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.