Category Archives: Garden
Beans, Beans, Beans
This year, we planted more beans than ever before. During our summer program in June, we sowed over 10 varieties of beans with the intention of saving them for seed or using them to make delicious meals in our kitchen classroom. Some of the varieties we grew this year are Scarlet Runner, Cannellini, Anasazi, Gigande, [...]
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Alegria and the Rain
We had our first real rain of the year this week, an all-out storm that dumped fat droplets of water on us for nearly twenty four hours straight. The streets in Berkeley flowed with rushing water and the blacktop at King transformed into an enormous shallow wading pool. The garden, however, loved the rain and [...]
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Harvest, Thresh, Winnow, Repeat…
Fall is a beautiful time to be in the garden. These days, we are busy trying to harvest all that autumn’s peak brings, as well as cultivate and plan for the winter season. Here at the Edible Schoolyard we grow several different types of grains: in the winter we plant wheat, barley, and oats; in [...]
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Apple Cider Making
As the seasons turn and the days start to get shorter, we are enjoying the bounty of ripe fruit and vegetables in the garden. Every year, we like to usher in the autumn with an apple cider making activity. Each 6th grade class gets to make fresh pressed apple cider using a wooden, hand-cranked press. [...]
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Life Into Death Into Life
This week, 6th graders are focusing on the heart of the garden–compost! As our good friend and teacher Wendy Johnson says, “Garden fertility comes out of the discarded waste of our lives.” And indeed, here at the Edible Schoolyard, all students play a vital role in helping our food and garden waste turn into beautiful, [...]
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Monday’s Tomato Harvest
This year, we are growing about 20 different varieties of tomatoes in the garden. All of them are considered “heirlooms” except for two hybrid varieties: Early Girl and Sun Gold. We built a temporary fence around the tomato patch to keep out the deer, which has greatly increased the bounty of our harvest. With the [...]
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First Day of Class: Sixth Grade Garden Orientation
Our first classes of new sixth graders visited the garden today with their math and science teacher. At this time of year, the corn, amaranth, sunflowers, and scarlet runner beans curling their way up impossibly tall teepees may overwhelm a newcomer to the garden. To allow sixth graders to get to know the space before [...]
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Summer at the Edible Schoolyard
Now that our summer program and training academies have concluded, the kitchen classroom is closed as the King custodial staff waxes the floors, the office is preparing for a new year of volunteers and community events, and the garden staff finally has time to spend the entirety of the day cultivating, planting, and harvesting the [...]
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A Day to Beat All Days!
We had quite a day at the Edible Schoolyard today. Our summer program is still running at full speed and they started off the day by playing Capture the Flag in the garden. This got the kids very excited as they ran, jumped, rolled, crawled and plotted to get the other teams flag. While the [...]
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The Olive Harvest