ESY Berkeley Journal
Families come to the Edible Schoolyard
This year, the Edible Schoolyard has initiated its first ever grade-specific Family Workdays! Students are invited to bring their families to the garden and embark on a morning of garden work followed by a delicious lunch. Community Workdays – where anyone is welcome to come pitch in – continue to be held once each year as a wonderful Edible Schoolyard tradition. Now, in addition, we have three grade-specific Family Workdays per year, where the event is for King students and their families. With Family Workdays, ESY is not only able to give students the opportunity to share their love for the garden with their families, but we are also able to give parents an opportunity to support their student and our program.
Thus far, both the sixth grade and seventh grade Family Workdays have been an incredible success. Students arrived to the garden around 9:30am, exuding a strong sense of pride as they bounced from bed to bed with their families, narrating the work that went into each.
The workdays maintain the original purpose of targeting specific jobs within the garden that often go neglected during the week. The sixth graders and their families successfully cut back the wild ivy, potted up raspberries, and weeded the circumference bed of the ramada. Seventh graders on the other hand, tackled the back end of the garden by folding in cover crop while also weeding the beloved strawberries. Students openly expressed their abounding knowledge of the garden they work so hard on creating while demonstrating proper tool use, and explaining the purpose of the delegated jobs.
At noon, students, their families, and staff all congregated for lunch prepared by ESY, and shared a meal over wonderful conversations. Filled with sunshine, smiles, laughter, hard-work, and a delicious meal, the workdays have been referred to as “magical.” With the Family Workdays and now, Parent Cooking Classes right around the corner, the spring semester is quickly becoming an exciting time for the Edible Schoolyard to reach out to parents and give them a taste of what their children experience.
Cutting back the wild ivy
Weeding the ramada
Enjoying a homemade lunchSpringtime in the Garden
After our week of torrential rain, spring has sprung in the garden! The lilacs, daffodils, and crab apple trees are in full bloom, showering the garden with a profusion of color. The tender young asparagus stalks are just beginning to reach above their bed of winter mulch. The artichokes are putting up their delicious flowering heads. And in the greenhouse area, thousands of tomato, pepper, squash, lettuce, chard, spinach, and flower seeds have germinated and are rapidly growing; most of them will be for sale at our annual Mother's Day Plant Sale and Celebration on Saturday, May 7th. The raspberry plants we dug up and divided with parent and student volunteers at our community workday in early March have leafed out-- they will be available for sale on May 7th as well.
The rainy end of winter left it's mark on the garden. The downpours drowned our spinach, which was planted in a new bed with heavy clay soil-- I doubt these plants will recover from the deluge. On the plus side, both of our rainwater catchment tanks are full-- 6000 gallons of fresh rainwater that we caught off the tool shed roof and will use to water the plants in the garden as the dry season approaches.
The best gift of spring is that our beloved ducks have begun laying eggs! Their eggs are nearly twice as large as those of the chickens, and they are rich and delicious. Students in the kitchen have been cooking (and enjoying!) them in class.
Spring blossoms fill the garden with color, fragrance and beneficial insects
A delicious spring artichoke, ready to be harvested and enjoyed
Our asparagus was planted almost five years ago, bu this is the first year that we will be able to harvest this springtime treat
A Greenhouse full of seedlings, all of them planted with care by King students
A bright daffodil announces the arrival of springBringing the Edible Schoolyard Home
This week, as Martin Luther King Middle School heads off for spring break and the staff of the Edible Schoolyard takes to the road or enjoys a stay-cation, we wanted to welcome a new voice to the Journal. Griselda Cooney is a much-loved Edible Schoolyard Kitchen volunteer. Every Thursday morning, Griselda arrives at ESY bright-eyed and ready to go. She has a wonderful rapport with the students, can lead a terrific chef's meeting, and is a great cook to boot. When we heard about the cooking classes Griselda was offering in her own home, we knew we wanted to spread the word. Here is Griselda's Journal Entry for the week:
Bringing the Edible Schoolyard Home
This is my third year volunteering in the kitchen at the Edible Schoolyard, and my first year offering cooking classes of my own. When I signed up to volunteer, I had no idea how this experience was going to impact my life.
I am a mother of three children – a freshman at Berkeley High School, a 7th-grader here at King, and a kindergartner at Jefferson. As you can imagine I am very busy, but I always make the time to help out at my kid’s schools.
Due to my work schedule, I always volunteer in 1st period class. Most of the time the students walk in yawning, not fully awake. Some say hello, while others just want to know what they are cooking. They wash their hands and sit at the chef’s table to listen to Ms. Cook go over the day’s recipe.
As the kids slowly move to their assigned tables to start cooking, they begin to wake up. Once we start chopping, slicing, mixing and cooking together, something unexplainable and almost magical happens. We all start to laugh, joke, and talk about life. The kids always teach me something new.
From my experiences in the kitchen, I wanted to share with others what I have learned at ESY. So, I started holding cooking classes at my house once a month. My first class was March 20th. I made copies of two recipes from ESY - pumpkin curry with brown rice and chai tea. At my first cooking class, I talked about the Edible Schoolyard program and why I decided to start my own cooking classes. There were a total of seventeen people who attended that first class, and everyone participated in the preparation and cooking. Even my 5-year-old son, my 7-year-old nephew, and my 6-year-old niece helped with chopping and stirring.
We set the table and sat together to enjoy our yummy lunch of pumpkin curry, brown rice and chai tea. We laughed, joked and mainly enjoyed each other’s company. In a lot of ways, it was just like my morning classes at the Edible Schoolyard. When I started volunteering three years ago, I never could have anticipated that my own kitchen would come to be a little Edible Schoolyard itself.
Ready for class
Young chefs
Pumpkin curry
Griselda's cooking classThe Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge
Although we frequently focus on cooking fresh vegetables and whole grains here at Edible Schoolyard, we also recognize that desserts have their proper place. This past week, in preparation for the 7th graders’ infamous Iron Chef competition, we gave the students a basic chocolate chip recipe and challenged them to work together as a group to make additions, substitutions, and adaptations to the classic cookie. The students worked in groups of ten--the same groups they have cooked with over the past few months--to choose a leader, divide up the jobs, and execute their variations.
Not surprisingly, the cookies have been delicious. Even more enjoyable, however, has been watching the incredibly cooperative and democratic way the students approach the assignment. One group, unable to fairly elect a single leader, decided to all lead together. They debated over every option and alternative, and ultimately, decided to name their cookie “The Argument.”
My favorite cookie thus far is “Trouble”, a combination of the basic cookie dough with a pinch of cinnamon and an additional cup of granola. Other standout cookies have been “Choc-A-Doodle-Doo,” a snickerdoodle-style cookie with chocolate chips, and “Mount Chocolate Snowcap,” a cookie with cocoa powder mixed in to the basic cookie dough recipe and topped with shredded coconut.
Next week we begin the Edible Schoolyard Iron Chef competition. Each cook group is given a platter of identical ingredients, and as a team, must come up with a menu and then prepare it-- all in an hour and half. Students are judged on their cooperation, cleanliness, creativity, knowledge of ingredients, and taste and presentation of food. The Iron Chef is the grand finale of the 7th graders' kitchen experience, and it is a great time to see what these kids can do!
Three Sisters Empanadas
Who are the infamous three sisters? Are they a singing trio or perhaps a high-flying acrobatic troupe? As any student at King Middle School can inform you, the three sisters are beans, corn and squash – known for their compatibility both in the garden and on the plate. In our garden the three sisters can be found in the sprawling bed just past the compost piles. The corn forms a natural trellis that supports the beans as they climb upward winding their tendrils around the sturdy corn stalks. The beans plants are nitrogen fixers creating a rich soil mix perfect for the squash to thrive. The squash in turn serves as a living mulch as their large leaves shade the soil, keeping it damp and free of weeds.
In the kitchen, the students learned that the ingenious farming techniques of the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas played an important role in the establishment of those empires. One example, the use of terraces to cultivate mountainous regions, is used throughout the world today- even at the Edible Schoolyard garden.
Seventh graders made empanada filling using our own Hubbard squash, Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, spring onions and sage. The dough included ground corn flour as well as egg yolks from the chickens. As the pans of golden empanadas came out of the oven one word came immediately to mind: Gracias.
A lesson in Meso-American Agriculture leading into making three sisters empanadas
Three sisters filling going into the empanada dough
Empanadas ready for the oven
Three sisters empanadas, hot from the oven -- gracias!Go Goats Go!
Over the years, the Edible Schoolyard has been visited by a collection of famed individuals including Prince Charles, Mister Rogers, Sandor Katz, and Jake Gyllenhaal. This week a new celebrity pranced proudly through the garden, attracting stares of admiration and inciting shrieks of joy from King students and staff alike. Our latest visitor will likely be remembered in the garden hall of fame as the most miniature yet most popular guest of all time. Meet Oleoh, a newborn baby goat that single hoofedly wooed all of our hearts this week.
Oleoh comes to us from Green Fairy Farm, a local Berkeley agriculture project run by Jim Montgomery and Mateo Rutherford. For the past year I have been apprenticing at this backyard urban goat haven learning the ins and outs of small-scale goat husbandry and have gotten to know the rest of Oleoh’s family (4 nannys, 2 bucks, and now 5 other baby goats). Goats are notorious for having voracious appetites and on occasion the Green Fairy goats have put their hunger to good work, helping to clear areas simply by filling their empty goat bellies. Since we value hard work and good eating here at the Edible Schoolyard, we thought the goats would fit right in.
Behind our chicken coop there is a wild hillside that is covered by invasive species like English ivy and scotch broom. The entire hillside is around 1-acre and we are attempting to clear ¼ of this area initially so we can plant an orchard in the future. The area is delineated with an electric fence powered by a solar panel now known as the goat pen. We have been hosting 3 adult goats Xicha, Tessa, and Satchel during school days when the weather holds since there is no covered area in the pen. We are not set up to host the goats overnight, so we treat them like day campers and return them to Green Fairy Farm at the finish of the school day.
As one student so wisely said, bringing the goats to the Edible Schoolyard has been a, “win-win-win” situation for everyone involved. A win for the goats because they get to graze on a delicious menagerie of greenery all day, a win for the garden because the goats are bringing more diversity to our representation of animals and are happily fertilizing the site of our future orchard, and a win for the students who get to interact with and learn about these magnificent creatures. Based on the warm reception of our ruminant visitors by the King community, its clear that there may be more goats in our future…
A goat in the garden
Oleoh being bottle-fed
Who doesn't love a baby goat?
The Rainy Day Worm Lesson
We’ve just had a real cold snap for the San Francisco Bay Area, with snow falling in areas that haven’t seen the stuff in decades. With storm after storm hitting the West Coast, sometimes garden classes get rained out. Not only is it cold and unpleasant to be outside for an hour and a half, it can also be challenging to find enough tasks to do in the rain, what with the soil being completely water-logged. When this happens, we take garden class into the 6th grade classroom, with a bucket of red wigglers (Eisenia fetida) and our trusty worm video starring our favorite Mary Applehoff.
I think corny is the best way to describe this video, but it’s also chock full of great information about just how beneficial worms are to the soil and therefore the garden. We learn how worms have little barbs called setae to help them hold the ground while they propel themselves forward using hydraulics. We learn that worms, with their burrows, are responsible for aerating the soil and their manure, or casting, is a valuable plant food. With the video, we learn that worms are both male and female and to reproduce they shed a sac called a cocoon, the size of a grain of rice. It’s from this cocoon that a baby worm is born. And all of this fascinating information is set to a memorable soundtrack that the garden teachers are humming for the rest of the day.
After the twenty-minute video, we pass out plates piled high with vermicompost, each one looking like a generous helping of some medieval porridge, all while rain is pelting the windows outside. With a hand lens and wooden coffee stirrer, the students probe the compost in search of worms and other invertebrates. Amid the squeals and excitement, real scientific observation is taking place. Together we answer questions like, how many segments does the worm have? How can you tell the head from the tail? How does the worm move? The teaching staff is always impressed at how interested – and not grossed out – students are with the worm lesson. And if we can’t be in the garden on these rainy days, learning about worms in the classroom is a pretty great back-up lesson.
Red Wiggler
Wow, worms!
A tiny worm cocoon
Wormania! Starring Mary AppelhofCrazy for Brassicas!
This winter has yielded a wonderful abundance of brassicas. From spicy mustard greens to crunchy purple cabbage, curly Russian kale and neon green Romanesco cauliflower, winter has been especially colorful, not to mention tasty, this year. Diversity permeates the garden with the many varieties of vegetables that comprise bed after bed.
Brassicas are particularly unique and outstandingly popular amongst gardeners as the genus contains more important agricultural and horticultural crops than any other genus. The diverse grouping of vegetables includes plants whose leaves, flowers, stems, and roots are all cooked and deliciously eaten across cultures. Some examples from the garden are as follows: root (rutabaga, turnips), stems (kohlrabi), leaves (cabbages, mustard greens, kale), flowers (broccoli, cauliflower), and seed (mustard seed).
Some brassicas, such as our broccoli de Chico with their abundant side shoots, have been yielding endless snacks for foraging students. Others serve as beautiful impromptu lessons. The Romanesco cauliflower is an intriguing example of natural fractals, fragmented geometrical shapes that, when split into parts, become an exact miniature copy of the whole. The branched meristems of the Romanesco make a logarithmic spiral with each bud composed of a series of smaller buds, all arranged in yet another logarithmic spiral. When students munch on these edible lessons, they are also fueling their bodies with abundant vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. For everyone at the ESY garden, it is a pleasure growing, learning about, and enjoying brassicas – those powerhouses of the vegetable kingdom and the current boss of our ESY garden.
Romanesco cauliflower
Up-close with Romanesco's fractals
Freshly picked broccoliThe Secret Life of Benches
During the day, the garden hums with life. Students and hummingbirds alike suck the nectar from edible flowers. Garden teachers prune the fruit trees. The neighborhood black and white cat patrols the compost heap, searching for rodents. The chickens scratch for grubs in the dirt. But after twilight, we can only guess what goes on-- and it appears that the benches in the garden have a secret life after hours.
The bench by the chicken coop disappeared for a while, then returned splattered with paint and bearing garden-loving slogans. Perhaps this bench is an artist-activist in its free time.
The bench by the fig tree was recently found in the tree one morning. I guess it got tired of always having its feet on the ground, and after so much time at the base of the tree, it finally climbed into the heights of the branches.
We recently discovered that the benches by the greenhouse disappeared, along with half of a table. I can only hope that the bench eloped with the table and that they are happy together wherever they are.
The old bench under the lemon tree still hasn't moved. It must be content with it's view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
We have a new addition to the garden! One of our science teachers donated a bench in honor of her mother, Fannie Smith, who was a teacher and administrator in the Berkeley public schools for over 30 years. This beautiful new bench is already much-loved by students who enjoy it on a daily basis after school. Given the active life our benches have in the evenings, I'm sure it will have some adventures-- though it's fixed in cement to discourage any wandering.
The bench under the Meyer lemon tree
The new bench donated in honor of Fanny Smith
Artist-activist bench
The bench reaching for new heightsCooking as Science
Sometimes cooking is a hobby, sometimes a job, and sometimes an art. Cooking can be many things, we explained to the 8th grade science classes when they visited the kitchen last week. But cooking, we emphasized, is always science. Recently the Edible Schoolyard kitchen has transformed into a science laboratory—a place where students have witnessed chemical reactions, explored physical states, and identified chemical properties.
When the students made pretzels last week, the chemical reactions responsible for yeast activation and dough rising became more than just concepts from a textbook. The class learned the science behind why pretzel dough must be first kneaded (to form gluten and
air pockets of CO2), then boiled in alkalinized water (to create the chewy, sour outside), and finally baked (to spur the expansion of gas cells in the hot oven).
This week, we are using red cabbage juice, a natural pH indicator, to test whether everyday items found in our kitchen are basic or acidic. Students choose from an array of ingredients—such as citrus, vinegar, egg whites, castile soap, or baking soda—and see whether they turn the purple cabbage juice a bright fuschia (acidic) or a deep turquoise (basic). They then place their cup on the table in relation to where it lies on the pH scale, thus creating a visual representation of the kitchen ingredients’ physical properties.
The students wrote the measurements on the board
Testing the acid levels
