Week 2 In Review

Boys will be Boys.

Flower pots in front of entry. 

The days and weeks fly by at Larchmont Charter! Week 2 was fantastic! We did a lot of clean-up, amending of beds with compost, started seeds and beautified our garden space. Fall time is all about preparation for the growing season and clean-up. With the last of our cherry tomatoes, figs, apples and pomegranates harvested, comes space for bright beginnings.

We started new fall crops of: Spinach, carrots, radish, lettuce, red cabbage, chard and I will get some Kale today. I will also get some Fava Beans to plant where the tomatoes were; this will fix some depleted nitrogen into that area. While all of these mentioned crops were started by seed, some in the beds directly and some in planters, I am planning on buy some baby lettuce crops to introduce transplanting to students and get our season rolling.

Seed Saving: Making seed packets. 

A part from starting new life, we have also been saving the old. 2nd and 3rd grade students harvested dried basil seed heads, sunflowers, beans and pea seeds for saving. We made seed packets which will store our seeds until we are ready for sowing in Spring. Saving seeds is crucial to the preservation of biodiversity. By teaching this important skill, students are cultivating the strongest variety of these plants within this particular space. That is empowerment.

Compost Bin!

1st graders dove into the world of composting as we resuscitated our 3 bin compost system, using kitchen scrapes from our lunch chef Robertino's kitchen and Fall's offerings of leaves for a balanced amount of "greens" and "browns" in our bins. We can't wait for 6 months to pass when we will have rich humus!!

Kindergarten kids love Salad.

In cooking, the Kindergarten class loved their apple and pomegranate salads with a drizzle of pomegranate juice, honey and balsamic dressing. The 4th and 5th graders delighted in a warm bowl of Three Sisters Stew, learning about the traditional Native American companion planting of: Beans, Corn and Squash.

Fresh herbs from garden for stew.

    

4th and 5th graders 3 Sisters Stew.

Only the Best ingredients will do. 

*photos by Tiffanie Ma