MV Children's Garden news from Lee Budish for the week of November 5, 2007. TO-DO LIST for the WEEK:

CLEAN OUT YOUR CLASS GARDEN BED. PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT IT IS INDEED YOUR GARDEN BED, and not someone else's. TEACHERS, PLEASE LABEL FRONT OF YOUR BED WITH A SHARPIE to avoid confusion. Thank you to Smith and Hawken, through the National Gardening Association, who has adopted our garden. The bulbs and cover crops were paid for by our "adoptive" parents.

1. Empty your garden bed and compost remains. Place compost near gate, not in bins.  

2. Amend Garden bed with soil in the compost area. When facing the compost, soil is to the right of the bin on the right. Mix in, but be careful not to damage irrigation.

3. I will give teachers seeds for beds. Fava beans, buckwheat and winter peas for nitrogen which can be later composted back into the bed and other stuff. Please send me email when you have planted or if you need help. Remember to cover seeds with bird netting which is to the right of the green house along the fence side; I know it is tangled, but do your best.  
  
4. We will plant daffodils. Most teachers have the bulbs, so let me know when ready. One bulb per child. 

5. We need to harvest the nasturtium seeds on the perimeter of the pumpkin patch. Store in a paper bag and return to me. This is what they look like, little pebbles. Turn it into a math lesson, grouping, etc... Have a contest to see who can gather the most....
 
6. Get the kids in the pumpkin patch with shovels and start chopping up all those yummy pumpkins. Then have them get the hay from the back, near the compost and mix together. Turn every week and we will watch it compost. This is called "dirty, rotten pumpkin soup," and kids get a kick out of it. Document the stages of composting. What do they see? What do they smell?

7. We need to move the debris and wood chips away from the apple and pear trees. It is okay to move chips to the pathways in between. Use small rakes and supervise the children so they do not hit the bark of the trees with the rakes as they move wood chips away. We need to keep the area surrounding the trees sanitary to keep the cuddle moth larvae from hatching.

8. Behind the garden gate on the back side are wood chips. Kids can move wood chips to cover the pathway behind the garden beds and between the citrus trees to keep those weeds in check. Needs lots of chips as the rains are coming and so are the weeds.      
      
Thursday night, I was at the Left Bank for a special Alice Waters book signing and dinner (Book Passage). I did a little PR (ok,  maybe not so little). I brought her the garden brochure and a letter from Mrs. Morgan's second grade class about the garden and eating vegetables. And, we actually had a little chat. (I wore my green ribbon and gave her one too.)  In her entourage was a woman whom I had met previously in May when I volunteered at the Edible Schoolyard. She remembered me, and we chatted some more. In addition to this, Roland Passot, chef/owner of Left Bank and La Folie and Edna dad, introduced Alice to the crowd, and in his introduction he talked about the amazing Edna Maguire Edible School Garden and all the things we are doing which connects back to Alice.  Needless to say, it was a wonderful surprise. Upon the mention of Edna to the packed crowd, many  cheers from the Budishes, the table of folks we were with, tables nearby and  former Edna Maguire parents whom I met with afterwards.

Then Alice toured the tables, came to ours and put her arms around me (she really did and I thought I was in heaven) and we chatted some more. She is on a long book tour, but now we have a direct connection to the Foundation and Alice herself. In her presentation during the course of the evening, she talked about public schools and how important to teach children at an early age how to eat from the garden. Nothing was a surprise; it was everything we are doing right now. Our program can be phenomenal for all Mill Valley Public School Children - we are just getting started! I urge you to check out their web site www.edibleschoolyard.org and their school lunch program and visit. There are tours on Thursdays; you need to make a reservation. It is a 20 minute ride over the bridge and an incredible, invigorating, inspiring program which we have in our own backyard and which folks travel from all over the world to see. Take advantage.... 

Thank you Roland Passot for the kind mention of OUR garden to Alice Waters and the crowd and the "to die" for dinner.

Fun Stuff
Also, each class has a camera. Perhaps you may want to document the seasons with the kids in a photo journal? After you document the seasons, you can do a year end slide show. MAYBE A VIDEO, TOO????? Map out parts of the garden. Have kids count and draw apple orchard, can they tell which tree is pear or apple?  Just get out that tape measure and ruler. LOOKING FOR ONE PARENT TO TAKE ALL THE MAPPING INFORMATION FROM ALL CLASSES TO DRAW A REAL MAP OF THE GARDEN, NO DEADLINE. IT GETS DONE WHENEVER.

Thank you all so very much! Please feel free to call me at home 388-5703 or cell 342-1870. PLEASE DO NOT FEEL YOU NEED TO DO EVERYTHING at once, WE DO WHAT WE CAN, WHEN WE CAN... MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO HAVE FUN!

Posted by Linda Dunne on November 5