The fascinating world of the Orca K-8 school garden!

Simple question- shouldn’t all of our amazing “future of the world” students find themselves awash in an ocean of beautiful organic tomatoes? The smells, the greenery, the joy- check out this study here that proves that gardening & direct contact with plants boosts your serotonin levels!!!

These kids today were happy, sunshine beaming in through the greenhouse- they felt the power of creating all these plants from raw soil. I think they feel a sense of accomplishment at being part of such a massive project. I constantly try and reinforce the idea that we are giving a lot of these plants away to ANYONE willing to grow food and donate it. Here at the Orca, we grow the revolution, one plant at a time.

We have been transplanting so many basil plants! The smell of delicious Italian food is in the air (not really- just basil)- but nonetheless there is a celebratory nature being around all these plants. It may feel like Winter outside, but the greenhouse is a tropical oasis of earthy smells and humid goodness. With the plant sale over 2 weeks away, we know it’s only gonna get crazier and crazier. We are trying to count how many tomato plants we have- IT’S OVER 1200!!!!!

Today was incredible! We released our salmon into the wilds of Lake Washington, from Seward Park. The rain let up and every K-5 CLASS CAME DOWN! It was a chance to say goodbye to these Coho salmon before Spring Break. Almost 100 survived from eggs (out of 160). They looked bigger and healthier this year. Thanks so much to Ms. Katherine for her hard work and dedication in helping me grow these little guys up. Thank you to middle schooler John for helping with setup too.

It was super joyous to see the excitement on the faces of these students as the salmon were released. They studied the salmon life cycle, habitat, predators, native history and more. This was the final cycle that we could be a part of- now we got to let them grow up and be amazing.

The sun was shining into the greenhouse as we transplanted more and more tomatoes. What a task! Our greenhouse has been taken over with plant madness!

May 14th!!!

OUR PLANT SALE IS APPROACHING!!!! May 14th!!!!! Get all your veggies, native plants, flowers, fruit trees, and more. There will be food, crafts, live music and more!

1000 tomato transplants??!?!?!? WOW! Orca students are experts in making magic in the garden and greenhouse. Transplanting is just one step in the full cycle of growing and eating these plants. We have been talking a lot about the purpose of why we grow plants at Orca- to help local food systems, to donate to those less fortunate, and to ensure our own amazing harvest. We have 22 varieties of tomatoes….pretty incredible.