A summer poem by a Marquez School second grader

One of last year's second graders wrote the following poem as part of the Palisades' library summer reading program. It's another example of how gardening reinforces the academics! Maybe other young gardeners will write poems about the garden. If so, feel free to email Ms. Marie and I'll post them!

Good job, Sara!

Edible Gardening at the Library

Storytime and vegetable planting at the Palisades Library on July 20

Children will hear a story about growing vegetables. They will also make pots out of newspaper and plant seeds in them to take home.  Appropriate for K-3rd grade children. This will take place on the library patio from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm.  Marie Steckmest, Master Gardener for Marquez School will lead this activity. Contact info@palisadescares.org for further information.

This week's harvest

Today I harvested some tomatoes and herbs from the garden bed that has a squirrel-proof cover.  Kurt will be squirrel-proofing some other beds this summer! Please email me if you want some of this summer's harvest.

Planting and sprouting bean seeds-a summer activity

To speed up your planting, you can sprout the bean seeds one of two ways:
1) Soak seeds in warm water for 8-12 hours and plant immediately.
2) Pre-sprout the seeds before planting.  Soak seeds overnight, drain, and place on damp paper towel which you fold over it. Keep seed in warm place eg. top of refrigerator til sprouted, plant as soon as sprouted with root down. In this case, don't water again until you see the seedling.

In either case, plant seed one inch deep in moist soil and then water.

Thanks to the "Garden Team"

Last fall the Marquez Edible Garden was just six empty raised beds and a circle area, all with poor soil. Thanks to help of the Garden Team (and of course the students) it became a productive and attractive teaching area. Special thanks to my "co", Sara Houghton, the Garden Co-ordinator, for asking me to volunteer at Marquez and for her invaluable assistance and hard work! Thanks also to fellow Master Gardener, Jack Sanders, and to fellow gardener Gretchen Arnold, aka "Gigi" for their patience and their willingness to share the love of gardening with the children at Marquez.

Gardening certificates, smoothie recipes and photos

On Tuesday I passed out gardening achievement certificates and the smoothie and salad recipes to all of the second graders.  Thanks to Ms. Yoshida for helping with the design of the certificate. Yesterday numerous children and some parents said that they'd already made the smoothie-some made several variations! I'd bet that a smoothie day at school would have a lot of fans....

This week I'll be giving the teachers a DVD of the Marquez Edible Garden to share with their classes. The children love seeing themselves!

I'm posting more photos from our banquets. If you're a parent and wish some of your child, please email me at info@palisadescares.org.

Things to do this summer

Here are some ideas to continue the children's love of growing and eating organic food:

Farm Tour
-McGrath Family Farm, mcgrathfamilyfarm.com, is open for "u-pick" and drop-in tours of less than 10 people any day. This would be a fun place for the kids to visit. Produce from this certified organic farm is sold at many farmers' markets including Santa Monica.  The farm is located at 1012 West Ventura Blvd, Camarillo, CA 93010
Phone 805-485-4210

-Windrose Farm, windrosefarm.org is open for tours on Saturday. They are located at 5750 El Pharo Drive, Paso Robles, CA 93446. Their produce is available at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers' Market.

Garden Workshops
-I will be giving a free kids gardening workshop at the Palisades Library. Email me at info@palisadescares.org for details.

Garden with Your Kids
-Books with product ideas include: Roots,Shoots, Buckets and Boots; The Book of Garden Projects for Kids; and others that can be found at your local library. In addition, www.kidsgardening.org has some project ideas.