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.”
Monday, November 3, 2008
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!”
“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!”
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