The Orca K-8 School Garden Blog!

Thank you everybody for a fabulous year (my 5th as Orca’s garden educator)! What a blessing to have such a fabulous place for learning about organic agriculture, community gardens, sustainability, social justice, and all that good stuff. The garden is looking amazing and it’s because of all the hard work of students, volunteers, teachers, and families. We have an incredible community of like minded people here who are not satisfied with the “status quo” of public education- we are truly lucky to think outside the box here (and it’s pretty darn delicious too).

The garden will have more food than ever this year- so much cabbage, greens, lettuces, tomatoes, potatoes, herbs, funky smelling plants, and rare oddities that tantalize the nostrils of young students. We have a corn patch for the first time and more beans and peas than ever. The raspberries & blueberries are poppin’ and everything is really starting to come alive. Thanks to all the parents who will help water this summer. See you soon!

Ahh middle school- that delightfully awkward and engaging time of life filled with hormones, a search for identity, and general goofiness. It has been a fantastic year. We talked about all the things we did this year- designing a week of school lunches, studying GMO’s, salmon lifecycles, nutrition labels & facts, the ingredients of pop-tarts (that was a hit), cooking and eating so much garden food, harvesting food bank donations, and so much more. Thanks Jeff for being such a cool & progressive educator who really believes in this food revolution that we are part of.

6th grade is a right of passage because it is the last year that I work with Orca students. 7th & 8th grade is so packed full o’ science & academics that there is no room for me (insert lovely violin music). I will miss you guys!! Many of you have hung out with me for 5 years- it’s been wonderful to grow with all of you.

Kindergarteners were part of that grand ol’ tradition of drinking mint mojitos (minus the rum of course!) to celebrate the end of the year. We worked hard all year- now we must play hard! It has been stunning the last week and the garden has been the bees knees to hang out in.

The mojito (which I drank religiously in Cuba and developed a absolute love for!) has the simplest ingredients- mint, fizzy water, lime, simple sugar (sugar boiled in water), and ice. We even threw in a couple semi-ripe raspberries for good measure. I gotta say it was a good day.

We finally got our amazing tomatoes in the ground on this gorgeous day. We got to enjoy some tea and outside time too as we wind the year down. The garden is looking fabulous and we are trying to squeeze every last delightful school year moment out of it.

They had a great time toasting and exploring today.