This week we celebrated the cycles of the year and started the circle by sharing our favorite season. One way we can keep our bodies healthy and contribute to a healthy community is to eat with the seasons, meaning eating plants that are naturally ripe and harvested during the present time of year. Fruits and vegetables that are in season are usually fresher, tastier, more nutritious, and more affordable. They are more likely to be grown by local farmers and don’t have to travel as far to get to the market, which means eating seasonally can also support a healthier planet.
In northern California, we are lucky to have a variety of produce growing no matter what time of year it is. Some fruits and vegetables grow year round, like broccoli and carrots, and others are a special treat at certain times, like peas and stone fruit. To celebrate the spring bounty, each kindergarten chef got a paper plate to use as a canvas and a container of locally grown, organic spring produce: arugula, chives, carrots, broccoli, edible flowers, blueberries, cherries, mandarins, purple daikon, dill, English peas, and spearmint. They also got cooked fusilli, a corkscrew-shaped pasta, just for a different shape (and taste)! Everyone got to work making and eating salad people (or salad pets), we read a book called In My Garden written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by Philip Stead about a child enjoying the seasons, then sang a silly song about the seasons to the tune of “If You’re Happy And You Know It," which got everyone clapping, stomping, and shouting “Hooray!”
