.

Our potatoes growing in grocery bags were ready for harvest.  So we turned them over to find all the gems inside. Who knew it could be that easy. 

After finding the potatoes we used one to play a nice game of hot potato. Did you know that potatoes originate from Peru and there were hundreds of varieties.  We see about four varieties in the store.  We grew a variety called Rose Gold that you don't typically find at your grocery store.  They are super creamy!  On a giant map, we charted which countries grew the most potatoes.  Spoiler...it's China.  After our potato geography lesson we had time to explore the trails behind the Y.  It was a beautiful day in the garden.  So much to eat and do.

                                                                                  Come and Explore

Peas Pretty Please

Pickin Peas, and I landed on my knees.  Gonna eat all I want cause you can't catch me.  So says the pesky rabbit from the book titled, Pickin Peas, a folktale retold by Margaret Read MacDonald.  Luckily we haven't had any rabbits trying to get our peas. We did all the picking of the peas and then used them to make an Orange and Honey Pea Salad. Delicious!

After we finished our salad, the food scraps were placed in the compost pile which just so happened to be the other topic of class.  So much of our garbage can be composted instead of ending up in the landfill.  Fruit and veggie scraps, paper bags, newspaper, grass clippings, tea bags, coffee grounds and filters, and even hair can all be thrown in the compost pile.  Billions of microbes (worms too) breakdown the materials into a rich additive for soil.  Although we could not see the workhorses of the compost pile, the microbes, we did dig in to spot all the other critters that make it their home.  We turned the search into a game of Compost Bingo. 

Garden Anywhere

When you think of a garden do you see a flat field with rows of veggies?  Gardens can come in all shapes and sizes.  You can have one in your backyard where grass use to grow.  You could have one on your balcony of your apartment, you could even have one right in the middle of the city.  That is where Will Allen put his garden but he called it the Growing Table.  He had a dream and put it into action and now spreads the joy of growing fresh food with others.  At our garden, we are working on a Rain Gutter Garden that grows food even if all you have is concrete under your feet.  Not only that, but it waters itself too.  The system uses capillary action to draw water up, defeating gravity to water the plants in the buckets above.  The garden kids made mini versions of this system with 2L pop bottles. 

The garden is definitely in full spring or should we say summer.  We made a big salad out of the lettuce, spinach, and broccoli in the garden.  We washed and dried it with a salad spinner which was quite the popular job.  

 Everyone tried some and most had seconds.  Isn't it great seeing everyone enjoying a fresh salad straight from the garden?

 The garden kids also played a board game called Harvest Time.  It is a cooperative game in which you must plant all your veggies before fall comes and it becomes too cold.  Let's hope we can remember that in our garden. 

                                                                                   Come and Explore

Superheroes To The Rescue

There are villains lurking in every garden.  Luckily, there are even more superheroes including you and me!

The sweet bunny, so cute and cuddly can eat up all your lettuce.  The beautiful white butterflies you see gracefully fluttering through the sky will lay their eggs on your broccoli and cabbage plants and when they hatch will feed on the leaves.  The mice that scurry around at dusk will hoard some of the harvest for themselves.  These animals all have a place in the World, we just try to keep these villains out of the garden.  We can do this by encouraging other animals into the garden for a meal.  Animals like frogs, beetles, and birds. 

 Slugs just may be the biggest (or smallest) villain of all in the garden.  Slugs love the baby plants and will come out each night to grab a snack.  We tested different ways to deter slugs from eating our plants.  Copper pennies (pre-1984), eggshells, and copper tape were used in our experiment.  I don't think the pennies worked so well...

Copper is suppose to give the slugs a slight electric shock probably similar to when you slide down a plastic slide in summer.  This slug didn't seem to mind at all.  The eggshells are suppose to deter slugs by poking the slugs gelatinous body.  The slugs climbed in between the broken shells.  Maybe we could just be buddies like in the story we read My Buddy Slug.  The garden is really growing and lots of lettuce and spinach are ready for harvest!! 

                                                                                       Come and Explore

Hot Plants

It is that time of year, time to get all those heat loving plants into the ground.  Plants like Tomatoes, Peppers, Basil, Corn, Squash, and Beans all like it nice and hot. We added them all to our garden!

We read a silly story called Sam and Dave Dig a Hole. We were on the edge of our seats as Sam and Dave kept digging trying to find something spectacular and it was always just out of reach.  They sure did a lot of digging.  Exit Sam and Dave, enter Lily, Sadie, Kai, and Owen.  They dug a hole, a hole for our bean fort. 

As we were digging we found something spectacular and a little disgusting...cutworms!!!  We gathered them all up and magnified them to get a better look.  They were then relocated.

                                                                                    Come and Explore

Seeing Seeds

The gnomes must have done a fine watchful job because our seeds have sprouted and are beginning their upward journey.  Seeds just need some warmth and some water and they will start growing pretty much anywhere.  Even on a necklace like the ones we made in class today.

We observed two tiny leaves and a root inside of a bean seed.  Pretty cool!  Something to think about next time you are eating chili.  Will a bean plant grow in your stomach?

Kids got their hands dirty planting an herb garden in an old car tire. Planting seeds from row to row, come and see our garden grow.
                                                           Remember, the garden is always there to explore!

Dirt Don't Hurt

The sun was shining, the air was warm, and the soil was just asking to be planted.  Speaking of soil, we sure learned a lot about it and how water moves through it.  As the size of rock particles gets smaller, the spaces between them get smaller and water moves much slower through the soil.  Clay is the term for the smallest size rock particles in soil.  Soil with a lot of clay in it stays wet much longer than sand which is bigger in size. We played a really raucous game pretending to be clay, silt, and sand soil.  Watch out, here comes the rain!!! 
We also put our science caps on and tested our hypothesis that water runs through sand soil much faster than clay soil.  Our results supported our hypothesis! 
Our garden is partially planted with our favorite veggies and gnomes are standing guard over them.  In our mystery box this week was a 2 year old potato.  It lent itself nicely to learning about how potatoes grow.  The secret....they grow from old potatoes. 
                                                                      Remember, the garden is always there to explore!

Welcome To Our Garden

Exploring and Growing Veggies

Growing a garden isn't just about popping seeds in the ground and watering.  It is much more than that.  It is a journey of learning and exploring.  Along the way, we will build, craft, sing, read stories, experiment, taste, cook, and play games.  Watch as our garden grows from bare soil to a forest of vegetables through this series of classes.  Let's get our hands dirty and have some fun!

Classes run every other Thursday from 4:15-5:45 during the school year and 10:00-11:30 in the Summer.  We meet behind the YMCA in the garden.  Please have children use the restroom prior to class.  Dress for a mess!

4:15-5:45	10:00-11:30
April 16- Dirt Don't Hurt	July 9- Color Me Orange
April 30- Seeing Seeds	July 23- We've Got the Beet
May 14- Garden Superheroes and Villains	August 6- Herbiliscious
May 28- Hot Plants	August 20- Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit
June 11- Garden Anywhere	September 3- One Potato, Two Potato
June 25- Peas Pretty Please	September 10- Garden Party