Winter Harvest Parties 2012

Will we be having the same salad in second grade? – 1st Grader

At the end of each semester our students in K-5 harvest and cook a variety of veggies that they have been tending to throughout the year. For their hard work in weeding, watering, finding those slugs and snails that love our garden as well, and working hard on their garden lessons, we get to celebrate through food their work outdoors. For harvesting, we separate students into two groups at a time. One will harvest while the other does a garden task or lesson independently. We have students cut 2-3 leaves. We cut the first one with them to reiterate how to do it properly and they’ll go ahead find the others of their choice. They then rinse it twice (bucket A followed by bucket B), shake it dry, and cut up the stems and leaves for cooking.

This year, Jennifer Louie (Parent Volunteer), introduced us to the wonders and flavors of coconut oil! It is a hit with our students. For a simple, sweet sauté, we add a spoonful of coconut oil followed by minced garlic. We then add the stems that the students had separated. After the stems are cooked we add the leaves and salt to taste. At the end we mix our sauté with precooked pasta and drizzle it with honey. Lastly, each student gets a serving of rosemary bread to compliment their meal. For our 3rd graders, Jay Higa (GFE and AFY Garden Intern) made homemade rosemary focaccia loaves for them from rosemary from his home garden.

Here are various photos from our harvest parties. Thank you to the teachers, Jay Higa our garden intern, and parent volunteers Walden Tiu, Raelynn Hickey, Jennifer Louie, and Winnie for helping us to cook, clean-up, and ensure that things are running smoothly. We couldn’t have harvested and cooked with 390 students so smoothly without our wonderful garden volunteers!

Happy Holidays and Cheers to 2013 – Patty Fung, AFY Garden Coordinator