ESY Berkeley Journal
Happy Holidays!
Thank you for following the Edible Schoolyard journal! We wish you a warm, restful and joyous holiday season. Please check back on January 10th, 2012 for our next journal post.
Birds of the Edible Schoolyard
Welcome Ash, a beautiful white chicken and the newest member of the Edible Schoolyard community!
One morning a few weeks ago, the garden teachers were surprised to find a chicken we didn’t recognize. She was wandering in the garden, looking a bit lost. Thinking she might have walked in from a neighboring house and might soon decide to return home, we didn’t lock her up in the coop with the rest of our chickens at the end of the day, but when we returned to the garden the following Monday, she was still here (and surviving a weekend in the garden is quite a feat for a chicken). Since then, we have been taking care of her like our own, and she has stayed at ESY.
Students were excited to spot her and to hear the story of her mysterious journey to the Edible Schoolyard, but they also observed that Ash looked shy. She was spending her days in a roosting box in the coop, alone, instead of exploring the garden like the other chickens.
Well, yesterday we spotted Ash under the fig trees, a favorite chicken hangout spot, with several other birds! It looks like Ash has been adopted into the chicken family and is settling nicely into her new
home.
Our garden is home to many birds besides chickens, as well. April, our garden intern, recently gave a wonderful presentation about the many birds that can be found in the Edible Schoolyard, and which types of birds prefer what environments within this garden. Check out the “Birds at the Edible Schoolyard” poster she made!
Ash, the newest chicken in the flock, is spotted under the fig tree
With her pale feathers and white legs, Ash is a striking bird
A gifted birder and a talented artist, April opened our eyes to the variety of birds that call the Edible Schoolyard garden homeIn Their Own Words
As we near winter break, many of the 6th graders are realizing that King Middle School is not just any middle school, it has become their middle school. It has been fun to watch them embrace their new responsibilities, navigate the hallways, and learn their way around the Edible Schoolyard garden and kitchen. Back in the classroom, the 6th graders are currently learning how to write persuasive essays. One teacher challenged his students to write about where they think students should go to middle school in 6th grade. Here are some excerpts from essays he received:
“The Edible Schoolyard is a fun indoor/outdoor learning center. The indoor part is the kitchen. Here we learn to cook, recognize ingredients, and eat wonderful meals. This is important to our future because people must eat. Outdoors, we work in the garden. Planting, and weeding, are just a couple of things we do. We play with chickens, turn compost, and much more.” – Sean Hoffman
"[At the Edible Schoolyard] students learn how to harvest, cultivate, transplant, compost, save seed, and cook. The garden is filled with all kinds of fruits and vegetables that are fun to eat and learn about.” – Anjuli Arreola-Burl
“[The Edible Schoolyard] at King is designed to feed kids healthy and delicious food that will be a great influence on their food choices when they grow up. Gardening at King helps kids to grow organic crops and use teamwork to get jobs done. You learn about botanical history, and animals. You are taught skills that will help you later in life in a fun, efficient way.” - Kenyon Fonte
The 6th Grade Family Work Party
Every school year, the Edible Schoolyard holds an annual family work party for each grade level. Like prior years, we started off working with 6th graders and their families, and this years' work party was highly anticipated by many of us. The general format of a family work party is to meet in the garden at 10:00 am on a Saturday -- each student is asked to bring an adult, and whole families are encouraged to come. We do garden work until noon, when we sit down together to enjoy a freshly-prepared, delicious meal. Generally, we have about 30 participants in total. Students and their families leave around 1:00, hopefully with a feeling that their weekend is off to a satisfying start.
The 6th grade family work party was rewarding and the conversations between participants were plentiful. We formed two working groups in order to best capture the people power of those who came out to help the Edible Schoolyard. Sixth graders were eager to share with their family members what they had learned thus far in garden class, showcasing a variety of garden skills like digging and sifting out rocks from topsoil in an area where a new outdoor kitchen will be built next spring. Other students were eager to share their knowledge on how to use loppers and helped clear out a part of the garden we call the back forty, where ivy and other invasive vines were getting out of control. Piles and piles of green waste were removed from the back forty and at least 15 wheel barrels of sifted top soil were removed from the the outdoor kitchen project and transported to a part of the garden where, weeks before, other 6th graders from a garden class removed a dying echium bush, leaving a gigantic hole. And since this hole needed filling it was a perfect place to drop off the excavated soil, so that a whole new perennial zone could be planted for the near future.
Students also took small breaks to roam the garden with their siblings and friends, to be with the chickens, and to forage for small treats like figs, radishes and pineapple guava. Parents got a chance to connect with other parents and with Edible Schoolyard staff, and to get a glimpse into their student's experience in the garden. And the staff of the Edible Schoolyard got a chance to see our students in a different light and to make progress on some big projects that needed to get done in the garden. But, perhaps the greatest reward was, of course, the food at the end of the work party: we got to sit down to a fabulous lunch prepared by the kitchen staff -- homemade macaroni and cheese, salad, and harvest vegetable soup. For all involved, it was a terrific way to spend a Saturday morning.
Students sift recently excavated topsoil
Students take the lead in pruning back ivy
The reward for a solid morning of garden work -- a delicious homemade mealThe Harvest-to-Home Giveaway
When the bell rang on Tuesday afternoon, signifying the start of Thanksgiving break, students poured out of the school building to find a table on the front lawn filled with the fruits of their labor from the Edible Schoolyard garden, everything neatly bunched, washed and begging to be taken home. Something that they themselves had a hand in growing, something that says I’m proud to be a student at King.
This event has come to be known as the Harvest-to-Home Giveaway. Every year students line up for the opportunity to contribute to their holiday meals by taking something home from the garden – a bunch of kale, a few cloves of garlic, or maybe a bundle of rosemary. There are peppers, eggs from the chickens and ducks, flower bouquets, and myriad herbs perfuming the air with their aromas. Regardless of what they choose, the students load up with glee, eager to bring something home to their families.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to give thanks to the people we care about and to share whatever we have in abundance. For us, the Harvest-to-Home Giveaway is a very small way we can show our appreciation for our students and their families.
From all of us here at the Edible Schoolyard we wish you a happy holiday season!
Greens Over Grains
Having completed a thorough orientation to the kitchen classroom, our sixth-grade students are ready to begin practicing their cooking skills. The students have all had a lesson in the garden about the domestication of grains and have learned that decisions made thousands of years ago by early agriculturalists resulted in the domestication of such grains as barley, amaranth and millet. These crops are grown in our garden now. Building on this garden lesson, their first kitchen recipe is preparing a dish we call Greens Over Grains.
Our garden always has an abundant crop of greens, and at this time of year, the greens are the pride of the garden. Kale, chard and collard greens are some of the first plants that student learn to identify and harvest. In kitchen class, students wash the greens and learn which stems we will cook and which stems we will compost. They practice their chopping skills and learn how to peel and mince garlic and ginger root. Most of them can name, select and use the proper knife in the proper manner for each ingredient in the recipe.
As a delicious combination of amaranth (harvested, threshed and winnowed by sixth graders in their garden classes), millet and wheat steam to tenderness in rice cookers, our budding chefs take charge at the stoves. First into the pot is the wonderfully fragrant combination of ginger and garlic. When these begin to sizzle the sliced stems are added as they will require a longer cooking time. Next the washed and chopped leafy greens are added a handful at a time.
With the greens well on their way to being finished, it is time to think about setting the table. Students gather tablecloths, plates, cups and chopsticks. Even though this is their first time using the kitchen they seem to remember where to find everything and the spirit of camaraderie is a lovely thing to witness as they spread out the tablecloths, fold napkins and pour water. There is one area of friendly competition and that is creation of the centerpiece. Students begin scouting and gathering items early on – flowers, dried blue corn on the cob, acorn squashes and the holy grail of the Edible Schoolyard table: the crystal. Rumored to be many things (sugar! salt! priceless!) the crystal is in fact a simple and natural statement of beauty and light, made by Mother Nature herself.
After the greens receive their final seasoning – a mixture of tamari and sesame oil – the steaming grains are delivered on a platter. The silky greens are mounded on top and brought to the table. As we partake of this meal, made possible in part by the decisions made by farmers thousands of years ago, the importance and longevity of the decisions we make in our own lifetimes become deliciously apparent.
Varieties of amaranth and millet -- ancient grains grown at the Edible Schoolyard
A beautiful array of greens
Students take pride in creating a beautiful centerpiece at their tableDigging for Gold
Although the treasures are not always golden in color, every sixth grader this year has experienced what is our version of digging for gold. By the end of the 8-week autumn rotation, nearly every sixth grader has dug up Yukon gold, red skinned, purple skinned, Peruvian purple, and fingerling potatoes. “Potato!!!” echoes in the garden as if gold had been the treasure revealed.
Over the course of the Edible Schoolyard’s sixteen years of operation, potatoes have been rotated from bed to bed, spreading their tubers deep into the soil. As a member of the nightshade family, potatoes should never to be planted in a bed that has just grown -- or will next grow -- tomatoes, eggplant, peppers or potatoes. Therefore, over the years potatoes have been planted roughly all over the garden. As a result, although only a handful of classes get to actually harvest this fall’s potato patch, students involved in other garden tasks, such as cultivating, often uncover potatoes of many varieties.
For their final class in the autumn rotation, sixth grade students sliced potatoes, tossed them with a little olive oil, and roasted them in our beloved wood-burning oven. While waiting for the potatoes to cook, students learned interesting facts about potatoes. They learned what part of a plant a potato is (a tuber) and where potatoes originated from (the Andes of South America). Many students are surprised to learn that there are over 4,000 varieties of potato and it is the world’s fourth-largest crop! As the potatoes begin to emit a crackly, sizzling sound, students harvest small sprigs of rosemary to season as they please.
When the potatoes are ready, we gather around the picnic table to serve the hot, golden, crispy coins to each student. Together we eat a snack that is entirely student-grown, -harvested, and -prepared. This is truly an edible education!
Students prepare fresh potatoes for roasting
Interesting facts about the worlds fourth-largest crop
Potatoes ready to be cooked in the wood-burning ovenValuing Aesthetics
At this time of year, sixth graders are chattering and buzzing around like bees in anticipation of their first day in the Edible Schoolyard kitchen. During orientation, we emphasize cleanliness, safety, respect, responsibility, and interdependence. We take the time to clean every corner of the kitchen classroom to demonstrate care, and we encourage students to take ownership of the space in the same manner. When the sixth graders arrive, every pot, pan, utensil and tool is patiently waiting in its proper place.
Upon entering the kitchen classroom, all the students’ senses are awakened with vibrant colors and comforting aromas. Coming in for the first time, students begin to notice the tiniest of details within the space. Many students immediately notice the blossoming bouquets in the center of each table. Fresh bouquets of flowers are picked weekly by students in the garden. The colorful walls and draping art breathe life into the room. Vintage posters of vegetables remind students of the relationship between botany and their plate. There is a special corner dedicated to artwork created by King students. While these small details might seem insignificant at first, they are actually intentional gestures that are used throughout the classroom to send a simple message: there is value in beauty. We invite students to create, notice, and appreciate beauty whenever possible. With careful choices of decor, it is our intention that students learn the value of aesthetics. While we teach students many kitchen skills and techniques, we also teach them values that will translate outside of our kitchen and the value of aesthetics is one of the most highly regarded. Everyone deserves to share in something beautiful!
With fresh eyes, these sixth graders have reminded us that cooking is also about slowing down our very active minds to appreciate the simple pleasures in life, especially when they can be shared across a table.
Hanging decorations swing from each corner of the kitchen classroom
Fresh flowers are placed at each table
A student picks flowers to create a beautiful bouquet
From Seed to Table
This week, sixth graders explored the concept of “seed to table,” a theme that we bring up often during garden classes here at King Middle School. Sixth grade students have already participated in various aspects of the seed to table cycle by maintaining the garden’s compost piles, adding finished, nutrient-rich compost to garden beds, and sowing seeds. When they start kitchen classes in a few weeks, these students will prepare food from the garden, eat it, and add their food scraps to the garden’s compost piles. Over the course of their classes in the garden and kitchen, all students participate in the micro-steps that comprise a holistic seed to table program. However, this week we encouraged students to look at the big picture of how all these steps fit together in an ongoing, self-sustaining cycle--in our garden as well as throughout history.
To make the concept more tangible, we harvested grains and saved the seeds. We are drying some seeds to plant in the garden later, and students will cook the rest of the seeds when they cook “greens over grains” in kitchen class.
At the end of class, we handed out cards with illustrations of each step in the process and asked the students to work together as a class to put them in order. Students had to think critically, collaboratively choosing the sequence that made the most sense to them. One student from each class then narrated the seed’s journey, starting at whichever point in the circle they chose. While each class created a different story, they all brought to life the path from a compost pile to a cultivated garden bed to a full-grown plant to a harvest to a meal and back to the compost again—and understood that they are all active in this practice every time they visit The Edible Schoolyard.
Students harvested amaranth and quinoa from our grains patch
Students collaborate on a seed to table sequence
Students are asked to explain both the step represented by their card as well as the reasoning behind card's placement in their seed to table sequenceThe Many Ways to Eat an Apple
What is your favorite way to eat an apple? Over the years, students of the Edible Schoolyard learn that there are many ways to eat an apple. You can enjoy it whole, right off the tree, or pressed into fresh apple cider. You can cook an apple over the stove to create a quick apple sauce, perfect with a fresh baked biscuit. You can slice it thinly and taste it alongside other types of apples, or you can use distilled apple cider vinegar for pickling various vegetables. This week the 8th graders discovered another favorite way to eat apples -- peel them, toss with some cinnamon and sugar, and bake them into an apple galette!
A galette is a rustic, free-form pie that can be filled with many things, sweet and savory alike, and filling one with apples is the perfect way to celebrate the end of the 8th graders’ fall rotation in the kitchen! A galette is different than a traditional pie in that it is open faced, with untrimmed edges. Galettes are the ideal dessert to make in the ESY kitchen because each student gets their own circle of dough, adds the apples (using more fruit than crust) and folds to their liking.
During class, students took short breaks from peeling apples and rolling out dough to take a mini kitchen field trip to the “sensory tasting table” where we set up the key ingredients in apple galettes to sample: two varieties of apples, cinnamon, and flour. At the tasting table, students were asked to focus on three of their five senses: smell, taste, and texture (touch). Food, we discussed, is a complete sensory experience. It is important to use all of your senses in cooking and knowing the texture and taste of ingredients before you cook them reveals the transformation foods and flavors have when cooked together. While baking apple galettes, we learned that taste is only a small part of eating, and eating is only a small part of cooking!
Lengths of apple peels make a delicious snack!
So many words to describe the main ingredients in apple galettes
Of the many ways to eat an apple, a galette is particularly delicious