SPEC School Gardens Program

On Monday, the kids from the Brock Junction daycare and I harvested a bunch of scarlet runner beans and bush beans for their snack. And boy, did they love them! The next day, a bunch of the kids came running up to me and asked if they could pick some more of the 'magic beans' to eat. Later, two of the girls asked if they could plant some bush beans in an empty section of one of the plots. I let them go ahead, but then later realized that they used up almost a whole package of seeds. There will likely be a forest of bush beans beginning to grow in the next few days. I'm sure the kids at Brock will be happy about this. Collecting bush beans at Brock Elementary  Planting more delicious beans! Spraying a homemade solution to kill powdery mildew 

In order to make room for new plants at Thunderbird, the kids and I harvested a bunch of arugula from one of the plots. At that point, it was still fairly small. I figured it was the perfect opportunity to make arugula pesto for the first time! To add more volume (and flavour) to the pesto, I also collected some carrot greens which would've been composted. Carrot greens are edible, and have a mild flavour; you will hardly notice a handful blended in to the pesto. Harvesting arugula at Thunderbird

Bees exploring a squash blossom. Those vibrant colours!

One of the best things about working with kids is watching them try new things. Especially healthy, new foods from the garden. Maybe their willingness to try new foods from the garden is so big because of the excitement of harvesting your own food. The joy and surprise when a child pulls a beet from the ground and yells "Look at this! It looks like a giant spider" is so great to watch. As we were thinning out the beet crop the other day, one of the kids asked what a beet tasted like; he had never tasted one before. I was shocked and amazed to find out that many of the other surrounding kids had also never tasted a beet. Without missing a beat (no pun intended) the kids asked if they could try tasting the raw beets. I warned them that raw beets had a pretty strong and earthy flavour and that they may not like them on their first try. Fortunately, they still went on to taste them, and surprisingly many of them really loved them. They loved the way it made their mouths bright re...

This week, this kids learned about pineapple weed! It's a wild, edible plant that can be found all around Vancouver; even growing from a crack in the pavement. It has a sweet and fruity smell and taste, and can be used fresh in salads or can be dried to make tea. The kids were so shocked that this sweet smelling weed was growing all around them and they had no idea! Learning about Pineapple weed  Look at that harvest!

After a week of pulling up dead plants, making space for new growth and planting many seeds, the exciting part has arrived: watching the seeds sprout and poke through the soil. The kids are starting to get really excited about the growing progress. Before I even have a chance to put down my bag I have already been passionately told about the sprouting radishes and pac choi. Radishes starting to grow at Thunderbird Elementary! Making sure those new radishes have plenty of sunshine and water  At Thunderbird Elementary we are painting the garden beds with Linseed oil (a natural varnish made from flaxseed oil)  to help prolong the life of the wood make it more water resistant. Of course the kids were also very eager to help out with this process. I have very high hopes for the future of this garden.  Painting with Linseed oil to help protect the garden beds My devoted helpers

To make room for new seeds, I harvested the Kale from a plot at Thunderbird Elementary. It was not full size, and was slightly withered from being under-watered throughout the hot and dry June. Instead of being disappointed in the crop, I took it as a perfect opportunity to make kale chips. Heaps of harvested Kale I gave the leaves a good soaking, and removed as much of the stems as I could. I then tossed them in a bowl with olive oil, lemon, garlic powder,  onion powder and a little bit of salt. Its a good idea to under-season instead of over-season because the flavours become concentrated when baked or dehydrated.  I then put all of the seasoned Kale leaves into my dehydrator, and left them there for 5 hours. Don't worry if you don't have a dehydrator, as an oven will also do the trick!  Washed, seasoned and ready to be dehydrated I brought the chips to the kids at Thunderbird the next day. I was a little bit nervous as to how they would react t...