PAJAROS DE LA COSECHA

First day of school and already we have been to the garden. I took the students out for a walk through the garden to see all the different colors that are there. We had our clipboards and paper and pencil. Before we left the classroom I showed them how to make a tally of a number of things. We talked about the different colors of flowers we would likely see out there. Before we left the room I made sure we also talked about how to behave in the garden.
Out in the garden it was beautiful today. We sat for a little while to observe everything before I let them loose, counting every different color of flower that they could find. Before we came back to the classroom we sat and talked about why it is so important to protect the living plants in the garden. Finally, we walked around back to see Mr. French's plot.
Back in the classroom I read the bilingual story "Pájaros de la cosecha/The Harvest Birds by Blanca López de Mariscal. It is basically a "Three Sisters Garden" story about a man who doesn't have his own land and must rely upon the natural world to help him grow his food. I love this story because it really shows how much we can learn from Nature by opening our eyes and hearts.

SUNFLOWER SEEDS

Ms. Peabody sent me this picture of sunflowers she grew from seeds that a student saved. We have these same flowers growing in the Longwood Garden from seeds that are saved every year. I like the idea that we plant seeds every year and those seeds keep on producing beautiful flowers year after year. This is what we do as teachers - we plant seeds that grow and bloom, the students harvest the seeds for the next round of learning that they do for themselves. Our garden is our school, and vice versa.

THREE SISTERS GARDEN

I stopped by Longwood on the way back from Yosemite on Friday. I wanted to check out the garden to see what had grown since I was there last week. I noticed this purple corn that I remembered Mr. Santos planted with his class after the GLC people came to visit. I am going to miss Mr. Santos when he goes to his new school.

GARDEN STARS

The squash blossoms are peaking out from under the green foliage like orange stars in a verdant sky. These flowers (are they pumpkins or zucchini?) are a sure sign that Summer is at its height and Fall is not far away. It must be time to get back to school.

FRUITS OF THE HARVEST

I made calabacitas with things I found in the garden last week. I sautéed purple onion and red bell pepper in olive oil, then added the zucchini, tomato, and corn. I seasoned with sea salt and fresh ground pepper then threw in some coarsely chopped basil. I added some chicken stock and at the very end threw in the chopped radicchio I found growing wild in our garden. I had no parmesan cheese so I crumbled some blue cheese into the dish before I served it. Whenever I make calabacitas I always think about Anita who had her own very special Mexican way of making this dish.

SUMMER GARDEN

I went to visit the garden last week. I was very excited to see how much the garden had changed since we went on vacation in June. Boy was I surprised. The first thing that struck me was how tall the mullein had grown. Big thin spikes of yellow flowers were standing straight up on a rosette base. The spikes were about 2 metres high and the diameter of the base is about a meter across. I remember when I planted these flowers they were lost in a 3 inch pot!
Another flower that is doing very well is my pink hollyhock. Before school let out I cut back the main spike that had grown during the winter. In its place has sprung up about eight canes with delicate pink flowers marching up to the sky.
I am very pleased with how well Elizabeth has taken over the garden and turned it into a space that is central to our school community. It really does seem that as we grow our garden we are also growing a new school and I think we can really thank Elizabeth for helping us get this process started.