Garden Reflections: October 16, 2008

Harvesting Salad
“We made salad with spicy flowers and a little broccoli and a little lettuce. The flowers made the salad lovely. I enjoyed cutting the flowers. The flowers were a deep red and orange.”

Installing Erosion control & Walkways
“In garden program today we started to make walkways to keep the dirt from getting eroded. To do that we had to put big pieces of wood where people kept squishing the soil. To keep the pieces in place we used short lengths of rebar. To put the rebar into the wood we drilled big holes in the wood. I thought that gardening today was really awesome!”

“Today in garden time I helped drill holes in wood that we put in the garden to step on. I can’t wait until tomorrow because I get to see them done. [Our school custodian] Kevin, [some other fourth graders], and I all helped drill the holes. We had to drill four holes altogether. There were two pieces of wood and each piece got two holes. I had sooooooooo much fun! Because I’ve never used a drill before and they’re very powerful.”

“Today in garden time I helped [our school custodian] Kevin drill holes….I was helping Kevin it started to rain. I also used a sledgehammer to hammer rebar.”

“Today at garden time I drilled a hole in a wooden block. The blocks were as long as a lunch tray or a little bit longer. The drill I used had a handle and a trigger on it. The wooden block that I drilled had one hole on each end of the block. “

Building a Composting System
“Today in garden time I got to use a post hole digger and a really big drill. I dug out a lot. I dug out a huge brick. It was really fun!”

Exploring the Herb Garden
“Today in garden time I got to see the herb garden. I got to pick cosmos and zinnias. I got to pick lemon balm. I got to put the flowers in two vases. I got to draw two cosmos flowers on one stem. It came out pretty good. The flowers were a light pink. I colored my flowers pink.”

Counting Farm Stand Money
“I counted [our farm stand] money with [another boy]. I got really wet because I didn’t bring my raincoat. Our garden teacher helped us make room in the shed so we wouldn’t get the money wet. The total is $156.05. I’m pretty sure it’s not right. In school I am going to check on the calculator.”

“Today I counted money [from our farm stand] to send to [our partner school in] Haiti…”

Building a Composting Box
“Today in the garden we made a compost box. It was so fun. I used a big thing called a post hole digger and a spade to dig holes. It was surprisingly treacherous and hard for just getting dirt excavated and transferred into piles away from holes and ditches.”

Making Green Tomato-Apple Crisp
I was surprised when Ms. White announced that we could make green tomato and apple cobbler. I helped make a crumbly topping. It had cinnamon, oats, butter, maple syrup and flour in it… Maria pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees. Then she helped my friends and me with our jobs… Then we wrote the directions for the [crisp]. This was a great experience and it makes me think of all the foods that don’t seem like they would go well together can make something delicious! I feel so lucky that we have people to help us in this field of education!

“My group made some apple and green tomato crisp. We got to do it ourselves . It was fun because we cut apples… We made a [recipe] so we could make it at home.”

“Today at garden time Maria took four people to make apple crisp with green tomatoes. The apples were from Deer Ridge Farm. We used about 25 tomatoes in the crisp. I thought the topping was the best. The topping was made of maple syrup and oats… I really enjoyed garden time today!”

“Today in garden time I made green tomato apple crisp with [some other students]. First we washed and cut apples. Then you chop and wash green tomatoes. We put the apples and the tomato in a small bowl. We mixed the apple and tomato and then put it into a short glass pot. [My friend] made the topping with maple syrup, cinnamon, oats and something else. Then we put it in the oven.”

Garden Reflections: October 9, 2008

Harvesting at the UVM Farm
“On Thursday [some friends] and I went to the University of Vermont Extension farm with Maria to harvest some local food. First off we took some scissors and put them in our pockets. Then we went down to pick some eggplant. It was tough to pick them because they grew spikes… I had a great time at the UVM farm because we had a really fun time harvesting with our friends.”

“Today I went to UVM Farm for garden time...I liked picking peppers because I picked like 10-25 peppers. I liked [one] of the peppers because it was 7-8 inches tall!... Garden time is fun because you get to go lots of places and do fun activities..

Exploring the Herb Garden, etc.
Today in garden time a made a sachet. It smells really good. I also washed purple and green greens. When I tried a radish, I almost had no tongue, it was so spicy. It was my favorite garden time because I got to see what the garden looks like after a frost.”

Building a Compost System
“At garden time today I started to make a compost [bin]. First, I brought posts to where the compost will be. Second, we collected flags for markers for where the post will be. They were one foot from the school and three feet from post to post. When we dug the holes in the ground they were 16 inches deep.”

“Today in garden time we started working on making a compost [bin] for the garden… Deer Ridge Farm let us borrow a [post] hole digger to dig big holes to put in the wooden posts. [Our school custodian] Kevin helped us dig holes and get rocks out of the way. I learned that digging is very hard work, a lot harder than it looks. While my friend was digging she hit some bricks and Kevin said he thought they were from when they build the school. I thought that was pretty cool. When my group was done I felt tired and excited. I can’t wait until next week to do the next garden project!!!”

“Today in garden time we made a compost system! We had 8 fence posts to start out with. We had a [post] hole digger. WE all got to measure a foot away from the [school] wall. Then we matched a yard to the foot and put a flag in the corner where the yard and the foot meet. Then we would put a flag at the end of the yard. Then we would put a flag at the end of the yardstick that we measured the foot with. Then a yard to a yard and put a flag where the corner is where the yards meet and then we put a flag at the end of the yard so it makes a square. We did this three times.”

“Today at garden time we started to make a new composting system. In the new system there are three sections. The first section is where trash waste [organic waste] goes. The second section is where the stuff that has already been in the first part and has already started to decompose goes. The third part is the totally decomposed part so the section 2 goes into section 3.”

Pulling Tomato Stakes
“Today in garden time… I pulled [tomato stakes]. On one post the tip broke. I said to Ms. White, “It’s going to take a mining complex to get that thing out!” I grabbed a digging fork. It took me three minutes to get the tip out.”

Preparing for Dismissal-time Farm Stand
“Today is garden groups we washed and prepared vegetables and fruits such as radishes, peppers, eggplant and chard. First we put them in organized piles. Then we brushed off dirt with our hands, and then we soaked them in water and finally we put them back in bags. It was a very fun project!”

Working the Farm Stand
“Today in garden club I was doing the farm stand all by myself… What I learned by doing the farm stand by myself was how to count money. I felt very, very proud of myself for doing that all by myself. I think that when garden club starts again I am definitely going to do it again I think garden club is really, really fun!”

Garden Day: October 2nd, 2008

The Youth in Agriculture Program, which is located at the University of Vermont Extension Farm, has been donating extra vegetables to Green Street School for our Thursday Farm stand as a fundraiser for our Garden Program. The students LOVE to make taste tests for customers, debate pricing, count money and make change! They learn a lot of skills from this project. This week we took some students to the UVM Farm to harvest the vegetables they would add to our school garden harvest for sale at the farm stand. Other activities included making herb sachets, harvesting tomatoes, planting garlic, and making more tomatillo salsa. Here are some quotes from students’ writing about their trip to UVM:

"I went to the University of Vermont Extension Farm near Fort Dummer today. We got to harvest all different varieties of peppers, eggplants and kale. The kinds of peppers we harvested were Lipstick Green Pepper, Hungarian Round peppers and another kind of green pepper. We also got to pick ruffly kale and big leaf kale."

"Today at garden time I went with some other children to UVM Extension Farm. There we harvested lots of vegetables such as radishes, peppers, kale, edamame, basil and eggplant. It was a great feeling to be out in the field with all of the plants and learning about each one. I would like to do it again."

"[At the UVM Farm] I picked a big eggplant. It was really big. Then we got to go into the greenhouse. In there we got to pick seeds out of a sunflower."

Garden Reflections: September 18, 2008

This week is the Kids' Localvore Challenge. Students are trying to eat as many local foods as possible. We added to our list with our harvests from the garden. Today in garden time the fourth graders did a variety of activities. Some made herb tea from lemon balm and lemon verbena. Others made green salsa from tomatillos, jalapenos and sorrel. We made canapes with herbed butter and cream cheese (herbs from the garden), cinnamon basil jelly made last week during garden time, and edible flowers and herbs. Another group canned dilly beans. Other students worked to prepare the Thursday farmstand for dismissal time: harvesting and cleaning vegetables, pricing them, and counting money.

“Today during garden time I helped picked lemon balm which I learned was not yellow but green and looked like basil. We used lemon balm to decorate the bread that we gave to teachers and that we had for snack. I never knew what lemon balm looked like or had never tasted it until today.”

“Today at school I got to prepare our class snack. [A friend] cut the bread into fine pieces. [the rest of us] picked herbs and edible flowers to put on the bread with cream cheese… I really enjoy working in the garden and cooking a lot of recipes!”

“At garden time I made fancy ou d’ourves. While I was spreading cream cheese on one of the pieces of bread a reporter from the Brattleboro Reformer and a photographer came and took pictures. The reporter asked me lots of questions about the localvore challenge. He also tried some of our basil jelly that we made last week… I had an awesome time in the garden!”

“Today I picked lemon balm leaves to make tea. We had to boil water so the tea is hot.”

“When we were making dilly beans we saw a praying mantis. I’ve never seen one before until now. I was mind bottled [mind boggled?] It was brown like a stick, and its wings were green like green grass.”

“Today we harvested tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers. We also made bouquets of lemon-scented flowers. I liked harvesting for the frost.”

Garden Day: September 11th, 2008

We are now in our second harvest season at the Green Street School Garden. The fourth graders get 45 to 50 minutes of garden time every Thursday, in between band lesson pull-outs. We are grateful for support from our school administration, custodial staff, and money from a parent fundraiser which has made it possible to hire a garden coordinator, Maria Chambers who works part time, teaching students in the garden and doing other tasks needed to keep the garden going. Below are some excerpts from students' writing about their day in the garden on September 11, 2008.
-Laura White, 4th grade teacher

“At garden time I made signs and prices for the food.”

“We made bouquets and I had a lot of fun.”

“Today in the garden I picked some flowers for Jody (school counselor). I think that picking flowers is great. I LOVE IT!!!!! I hope we do this more often.”

“Today in garden I helped sort out the foods for the farm stand. It was really fun because we sorted out peppers, onions, turnips, cucumbers and a lot more.”

“I enjoyed picking flowers and making them into a beautiful bouquet. I gave them to Rhonda because she helped me through 2nd grade. I used orange, purple and red flowers. Rhonda really liked it and that made her smile and that made me really happy.”

“I made a bouquet for the fifth grade teacher Ms. Brin Tucker. My bouquet had zinnias, dill, and a seedy pink and red type of flower and a white flower with a yellow center… Ms. Tucker was very happy with it.”

“Today we picked nice juicy cucumbers with tons of spikes.”

Garden Reflections for May 22nd, 2008

Group A
“Today Group A transplanted [beets]…. We had [the seedlings] in pots. We pinched them on the sides, pulled them out and if there were two in one pot, we would split them in half. Then we dug a five-inch trench. Then we put them on either side of it. Then we buried them to the soil line. Then we watered them to let them start growing in their new home.”

“I had lots of fun planting today. It was really cool… I like to play in the dirt a lot and I also think getting dirty is fun…”

Group B1
“Today in garden groups I made a wall to prevent a mudslide: a.k.a. erosion. I got to use tools: a drill, sledgehammer, and a shovel. I liked using the drill… I split a wood chip, calling it the "Wood Chip of Honor." I gave it to a special teacher. I had fun. But one thing, I don’t know why, but the drill was getting quite hot... “

“Today in Garden Group we first picked radishes (red and white). I didn’t like either of them Then (our custodian) Kevin came outside and I went to get the sledgehammer because Kevin told me to. He told us that we needed to build a wall. Kevin gave [my friend] the drill and he drilled a hole. I thought it looked pretty hard but then my friend did it and I did it and it wasn’t that hard. Then we took metal poles (rebar) and stuck them in the holes so the blocks of wood went into the ground. It was a really fun day. I learned how to drill holes. “

“Before [we built the wall] we checked the asparagus. Two plants were growing.”

Group B2
“Today in garden group we transplanted lettuce besides onions and carrots. Why did we plant lettuce next to onions? Because they grow good together. We also watered the lettuce and rhubarb and beets. “

“Today in garden group we used scissors to cut greens two inches away from the white hairy roots. Then we gathered up the greens, washed them, and spun them to dry. Then we put the greens in bags and carried them to the Kindergarten and first grade classes. We also looked up what lettuce’s companions were because we planted them [together]. [Some] plants grow well together. [For example] they have different root lengths…The plant that has longer roots gets nutrients from down low and the plant that has shorter roots gets the nutrients from up high…. “


Group C
“Today I put the compost in the garden! It started out as a damp day and group C was planting pac choy My job was to bring compost over when I was asked to. I had to be very patient and wait. Finally it was my chance to put compost in the garden. The soil was very cold and felt damp. I learned that it was important to put the compost in the garden. I also learned pac choy could be used cooked or just raw. I had lots of fun on garden day!”

“Thursday I transplanted. I liked it. It was lots of fun. We got to use tools... [One tool] was a trowel to make holes for the plants. Another tool was a rake so we can get the straw [mulch] off of the bed for the plants…”

Group D
“Today at Garden Group I raked leaves out of a spot in the garden on the corner so we could plant marigolds, hollyhock, and two more flowers I forget the name of. I also got to laugh a couple of times: two of my “sworn enemies” had to fill up watering cans in the boys bathroom (note that they are both girls. Ha ha ha!!!)…”

Group G
“Today in the garden was really fun. We put some fresh soil in the herb garden. To do that we took shovels and pitchforks and we loosened the soil, then put fresh soil in. We also put rocks around the herb garden that we had collected from the West River last week. I thought it was really fun to put the rocks around the herb garden because you get to put the rocks where you want to...”

Garden Reflections for May 15th, 2008

Group A
“Today Garden Group A planted and found things. What we found were little mini oak trees! …We also transplanted collards. We ate some, which I personally did not like. [A friend and I] had to carry 20 pound soil buckets. They were heavy. The also were at least 2 feet tall by my estimate.”

“When I went out to the garden I planted some [collards] and spinach. I thought it was pretty fun. I liked digging up the soil. The kale we tasted in the garden was good but sour…I learned that you need to be extremely careful planting plants.”

“Do you like plants? Well I do. I love planting… Plants are useful in this world and that is why I love planting. You also must be very delicate and gentle or you will hurt the plant. It is also good to remember to grab it by the leaf...”

“In garden group A we planted collards. I learned you have to plant them 1 foot or 12 inches apart. I also learned that when you take the plants out of six packs, if the soil inside the roots has two or more plants in one you have to squeeze gently to pull them apart. I thought it was fun lining up the ruler to make the holes so we could dig later in the group time. We added a lot of compost because the soil was all rocky and other stuff had been planted there before the collards so it didn’t have a lot of nutrients left…”

Group B
“Today in garden group we worked with our greens garden. First we thinned out the garden. This means that you remove some of the pants to make room for other plants to grow...”

“Today in garden groups I went outside and took plastic containers and began picking a certain kind of kale from a raised bed and putting it into a container. We did that for a while until we had filled a container with each kind of [green]. [My friend went to get a salad spinner] and my other friends and I played tag with Ms. Hartz. Three minutes later my friend came back [with the salad spinner] and we washed and dried the [greens]. Then we got a piece of rhubarb and went to band. It was fun. I learned how to use a salad spinner.”

“ How we picked the greens was by pinching the bottom of a plant and pulling them out. We picked mizuna, red kale, green mustard, tatsoi, etc… Then we gave the sixth graders a taste of each of the greens that we picked. We did the same for the Librarian, the Principal and the Nurse… I learned that with your greens you have to pick some roots out and make space for other roots to sprout and and grow, otherwise they will grow slowly…

“…I liked everything but thinning the greens. It was really dirty, slimy and really wet. The greens were really good, especially the kind of green called mizuna. I learned that if you want to have a garden that has a lot of room so that roots have some room to grow then you need to thin the plants so they can grow big and strong instead of getting squished and crowded.”

Group C
Today in garden groups I transplanted. It was fun. My favorite thing was shoveling the compost…”

Group D
“Today in my garden group we were planting kale. It was fun. We were digging deep holes. We made 12 deep holes… It was a fun garden group today.”

“Today in a garden group at Green Street School I prepared for planting kale. We had to search everywhere in the garden to find a good spot and we have a little spot near the rhubarb plant. Next we had to take out the sticks and leaves and we twisted up the soil. Then we added compost and topsoil. Next we dug holes and added the kale plants. Before we dug holes we mixed up the soil, topsoil and compost. Lastly I picked some rhubarb and ate the stem because the leaf is poisonous."

“We tried and tried but we couldn’t find what we were looking for which was the kale sign. We even got [my friend] to climb in the shed,,, but we still couldn’t find it…“”
Group G
“Today I went to a river called the West River. My group picked some pretty rocks for our new herb garden we are making at school. I thought today at the West River was very cool because of all the rocks there that had different colors and different shapes. Today I learned that there is this beetle that crawls under the rocks. But the beetles are a really dark green and they are pretty small… My favorite kind of rock is the dotted ones.”

Garden Reflections for May 8th, 2008

Group B
“In Garden Group B we planted some asparagus in a big hole. The hole was deep and black. It was our second hole. The first one didn’t work because it was too small.”

“A few weeks ago in garden group B we planted a greens garden with all different kinds of greens in it. This week there were plants sprouted up and we were allowed to eat some. Then some preschoolers [who were visiting the school for a special Teddy Bear Tea in preparation for kindergarten next year] came walking by and they wanted to try some greens! They even asked what we liked best!”

Group C
“Today we took soil tests called the K test, the N test and the P test. We took water with straws and put it in the containers and then we took the little capsules that match the cap and broke them apart and the stuff inside made [the water] change color after ten minutes.”

Group D
“Today in Garden Group D we decided on which plants to grow in our herb garden. One thing we decided on is lemon balm. We had a good time in the garden today.”

Garden Day Reflections for May 1, 2008

Every Thursday each fourth grader gets to spend 45 minutes to an hour in the garden in a small group. We have 6 garden groups. We try to involve students in all steps of gardening from choosing where to plant each type of plant to reading the instructions to set up a grow lab. This week the students wanted to plant the carrots in zig-zag rows… so we did! Here are some student reflections from our fourth grade garden day on Thursday, May 1st.

Group A
“Today in the garden we did soil samples and planted flowers. What we did for the soil samples is we dried out the soil and put two parts of soil and fiver parts water in a jar and mixed them together to make a solution so we could test it for pH and other things that will tell us if we need to add anything to the soil.
The flowers we planted were ones that look like zinnias and can be used as medicine (calendula). We planted them in front of the zinnias because they are shorter than the zinnias.”

“Today in garden group A we did soil samples and solutions. Solutions are made of distilled water and dirt… They were slimy and just plain gross! One of the three solutions we made tipped and it drenched me! I was soaked till midday! The soil samples were huge… We worked really hard in Group A today.”

“Today I planted seeds shaped like a half moon. I thought working in the garden was great. I also thought working in the garden was a very great pleasure. I learned that there were tulips and pretty white flowers in the garden.”

Group B
“Today in Garden Group B we set up Grow Labs. Grow labs are trays where you can put plants to grow until they are big enough to be transplanted. The trays have lights over them to be like the sun. We are going to plant some seeds to grow under the grow labs and when they’re big enough we will transplant them into the garden. I felt very good setting up the grow lab because I knew that they would help contribute to the garden. I also felt good because my garden group showed a lot of teamwork. We each had different jobs setting up.”

“Today in garden groups I got to build a plant grower (grow lab). It was fun. I even got to build it with my friends. It took a lot of pieces but we did it… We were seeing who could build it faster, girls or boys? It was the boys… My friends and I took it into the classroom by carrying it. It was light. So all of us looked at it and we were proud. And we won the race even though our teacher said it was not [a race]. We still looked very, very proud.”

“In my garden group I helped make a Grow Lab. It was made of metal and had two plant bins for the plants. I thought it was so cool that we got to build something in school. Also there were teams of people working… We got to play with the Styrofoam that came out of the box.”

“During garden time we made light holders (grow labs) for the plants. It was really fun. First we took two things that looked like archways and attached them of each other (so they were about one and a half feet apart) using poles and screws. Then we put two other things on the top. After that we opened the light bulbs, put them in the light and put the lights on and it was done! After that [my friends and I] took rectangular cardboard tubes about two feet long and started sword fighting but [a teacher] yelled at us and we stopped. It was fun. Today I learned that I shouldn’t sword fight in the hallway and that putting stuff together is hard.”

“Today in Group B the girls were separated from the boys . We were making green houses (grow labs) and one was going in Mrs. Hodgdon’s classroom and one was going in our classroom… We had to do rock, paper, scissors, shoot. The boys won so they got to put their greenhouse (grow lab) in our classroom… It was a big day!”

Group C
“[After soil samples…] the second thing we did was that we made a rut and [a friend] and I got some fresh compost to put in the ruts because we were planting onions that grow to be almost the size of a soda can. I had lots and lots and LOTS of fun in the garden today.”

Group D
“On May 1st, Garden Group D went outside to plant carrots, but first we had to do a lot of other stuff like finding places where erosion could happen. We also found some kale and parsley that we could eat. It was really good!”

“In garden group D we planted two different types of carrots. First we found a spot in the garden that would be best to plant carrots. Then we raked out the area where the carrots would be planted. Next we turned over the soil with shovels. After that we added compost and leveld it out with the ground. The very last thing we did was we each stuck one finger in halfway in the soil and made a straight zig-zag line. Next we put the seeds in the zig-zag lines. The seeds were not cluttered but mixed everywhere. Then we pinched each side of the zig-zag lines and patted down the soil gently. I thought gardening today was fun… I learned that to a farmer its very important to find a flat surface and that helps prevent erosion.”

“Today was a really fun day in the garden. My group planted some carrots. The first thing we did was move all of the weeds from the spot we [chose]. There was a whole lot of weeds The second thing we did was mix in … compost. Then we smoothed out the compost and made lines to put the seeds in. Then we covered the seeds with soil… My day was so enjoyable. I will never forget that day in the Green Street School garden.”

The First Garden Day

Today it was really warm outside. We were looking forward to being in the garden and it was really fun.

Group A raked out the leaves, added compost and planted peas. We also took soil samples for pH tests. We marked where we took our samples on a map of the garden. We found some spiders and worms.

Group B turned over the soil in one of the raised beds and then we added compost and planted kale, tatsoi, and lettuce mix. We also tasted the spinach because the spinach was left over from last year and still growing! It was good! In the soil in the bed we discovered acorns that were sprouting! We called them acorn bombs because they looked like bombs with their little tails, and one student said, "Wouldn't it be great if all bombs exploded into plants!"

In Group C, we took soil samples and raked up the garden and planted seeds too.

In Group D we turned over the soil in another raised bed, added compost and planted a lot of different seeds, like red mustard and Pirat lettuce. We found some wolf spiders and worms and centipedes in the raised bed.

That's what we did in the garden today and it was really fun. :)

Spring News!

This Thursday, April 17th, 2008 is our first fourth grade garden work day in 2008. We will be planting peas, spinach, tatsoi and other greens. We will also prune the raspberries and clean up the garden by raking the leaves. Some students will take soil samples which we will later test for pH, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.

Check our blog again soon to find out how the fourth graders enjoyed
their first day back in the garden!

We can't wait until our garden looks like this again!