May 29, 2008
Out in the raised beds the radishes are flourishing in the chilly weather and the lettuce is up as well. Fortunately, we hadn't planted anything too tender when the temperatures dropped below freezing this week. You take your chances this time of year. Next week should be safe to plant the eggplants, tomatoes and other heat loving plants.
This week lower elementary students weeded the theme gardens where we will be putting in a tea, dye and pizza garden. They also planted the kohlrabi and kale.
There are still plenty of plants in the greenhouse. Please come shop and take home a free giant cabbage with every purchase.
May 22, 2008
The upper elementary students planted potatoes this week. We put a good layer of compost on three beds and planted three different potatoes: banana fingerlings, reds and blues. We also have the rest of the production gardens (out by the rose garden) prepped and ready to go as soon as the weather cooperates!
The radishes are up as well as some of the lettuce in the raised beds. Hopefully, we'll get the tomatoes, eggplants and melons in before the end of the school year.
Please check out the plant sale!! We have lots of plants left and the greenhouse is open the same hours as the front desk, so go shop out of the wind and rain and then simply give your total to the person at the front desk. The plants are really gorgeous this year and this is a great way to add some unusual veggies to your garden. I'm looking forward to growing a 'Silvery Fir' tomato and some of the Hopi Red Amaranth -- this plant was used by the Hopi Indians to dye their cornbread for ceremonies. The 'Tuscan' kale is also supposed to be quite ornamental as well as delicious. We are also growing 'pumpkins-on-stick,' a cool ornamental that has little orange fruits that you dry.
There's a catalog on the table as you walk in where you will find all of the descriptions of the plants as well as the prices, a calculator, and flats and bags. We also have signs with a brief description with most of the plants as well. Please feel free to email your plant questions to me at cymbre@traversechildrenshouse.org.
May 15, 2008
We have been busy getting ready for the plant sale which is ongoing until the end of the month. Please come in the greenhouse and see all of the plants growing in the greenhouse -- all 189 flats of them!
There are 8 different heirloom tomatoes (which absolutely perfect right now), two kinds of kohlrabi, chard and eggplants, pimentos, thyme, sage, chamomile, amaranth, parsley, zinnias, marigolds, coreopsis, indigo, dill, four different pumpkins, melons, zucchini, cucumbers and much more.
The upper elementary students certainly practiced their handwriting this week, labeling hundreds of plants. In the process they learned what many of the plants look like as well. Marcia's art students also helped the sale effort by painting beautiful plant sale signs.
If I am not in the greenhouse just take your plants up to the front desk to pay or you may also charge them to your account.
May 8, 2008
The seedlings have all been transplanted and there are now more than 150 flats of tomatoes, herbs and flowers taking up nearly every available surface. This week upper elementary students helped tidy up the greenhouse and planted radishes, beets and lettuces out in the raised beds. The rainy weather and warm temperatures are perfect and the seedlings should be up next week.
The lower elementary helped me to tag the plants this week and learned that it's very difficult to tell one kind of tomato from another and so the necessity of having all the plants identified. They also swept and watered and next week.
Next week we'll be making the final preparations for the sale which kicks off on Wednesday and will be held in the greenhouse this year. The prices for most plants are either the same or a little lower ($1.25 for 3-packs, $13 for a flat and 3.5 inch pots are 50 cents cheaper this year at $3). The greenhouse will be open so feel free to shop when you have time. We'll have plants available until the end of the month (unless we sell out!).
May 1, 2008
We wrapped up the lettuce sale by harvesting the rest of the lettuce last week and sold it to The Leelanau School in Glen Arbor. We nearly filled a kitchen garbage bag with the six pounds of lettuce that the students cut and washed. All told we grew and sold more than 10 pounds of lettuce. Thanks to everyone who purchased a bag(s) of greens.
The planting continues in the greenhouse and to date there are more than 150 flats of veggies, herbs and flowers out there. There's still more transplanting to do but we should be ready for the plant sale beginning May 15.
This week we also weeded, hauled compost to and worked up the raised beds outside Patty's room. We also began weeding the production beds out by the rose garden. We should be planting seeds next week in the raised beds and we'll be putting a variety of potatoes out in the production garden. Spring has sprung!
April 24, 2008
The greenhouse is rapidly filling with seedlings! This week Della Terra students in the lower elementary classes were busy harvesting lettuce, filling flats with soil and transplanting seedlings. Our next task is preparing the outdoor beds -- the lettuce, radishes, potatoes and more are waiting to go in.
Your elementary student should have received a cabbage plant and instructions. These babies will grow a 50 pound cabbage so need about 4 feet in the garden or a big pot to grow in. Cabbages will be in the greenhouse if your student didn't get one.
April 17, 2008
We just wrapped up our third lettuce and chard sale and so far have made nearly $100 -- thanks to everyone who has purchased our delicious greens so far! I think, unless we get a really warm spell, that we should have at least a couple of more sales.
We have just about finished planting seeds for the plant sale. The lower elementary planted the cucumbers, pumpkins, melons and zucchini today.
I presented the Vegetable of the Month to the primary students on Tuesday. They all tried edamame or green soybeans and most asked if they could have more than one. They were a big hit. I promised them I would tell parents that you can buy them frozen at Oleson's so they can have them at home. Ask your child what part of the plant they were eating.
April 10, 2008
We had another successful lettuce and chard sale this week. We sold out quickly again and so far we have made about $70. We'll be out there next Tuesday as well, so if you have missed the sales just let me know what you would like and we will save you a bag (or more). If you haven't tried the chard we invite you to. We include directions for preparation and a recipe with every bag. Lettuce and chard are $2 for a 2-3 oz bag. Two bags of lettuce easily fed our family of 5 with some leftover for sandwiches. You will find a great salad dressing recipe in the recipes section of the website.
I'm pleased to see that the move to eat locally is becoming more mainstream every day. The Oxford University Press has recently chosen the word "locavore" as the word of the year. It combines the Latin locus (place) and voro (eat). Are you a locavore? Even celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is on board. He has developed a program called WELL (Wolfgang's Eating, Loving and Living). He wants to eliminate processing and mass production (of plants and animals) and focus on nutrition, health and local and natural products. Go Wolfgang.
March 27, 2008
We had our first lettuce sale of the season Tuesday and sold all 17 bags. This season we have 'Barcarolle' romaine, 'Winter Density' and Mesclun mix which includes red and green leaf lettuce. We should also have some chard after spring break. We'll have one or two more sales after break as well.
We continued to plant seeds this week and the eggplants and thyme are up already. We'll be planting tomato seeds soon and at last count we had 9 different varieties from jelly bean grape to rainbow slicers.
March 20, 2008
We've started planting seeds out in the greenhouse. The upper elementary students planted eggplant, sage, thyme and "mystery" sweet peppers. We saved the pepper seeds from last fall but no one seems to remember what color they were.
The lower elementary kids will be planting kale, kohrabi, Italian parsley and dill seeds. The lettuce in the greenhouse is just about ready to cut. Hopefully, on Monday you will see a crew out there with bags of greens for sale.
March 13, 2008
This week Trish and I attended the Farm to School conference at NMC's Great Lake Campus. It was exciting to see 330 liked-minded individuals in the same room. Representatives from school districts of all sizes across the region were in attendance as well as others who traveled hundreds of miles. One man came a school in Chicago, another parent I talked to drove here from Holland to learn how to start a garden at her child's school. Attendees included food service directors and cooks, superintendents, growers, extension agents, health department representatives, parents, teachers and many more. It was encouraging to hear that Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools and Glen Lake Schools have joined the growing ranks of schools that cook lunches from scratch, and others, like Frankfort and Benzie, that are working hard to do the same. Raising healthy children is truly a community endeavor.
I presented at the afternoon Learning Garden sessions with Pam Schmidt from MSU Extension who oversees the Leelanau County Community Garden. She is also working to bring learning gardens to schools across Leelanau County. We explained what we are doing and gave attendees tips and resources for starting their own school gardens. Each of the 2 sessions was full, with more than 50 people in attendance.
December 13, 2007
- This week all of the primary classes and the elementary Della Terra groups learned about the plant of the month -- giant kohlrabi. Most of them had never tried it and almost everyone loved it and asked for seconds. Kohlrabi is in the cabbage family and tastes a little like a cucumber, smells like broccoli and is the color of a potato. Ask them which part of the plant they were eating (a swollen stem). We will definitely be growing this one in the spring. In the meantime I asked them to see if they see any kohlrabi at Meijer's, it will probably be more the size of a tennis ball.
- The veggies have finally sprouted in the greenhouse, almost two weeks to the day of planting them. This is a week longer that what is typical outdoors. We decided it's because the days are shorter and there is so much less sun during the day.
November 29, 2007
The heat is on in the greenhouse, so we used the week to prepare the raised bed. Many students went home in muddy clothes Monday after spending a lot of time trying to get the very, very dry compost in the bed to absorb water. We were amazed at how long it took to get it wet. Thursday we planted seeds for lettuce and other greens. Everyone is already looking forward to the lettuce sale in a couple of months.
November 15, 2007
- The weather has cooperated once again, so the lower elementary students were able to refurbish the compost bins. They pulled out the volunteer plants that were growing in them and gathered leaves so we could layer the "greens" (the kitchen scraps) and the "browns" (the leaves and dead grass). The next step is to put a lid on it and we should have compost cooking very soon.
- The upper elementary group scooped up a couple of carts of compost and hauled them to the raised bed in the greenhouse. They pulled out the rocks and smoothed it out so it's now ready to plant lettuce after Thanksgiving.
- I presented the pumpkin, November's plant of the month, to all of the primary classrooms this week. They learned that a pumpkin is a squash and a fruit and that they have 15 miles of roots. They were also surprised to learn that pumpkins come in pink, red and blue as well. Trish roasted a 'Delicata' squash, a pie pumpkin and its seed for them to taste. Ask your child if they tried the tasty orange veggie on the snack table.
November 1, 2007
- It really must be fall because we're turning on the heat in the greenhouse this week.
- So far all 56 of our scented geranium cuttings are rooting! Everyone loves to sniff the leaves while they water.
- We've been collecting marigold seeds and other flowers before we pull them up. Ask your child if a marigold is an annual or perennial.
October 25, 2007
- Trish and I went to the Bioneers conference on Friday. We listened to the keynote speaker Marty Heller who talked about the importance of eating locally. We left feeling like the work we are doing with the children is exactly the kind of changes that he spoke of -- we're doing it at the ground level by teaching children about eating local, fresh food. We joined a workshop later that day and continued the conversations with other participants about how to make these food available to organizations/institutions.
Happily, there's a lot of great work happening out there from local public schools that are buying from farmers, restaurants that purchase local produce, and the large number of great Community Supported Agriculture farms in northern Michigan. - We're still working on getting those gardens ready for winter in between the rain. I think most of the elementary students have had an opportunity to taste the difference between our orange and purple carrots.
October 18, 2007
- We're still "putting the gardens to bed" this week. We finished the mustard greens and harvested the last of the eggplants. The beds are clear of weeds, stones, etc and ready to plant first thing in the spring.
- Caterpillars have made an appearance in the gardens and we talked about camouflage and the way the green ones were eating the green leaves and the brownish ones were on the reddish leaves. We also discussed good bugs versus bad bugs and when there is one or two caterpillars on a plant it's fine but when there are dozens they can kill the plant by stripping off the leaves like they've done to about half the carrots.
- We've been harvesting the last of the lettuce and using the salad spinner is always the favorite part of the activity.
- The scented geranium cuttings look
great. After having the opportunity to sniff plants that smell like lemon, lime, peppermint, roses, chocolate and nutmeg the students are looking forward to growing them into plants that we can sell and take home. Anyone who has helped water or plant them has been asked to check them for water on the days I'm not here.
October 11, 2007
- We've started putting the gardens to bed for the winter so the elementary students were busy yanking out melon vines and giant tomato plants and tossing them on the compost. They learned how to shake off the extra soil over the hole before hauling it away and that most veggies are annuals and only grow for one season in northern Michigan.
- We harvested nearly five pounds of lettuce, several eggplants and lots of tomatoes which we donated to the Fresh Food Partnership this week. The food will be dispersed to the various local food pantries.
- The garlic has arrived so we will be getting that in the ground this week and Michelle Worden donated a fabulous selection of the scented geranium cuttings (one of my favorite plants) that we'll be potting up out in the greenhouse.
- At this point we won't be slowing down until the snow flies!
October 4, 2007
- Both upper and lower students helped clean up the greenhouse this week. They did a great job tackling a really big mess. They yanked out weeds, scraped up the moss, swept the floor and cleaned off the benches. It looks lovely in there and it's ready for planting.
- Trish and I also took a group of fifth and sixth years to visit Meadowlark Farm near Lake Leelanau Wednesday. Meadowlark is a Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm and grows an array of goodies for more than 200 members. The students saw tomatoes, winter squash, chard, kale, herbs, flowers and more growing in the fields. Ask them about all of the onions and garlic stored in the barn, it was quite a sight. - Sadly, this week we begin to pull up the crops and get ready for next year.
September 27, 2007
- The weather has continued to cooperate and we are harvesting and working in the production garden. Some of the lower elementary students picked 'Moonbeam' watermelons while others picked eggplants and prepared them for roasting. Upper elementary students went on the sensory scavenger hunt and gathered a big bowl of tomatoes in all shapes and colors. Along the way we found some really cool insects and a toad who lost part of a leg in the mower earlier in the morning.
- The classroom kitchen made Baba Ganoush (a garlicy dip) from the roasted eggplant and I took it down to the primary classes Tuesday morning. I introduced all of them to the eggplant, our plant of the month. They passed one around the circle, learned that it is a fruit, and that women in the Orient once used the skin to stain their teeth a fashionable gray. They all had the opportunity to sample the Baba Ganoush. Many of them tried it and most who did asked for seconds.
September 20, 2007
Ask your children if they've seen the giant pumpkins that are growing out of the compost bin next to it. We picked a few green zebra tomatoes and the kitchen crew made another batch of pesto for the freezer.
We're taking advantage of the sunny days and warm weather to work in the production garden that is located near the rose garden. You may have noticed the large pile of compost next to it. It's not glamorous work but they know it's necessary if we want to have a vegetable garden. We've been weeding and turning over the soil, making and mulching paths and adding compost. It's starting to take shape and we'll be one step ahead this spring thanks to their hard work.
- Some students are working on decorating gardening journals. They can use them to record interesting information or observations while out in the gardens, keep track of plantings, weather, insects, etc.
September 13, 2007
- This week the lower elementary students got to know the gardens a little better. We went on a sensory scavenger hunt. The clues included opportunities to taste cherry tomatoes off the vine, smell the mint and lavender, listen for birds, find textures (something bumpy, smooth, etc.) and find shapes and colors.
- The favorites were the licorice flavored tarragon and there were mixed reviews about the mustard greens -- some had to spit it out because it was too spicy many thought they were delicious.
- The sixth year students are attending Della Terra this week as well and after some sampling and harvesting basil for Trish and the kitchen classroom crew, they are getting their hands dirty yanking out piles of weeds growing in the greenhouse and weeding and spreading compost in the production garden.
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