Our first day back after Spring Break featured Bigleaf maple-flower pancakes with maple syrup out in the rain-shine, typical spring weather of showers followed by bright sun and blue sky, followed by dark showers again.
Maple blossoms are a beautiful and healthy, versatile spring vegetable, tasty raw or cooked in either savoury or sweet dishes. Monday, we nibbled the flowers first, and then prepared pancake batter, dipped them, fried them on the campstove, them dabbed them in maple syrup. Yum.
Tuesday, our school hens arrived thanks to Anna Pugh & family! AND, ducklings hatched in Heidi Soares Grades 3-4 classroom! Here's a fresh video about SSE's hatching program kindly created by Buckerfields, just before March Break:
And here's a shot of our new coop! They have already each laid an egg and the kids are pretty pumped. The four hens already have names and have enjoyed some fine kale and calendula salads ;)
Tuesday afternoon, the Grades 1-2 classes and I made maple blossom pancakes together in the sunshine, and then dug holes, made mud, found worms, and played in the garden.
Wednesday, the grades 3-4 classes munched kale & edible flowers, planted peas, and weeded in the Front Food Garden, aka The PEAS Garden. I envision signage saying "Give PEAS a chance" and PEACE in many different languages... Next week, we'll build trellises.
Thursday morning, after helping with Heidi's runner ducklings, I visited Fulford Community Elementary School to help Ara Van Riel, who teaches Kindergarten there, launch her duck hatching project and get the incubator set up. It was great to see the transformed Fulford School Garden, ready for student learning again with a fresh deer fence, weeded beds, and open pathways thanks to parent volunteers!
Thursday at lunch, we launched the ECO Awareness Club with high school mentors and keen grades 5-6 students, with the goal of planning eco events for Salt Spring Elementary and the greater community. Our first event will be Earth Day 2022 on April 22nd, featuring five stations for classes to rotate through!
Thursday afternoon, Valeskca St Martin and Tanya Grant's grades 5-6 classes enjoyed their first day back in the Garden with a cooking activity to test-run our Easter Weekend Meal Kit recipes using BC and school garden-grown foods:
The menu was: fried baby potatoes in garlic butter, with rosemary, cherry tomatoes and kale, and cheesy scrambled eggs. We got some good feedback on seasoning, timing, and ingredients, and we'll pack meal kit boxes with the recipes next week to send home!
All in week one, back in the garden. Students also planted basil pots for a later meal kit, tended their herb mini-greenhouses in milk jugs, and explored the spaces, munching fennel, kale, chives, sheep sorrel, arugula, edible flowers and parsley as they went.
Comments