Gardening Chef London G. was so excited about what she learned in class, that she used her new knowledge that night cooking dinner at home.

Preparing her own pan seared pork chops with butter compote–topped with fresh shaved parmesan cheese. 

 Voila!

 Way to go London!

After harvesting green beans and herbs from our garden, we took our bounty to the kitchen with Chef Victor for cleaning and prep… 

Then we were off to learn how to make butter compote…

While our butter was chilling, Chef Victor showed us the art of sautéed green beans…

Now the best part…tastingthe food!

Along with a couple loaves of bread, we sampled our butter and the
green beans.

And what did we think????
“Yummy!” “I can taste the lemon” “Soooo good!”
“I don’t usually like green food, but these are good!” “I can
really taste the herbs” “I didn’t think I’d like green butter”

Next week…Eggplant Parmesan and Peach Cobbler, Yum!

This is the first of many harvest from our garden (hopefully )  The green beans, egg-plant, tomatoes, peppers, okra and cantaloupe are coming on strong.  

We had a great crew of parents and students that watered diligently all summer long.  Without their hard work and dedication, there would be nothing to harvest–our thanks go out to them! 

Working in this garden was really fun.  We got to weed and plant blueberries and dig out worms–that’s all.

Avery & Noah (3C 2010-2011)

We like the garden because we like to dig.  We specifically like to dig roots.  It takes a lot of teamwork.

Zachary & Owen (3T 2010-2011)

The first time we went to this garden there were only strawberries, lettuce , peas, some herbs and weeds.  Now there are blueberries and cantaloupe and not a lot of weeds left.  We also painted a rain barrel which has a lot of water for the plants.

Eliza, Abby & Iris (3C 2010-2011)

In the garden we have strawberries, lettuce and squash.  There are a lot of other plants there like carrots.  If you want to help, go, go, go!

James (3T 2010-2011)

Carrots, carrots and more carrots is what the garden is like.  Our carrots got vandalized and we needed to redo the carrot garden.

When we started to redo the carrot garden we noticed that a pepper plant and garlic plant were pulled out.  we replanted them and started to replant the carrots.  This is how we did it:

1. You stick in the carrots that got pulled out and put them in rows
2. We chopped off all the dead leaves
3. We planted new carrots near the old ones
4. We watered the carrots

The carrots are beautifully growing.  We hope you can come see them at the Bears Garden, but don’t vandalize it.

Ceci, Emma & Zoe (3T 2010-2011)

Have you ever tasted a strawberry freshly picked from the garden?  I have!  The taste is delicious! (I can’t wait for the carrots to come up!

I hope we plant pumpkins in the fall!  if we do, then we could carve it for Halloween and roast pumpkin seeds.  That would be so cool!

I love the Lafayette Garden!!

Marin (3T 2010-2011)

The strawberries are delicious!  They tasted like strawberry ice cream.  Some were tart and some were sweet.  Some were both!  I thought they were one of the best strawberries I’ve had!  You should really try them!

Alex (3T 2010-2011)

We planted strawberries and most of them are ripe.  Now we can eat the lettuce that we planted a long time ago.  Soon we will have some tall sunflowers.  Sadly, someone pulled out all the carrots but we planted them again.  We also planted peas which are still growing.

Jeremy, Charlie, & Robert (3T 2010-2011)

How to Dig Up Roots

• First you buy supplies like a claw, shovel, clippers, gloves, small shovel, and saw. 
•  Then you start to dig around the root. 
•  Then you use the claw to get down deeper. 
• After that you try to cut the root in half. 
•  Then you pull it out. 

That is how you dig up a root.

Sammy, Tara & Caleb (3T 2010-2011)

The root was taller than five feet!  It took about three or four days to dig.  Tara and Sammy, third graders, decided to dig in the planter with the root.  Later they found part of the big root.  They told third graders Caleb and Owen about the root they discovered.  The next day James found out about the root.  Then Charlie, Catherine, and Robert started helping out.  Finally we pulled the root out!  Unfortunately there was more to it.  In the end we pulled all the big fat roots out.       (Students  from 3T 2010-2011)

We started a “worm factory” or  vermicomposting in our garden.  Creating several worm habitats and feeding them a splendid diet of rotten food scraps, in no time we had rich organic matter to turn into our garden.  Along the way we learned quite a bit about how to improve upon and perfect our worm habitats…

We were surprised to find a lot of dead worms.  Only fat worms made it.  There were baby worms, fat worms, skinny worms, and middle-sized worms.  We fed the worms.  But anyone who dares to touch the worm compost is very, very brave.

Maddie (3T 2010-11)

Gabi & Ashley (3C 2010-11)

Working in this garden is really fun!  And our favorite part was painting the rain barrels.  We liked this because we painted anything we wanted.  Dylan painted a rainbow and Charlie painted a worm eating an apple.  We also planted some okra and peppers.  They are healthy.  We think working in the garden is fun!!

Dylan & Charlie (3C 2010-11)

The Garden

• Great
• Glittery
• Fountain

 The rain barrels are here to water our Lafayette Garden. Come to the garden and drop off any leftover food in our compost bins for the worms.

Sahara & Anaily (3T2010-11)

I thought it was really fun to paint the rain barrel because I got to paint what I learned about nature.  Now the rain barrel stands out and is really colorful.

Joe (3C 2010-11)

I think painting the rain barrel is helpful, so that we can stay green and help mother earth.  The rain barrel helps us collect water so we can water the plants.  They give the vegetables something to drink so they can grow.  The rain barrels collect the water, then take a hose and water the vegetables.  This is why rain barrels are important to gardens.

 Alaia & Kaylin (3C 2010-11)