Edible Schoolyard Journal

The Art of Grafting Apple Trees

By Sasha Harris-Lovett | Published: February 25, 2010

One part cloning, one part surgery, and one part fruit production: grafting apple trees is an irresistible combination for our sixth grade students in the garden. This is the second year we have had grafting classes with students, and our success last year at making viable apple trees inspired to us to order more root stock and continue on with the process this year.

Grafting is a fine art that is perfected over years of practice. While pruning the apple trees this year, the garden teachers saved scion (first year wood) from some of our favorite varieties of apples, including Pink Pearl, Sierra Beauty, Golden Russet, and Spitzenburg, to name a few. Students essentially clone these trees, by attaching the scion from the delicious varieties of apple to a root stock, which is basically an apple tree bred not for the fruit, but for strong, disease-resistant roots. We use a grafting tool to cut a puzzle piece shape into both the root stock and the scion, and then carefully attach the two pieces and bandage up the union with tape. If the cambium (the living part of the wood, just under the bark) of the scion and the cambium of the root stock touch, then the tree will heal over the wound and continue to grow. Students were thrilled to imagine the possibilities that grafting trees provided; specifically, many got excited about ‘Franken-trees’ that produce a different variety of apple on every branch. We experimented a little with that in the garden this year, and hopefully next spring our plum trees will have branches that bear pluots! Grafting fruit trees is also gratifying work because we can take something we have already (twigs from our existing trees) and use it to make new trees which we can plant, sell, or give away. Many of the fruit trees that students grafted will be for sale at our plant sale/fundraiser in May.

Successful graft union fom last year (the greener wood is root stock, and browner wood is fruiting scion)

Our growing apple tree nursery for recently grafted trees

A close up of one of our lovely small trees

Posted in Garden | Comments closed

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

By Joyce Lin-Conrad | Published: February 18, 2010

On rare occasions, our class schedule allows us to see the same group of students on two consecutive days. This was the case this week with Ms. Rathwell’s ELL core – a mixed class of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who are learning English as a second, third, or sixth language!

On Wednesday, each table made a frittata with Red Russian kale, romanesco, and herbs from the garden. To take advantage of our time together, we also made pickles to be enjoyed with the lesson on Thursday only 24 hours later. The students were amazed that pickles could be made so easily and in such a short amount of time. Many used a wavy knife to cut the carrots into fun shapes. We also tried both hot and cold pickling methods to see if we could discern a difference the next day.

Thursday morning the class learned to make tortillas and enjoyed a feast of black beans, handmade guacamole with cilantro from the garden, rice, and the deliciously tart, sweet, and spicy pickled vegetables. We proved that good things do come to those who wait.

Pickled Vegetables

3 whole garlic cloves
1 small red onion
1 bunch French Breakfast radishes
3 carrots
1 sprig marjoram
1 bay leaf
1 dried chili pepper

2 cups vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp kosher salt

Peel the garlic. Peel and slice the onion. Remove the stems and leaves from the radishes and carrots and cut into desired shapes. Place the garlic, onion, radishes, carrots, herbs, and chili into a quart jar. Place the vinegar in a saucepan, add the sugar and salt, and bring the mixture to a boil for one minute. Remove liquid from heat and pour into the jar. Seal, let cool, and refrigerate overnight.

Alternate method: Simply whisk the vinegar with the salt and sugar until dissolved, then pour cold into the jar. Seal and refrigerate overnight. (In the head-to-heard competition of hot vs. cold, we found no discernible difference between the two methods.)

Our chalkboard showing the students what was in store for the second day in the kitchen

Rolling the masa to make tortillas

The tortilla press we used to flatten the masa balls

Cooking the tortillas

Our beautiful pickles

The spicy and sour pickles ended up being a very popular component of the meal

The delicious meal

Posted in Kitchen | Comments closed

Maki Sushi

By Monica Linzner | Published: February 10, 2010

This week, the seventh graders continued to hone their kitchen skills by paring, peeling, slicing, and chopping various garden vegetables to create our version of maki sushi. We prepared garden radishes, daikon sprouts, carrots, sushi rice, avocado, and tamago (a traditional Japanese egg dish cooked on the griddle). These ingredients were put in bowls in the middle of a table, and students were able to pick their own ingredients and wrap them in seaweed to make a unique sushi roll.

Each student was able to create several rolls, and with practice the rolls got easier to eat. It was a good exercise in managing proportions: too much rice or vegetables would make the rolls very difficult to seal, creating a cascade of carrots and radish when the eating began. Many students had never tried many of the ingredients let alone created dishes with them, and it turned out to be one of their favorite lessons.

Cooking the egg to make tamago

Slicing the tamago to use in the rolls

A few of the beautifully prepared sushi fillings

One of the finished rolls

Posted in Kitchen | Comments closed

EcoFarm Conference

By Sasha Harris-Lovett | Published: February 3, 2010

As the thickest part of winter rolls around, the garden staff gets excited about the Ecological Farming Conference in Monterey. Amidst pouring rain, raging winds, and the occasional lull in the weather accented by rainbows, the garden teachers attended this year’s conference, entitled “EcoFarm: Where the Future is Planted.” The conference is an excellent opportunity for us to learn new farming techniques, connect with other people engaged in similar work, and get re-inspired for the coming year.

Some highlights of the conference were: hearing the wise words of seasoned farmers, activists, and food system experts such as Wes Jackson, Francis Moore Lappe, and Anim Steele; discussing the ideals and challenges of maintaining an ecologically sustainable and socially just food system on a large scale; hearing from Percy Schmeiser, a courageous Canadian farmer who stood up to Monsanto for contaminating his fields with genetically engineered canola; and witnessing the surprise appearance and speech of Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture of the United States.

The conference reinforced how the work we are doing with youth at King is part of a larger movement towards a more socially just and ecologically sane food system. It is heartening to hear about all the good work that is happening around California and around the country, and it is a privilege to meet some of the founders of this movement and some of the inspired individuals who keep it going. We have come a long way in thirty years in making “organic” a part of the mainstream vocabulary—and we still have a long way to go in making healthy food accessible to everyone.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

A Report Back on Counseling Enriched Curriculum Immersion Week

By Jonah Mossberg | Published: January 30, 2010

This past week, we tried something new to help us bridge lessons in the garden to those in the school classroom. We spent the days in the garden with King’s Counseling Enriched Curriculum (CEC) program, which is made up of students who, for a variety of reasons, do not thrive in mainstream classrooms. In previous years, we have trickled the CEC garden classes into our regular schedule, but we decided to experiment with a week-long immersion to see what would happen.

We began our mornings in the garden with regular garden classes: we turned five huge heaps of compost and cultivated a long bed in the back of the garden and planted it with beautiful broccoli plants from the greenhouse. After our garden classes, the ESY garden teachers joined the CEC students for their physical education classes. We participated in several student versus staff basketball games; while we looked to our sub-par garden footwear as an excuse for losing, there is really no other way to say it: we got schooled on the court.

The CEC immersion integrated well the work we do in the garden with the students and the work they are doing with their classroom teachers. Each student completed a research project on a relevant garden related theme such as compost, worms, ladybugs, mushrooms, plants as medicine, chicken care, and potato towers. Their mission was to create a poster that included facts, quotes, photographs, and written paragraphs about their topics, as well as an oral presentation on their theme. Students completed research in the classroom with the help of the garden staff and their dedicated teachers and aides. Aside from researching their themes through books and the internet, students were able to understand their topics through hands-on application. For example, a student who was researching plants as medicine got to familiarize himself firsthand with medicinal plants we have growing in the garden such as calendula, mint, and lavender. Another student who was studying worms was able to get up close and personal with worms as he was cultivating during garden class.

The week culminated with students presenting their research projects to their peers, teachers, and some family members out in the garden, followed by a pizza party that CEC students created. They harvested, washed, and prepared fresh toppings from the garden, mixed ingredients for the pizza dough, and built and cooked incredibly delicious pizzas in our wood-fired oven. We were all able to celebrate the CEC students’ hard work in the garden and on their research projects by enjoying pizza and salad together in the ESY kitchen classroom. Overall, the CEC immersion week was a great success and with a little bit of fine tuning, we plan to repeat this same program again year after year.

Turning compost

The bed we cultivated together The finished bed of broccoli

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Edible Schoolyard at PS216 in Brooklyn

By Shaina Robbins | Published: January 22, 2010

We are so proud to welcome our newest affiliate into the Edible Schoolyard family. PS216 in Gravesend, Brooklyn will be building an Edible Schoolyard kitchen and garden very soon, and Kim Severson from the New York Times has written a lovely piece all about it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/dining/20edible.html

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

A Trip to Spain

By Joyce Lin-Conrad | Published: January 8, 2010

Though it was hard for all of us to come back on Monday from a relaxing, two-week winter break, we had a new grade level waiting for us in the kitchen upon our return. 7th graders bring a different kind of energy to the classroom, and Esther and I can only marvel at how many inches they’ve all grown since the last school year. For their first class back, the students are making a black-eyed peas dish from Ghana that includes red onion, coconut milk, greens from the garden, and at least ten different spices.

On Thursday, we weren’t able to see our regular 7th grade students due to a writing assessment and instead went on holiday in Spain hosting two Spanish classes, one specifically designed for native speakers. Though a standard kitchen class has the students broken up into three tables with each table preparing the same dish, this time each table made its own tapas recipe and prepared enough food for the entire class.

My table made a refreshing salad of sliced avocados, supremed red grapefruit, grapefruit-balsamic-mint dressing, and toasted pepitas. Esther’s table prepared patatas bravas by roasting red fingerling potatoes and made fresh aioli with eggs from our chickens by hand. Many students couldn’t believe it when they learned that mayonnaise was as simple as an egg yolk and olive oil and loved the deep color of the aioli as compared to a store-bought product.

Mr. Geiken, the Spanish teacher, led his group in shelling and then frying almonds and marinating olives (picked in the ESY garden and brined by students in November) with thyme, marjoram, garlic, and citrus zest. Everyone delighted in the variety of dishes we had to enjoy, learned new vocabulary (almendras, toronja, aderezo), and engaged in heated discussions about which plate was the tastiest.

Making grapefruit supremes

The finished salad

Almonds in their shell

Shelling the almonds in the mortar and pestle

Almonds transformed!

Posted in Kitchen | Comments closed

Wreath Making

By Shaina Robbins | Published: December 18, 2009

There is no snow on the ground in Berkeley around the winter holidays, but that does not mean that here at the Edible Schoolyard we don’t celebrate the changing of the seasons. This week we had our annual holiday wreath making party, guided by Wendy Johnson, who has been our advisor and mentor since the Edible Schoolyard’s inception in 1995. Wendy is a fabulous teacher and everybody loves to learn with her. She brought heath, California bay laurel, eucalyptus, Douglas fir, redwood, and pine, from Muir Beach, California, where she lives. Here at the Edible Schoolyard, we collected rosemary, olive, Grecian bay, catoneaster, and ivy to use as well.

When all the students arrived after school they were given a basket, and instructed to collect their materials. The choices were nicely scattered across our oversized picnic table beside the garden, and without any arranging, made a beautiful display. After we all assumed our indoor positions, Wendy told us about the basic techniques we could choose from to form our holiday wreaths. Each wreath maker was given a metal circle which would serve as the frame, and then we were to put together small bunches of greenery, and wrap wire cord around it and the frame to attach it. We were instructed to repeat this process until the completion, and then she showed us a tricky method to finish off our masterpieces.

The staff made them too, but I think the students wreaths looked the most beautiful. They used lots of color and texture, and were not afraid to go big. I was suprised how easy it was under Wendy’s guidance, and with such beautiful materials. I am already looking forward to the next change of season so we can make spring wreaths.

Wendy helping one of the students wrap her wreath

One of the wreaths half finished

Some of the materials we had to choose from

One of our students beautiful completed holiday wreath

Another gorgeous final product

Posted in Special Events | Comments closed

Catching Water

By Benjamin Eichorn | Published: December 8, 2009

Last winter, in the Edible Schoolyard garden, the 6th and 7th grade students installed a rainwater catchment system that can hold up to 6,000 gallons of water. From October to May, which is our rainy season in Berkeley, we captured and stored over 5,000 gallons of water. Our students calculated that for every inch of rain that falls we will have 200 gallons of water.

The rainwater we collect is used for irrigation purposes during the summer and fall. This process helps us lessen our dependence on municipal water sources and also decreases runoff into the San Fransisco Bay. Currently we are using the rainwater to irrigate our Oyster Mushrooms (the mushrooms have their own story that must be told, but that will have to wait until the next entry). They are fragile and prefer non-chlorinated water, so the rainwater couldn’t be a better match.

We are so grateful to the Alameda Countywide Clean Water Program for providing the grant that made this program possible! The rainy season is just beginning this year and we have already captured 1,000 gallons of water.

We had to dig a great big hole to make room for the water catchment system

It took a lot of hands to move the container

We had to push from many angles to get the right position

This is how it looks today, collecting water to feed the garden

Posted in Garden, Uncategorized | Comments closed

A Special Breakfast

By Joyce Lin-Conrad | Published: December 1, 2009

This week, the 6th graders entered the kitchen to find at their tables a mysterious looking grinder and ten little bowls, each labeled with the name of a whole grain or seed. Their task for the class: to grind, cook, and savor their own hot, multi-grain cereal. The grains we use vary from class to class, but a typical recipe includes hard wheat berries, flax seeds, jasmine rice, oats, rye, farro, long-grain brown rice, millet, buckwheat groats, and richly colored Wehani rice.

The students each pick a grain, record the initial volume, place the grain into the grinder, and then crank its handle clock-wise until all the grain flows through. (The flax seeds go into the cereal whole, and one lucky student at each table grinds the millet by hand in a mortar and pestle, as the seeds are too small to go into the grinder.) We ask the students to notice the fragrance released by the act of grinding. Many agree that ground buckwheat smells just like toast with peanut butter!

Post-grinding, the students record a plus, minus, or equal sign depending on whether they think the volume of their grain has increased, decreased, or stayed the same. After writing down their guess, they measure the actual volume to determine whether their hunch was correct.

The finished dry cereal is cooked in boiling water for approximately ten minutes and sweetened with either brown sugar or maple syrup, depending on which ingredient each table prefers to use. (A close vote is often accompanied by intense lobbying.) Everyone enjoyed the cereal with or without milk, regardless of the time of day, and we had enough left over to send students off with bags of dry cereal to make again at home.