With the former edible garden now a staging area for the construction crew at Harvey Milk, this fall is a time for our garden-based education program to rebuild and get creative. Nothing breathes life into an outdoor classroom like enthusiastic students after a long summer break who love to dig in the dirt, hunt for bugs, harvest fresh eggs from our chickens, and share garden snacks.
Ms. Stuti, our new BAYAC AmeriCorps member, will be leading classes in the garden this year. For the first class, she introduced a new ritual of offering infused water and prepared a special treat representing her native India, fresh coconut, for all to enjoy. Students also listened to music and explored the garden before helping to clean up the space by collecting leaves (212, to be exact, for Ms. Grace’s class and 213 for Mr. Swick’s!).
Last week students watched a video called What’s the Dirt on … Dirt? and learned about soil’s four components (air, water, minerals, and organic matter). In the garden, they sowed cilantro seeds in egg cartons in preparation for our culinary unit in the kitchen later this fall. The cartons will live in the classrooms until the cilantro sprouts are ready for transplanting into larger garden planters.
