The Benefits of the Outdoor Classroom

An interview with Leigh Robinson during morning recess.

Cooking With Kathy

We had a wonderful time cooking with Kathy on Friday! http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20121105-NEWS-211050336

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches!

Our four little peach trees turned out to be not so little! On Wednesday we picked 55 peaches which will be peeled, sliced, pitted and bagged for the freezer. I'm not sure what Kathy Gunst has planned for them. Perhaps they will end up in pies, cobblers, smoothies.... mmm....  No matter what, I know the kids will love them. There is nothing better than locally grown peaches!

Central School’s Outdoor Classroom

    The Outdoor Classroom is located behind South Berwick’s Central Elementary School and wraps around the existing playground equipment in two directions. The concept was presented to the school board in April 2010 by local landscape architect Terrence Parker and was completed in May 2012 through ongoing community work days. The outdoor classroom is comprised of ten elements: a log walk, earthen berms, birch path, infinity walk, outdoor amphitheater, a wooded area, water garden, wildflower field, hoop house and fruit garden. It is enhanced by over two hundred trees and bushes. The outdoor classroom was made possible through donations of time, talent and resources as well as several local grants. This truly is the community’s outdoor classroom.
    The hoop house and fruit garden are sometimes referred to as the “Fresh Food Express”. Local food author and chef, Kathy Gunst, adopted the school through Michelle Obama’s program, “Chefs Move to Schools” , after she was invited to the White House in May 2010. Kathy began teaching nutrition and cooking classes in the fall of 2010 and was often accompanied by other chefs and nutritionists from the seacoast area. On March 17th, 2011 the first seeds for the hoop house were planted at the “Planting of the Green”. The kick-off was made extra special by master gardener, John Forti, who built excitement around planting rainbow swiss chard, curly kale and over a dozen other “green” treats. Since that first planting, Central School students have dined on stone soup, Swiss chard tacos, homemade salsa, fruit smoothies, kale chips, hoop house salad with homemade salad dressings and more, all made from our own hoop house harvest. Grants and donations from local farms enabled us to acquire the additional ingredients needed as well as kid-friendly cutting tools, bowls, pans and blenders.
    If you were to visit on a sunny spring school day you might see students performing a play in the outdoor amphitheater, building a teepee or bridge in the wooded area, stacking rocks in the water garden, measuring seedlings, navigating the infinity walk or harvesting kale. On a rainy day you might see students crossing the yard in their brightly colored raincoats with journals under their arms, eager to sit in the hoop house and journal.

Volunteers:

    We welcome volunteers to the outdoor classroom. We appreciate help with maintaining, harvesting, and cooking with the students. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Central School at 384-2333, or email Central School’s principal, Nina D”Aran, at nina.daran@rsu35.org
                    For more information, visit us at www.cesgarden.blogspot.com

Got Kale?

Our hoop house is full of it! Here are a few ways to prepare kale, whether from your garden or ours! Many thanks to Kathy Gunst for these simple but yummy recipes.

Kale Chips

A bunch of dinosaur kale
Olive oil
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Hold the thick end of the kale stem with one hand and run the pinched fingers of your other hand along the stem, stripping the leaf away.
Tear the leaves into bite-size pieces or leave them in strips for larger chips.
Brush both sides of the each piece with a little bit of olive oil, or toss them with oil directly on your baking tray. With clean hands.
Sprinkle the kale with salt and toss again. Wash your oily hands when you are finished.

Place the pieces of kale in a single layer on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 2 to 14 minutes or until crisp.

Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. Makes 2 cups.

Other ideas for fresh kale:

*Make a salad: cut kale into small pieces and sprinkle lightly with salt Toss with toasted pine nuts and raisins and toss with olive oil and lemon juice.

*Heat a skillet with olive oil. Cook 1 clove garlic thinly sliced for 10 seconds. Add a few cups of chopped fresh kale. Cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes on low heat or until kale is soft and tender. Season with salt and pepper.

*Kale, Sausage and White Bean Quick Stew: Cook 1 Italian sausage cut into small pieces and place in a large skillet. Add 1 cup water and cook for 5 minutes. Drain water. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and cook until sausage is golden brown. Add 1 cup chopped kale to the pan and stir well; cook 5 minutes over low heat. Add 1 cup cooked white beans (if canned, drain, rinse and drain again) and stir into sausage and kale. Cook 2 minutes. Add 1 chopped ripe tomato and cook another 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce if you like.

In the Spirit of the Olympics

Fun Fact: Our blog currently contains 64 posts, not including this one.

Fun Fact: Since the first post over two years ago, our blog has had over 4,400 visitors.

Fun Fact: Between Terrence Parker, Kathy Gunst, Vicki Stewart, Nina D'Aran and Kate Smith, we've given well over 100 tours of the Outdoor Classroom.

Fun Fact: 86: The highest number of students Kathy Gunst has ever cooked with AT THE SAME TIME.

And finally, in the spirit of the Olympics: the top ten countries to visit our website, in order of the number of page views:

Another Successful Harvest

You'll have to use your imagination with this post... in my excitement I never took a photo! Last night Corinna Melino and her three children, Alayna, Serafina and James, helped harvest and sell this week's produce for the Hot Summer Nights Concert Series. They found several cucumbers and squash, dozens of beans, carrots of all sizes and colors, two varieties of kale and some rainbow swiss chard. If you would like to help harvest, we meet Thursdays at 5:30 PM at the hoop house behind Central School. We'd love to have you! The proceeds from our farmer's markets will go towards general upkeep and maintenance, such as seeds for our fall gardens!
     Wait! I also want to thank Will Lusenhop, Lisa Jones and their children Jack and Sophie for watering the hoop house this past week. We've had several families sign up to take either a week or weekend to water and help maintain our gardens. This has been so helpful, especially on those hot summer days! If your family is willing to help water for a week or weekend in August, please email Pauliina Pope at cesoutdoors@gmail.com, I believe we still have some openings!

Natives

What do you think of when you hear the word, "native"? I was recently on a road trip with my daughter, Mikayla, who loves to sketch. Soon after we drive past a sign for a farmer's market, she laughs under her breath and quickly begins to sketch. Looking down, I see she has drawn a plump tomato with a headdress made from basil leaves, wielding a somewhat crude hatchet. Apparently, it is her version of a "native" tomato. Laughter and fresh food.... they are both so very good for you. I was reminded this yet again at last Thursday's farmer's market in front of Central School. Kathy Adams and her son Liam met me at the hoop house, and we shared stories and laughs as we harvested beans, kale, swiss chard, mixed greens, cucumbers and blueberries. Every once in awhile Liam would let out a yelp, holding up a giant bean or bouquet of kale. We hauled our catch to the front of the school, setting up a table in a row with SOBO Central Lanternfest's table and the Hot Summer Nights' concession stand. Liam was kept busy selling produce. I think our favorite customer was second grade student, Adia, she sure likes cucumbers! We made $45, selling all but a few bags of dinosaur kale. Those went home and became kale chips for my own family! Are you sad you missed us? We'll be back every Thursday at 6:30 until the end of the Hot Summer Nights' Concerts. Music, laughter and fresh food... hmm.... makes sense to me!

What ever happened to...?

Hello friends! Remember those little seeds you so carefully tucked into a cup of dirt? Look what happened while we were away! While school has been out, volunteers have been tending, watering, weeding and keeping those pesky bugs away. Hard work pays off. Here are just a few of the fruits of our labor! If you were one of those volunteers, thank you!  Starting next Thursday, we will be selling some of the produce at the Hot Summer Nights Concerts in front of Central School at 6:30 PM. We will have kale, swiss chard, cucumbers and, if they are ready.... some squash! If that's too long to wait, no worries- we'll be selling kale at the hoop house for the Blossoms for Books Garden Tour on Saturday. Come on by! You can count the peaches on our tree and see the blueberries on our blueberry bushes, they are loaded!

Celebration Parade

     To celebrate the completion of the outdoor classroom, the school gathered in the gym to show their gratitude to Terrence Parker, the landscape architect who first envisioned the project. The students then held hands, leaving through the back of the gym and parading past the hoop house, around the field of wild flowers, through the wooded area, past the log teepee and student-made bridge, across the water garden,, weaving through the log walk, earthen berms, birch tree path and infinity walk before gathering around the outdoor amphitheater. The students were colorful in their rain boots and jackets. It had rained for three days straight, leaving the ground damp. The skies cleared in time for our parade, but a light rain fell upon us as we reached our final destination. The rain only added to the energy and excitement of the day.

This Land from Kate Smith on Vimeo.

Hoop House Salad on Field Day

Yum! As if Field Day wasn't fun enough, we once again added our hoop house salad to the day! Some classes harvested while others made the super yummy salad dressings (so good some wanted to drink it!) Many thanks to Pauliina Pope, Kelly Maddison, Corinna Melino, Nina D'Aran and Vicki Stewart for making it extra special!

Harvesting Pea Pods

Time to harvest those pea pods!

Cooking With Kathy

Mmm! Homemade Salsa for Swiss Chard Tacos, all accompanied by crispy kale chips. It wasn't  uncommon to see students digging in for their seconds and staff sneaking in for their own serving!  Students harvested the kale and swiss chard the day before while the rest of the ingredients were purchased with grant money.

SWISS CHARD

 

1. CUT THE ENDS OFF THE CHARD

2. CHOPS THE CHARD INTO SMALL 1-INCH PIECES

3. CHOP THE ONIONS INTO LITTLE PIECES

4. HEAT A LARGE SKILLET. ADD 1 TO 2 TABLESPOONS OLIVE OIL AND LET IT GET WARM—MEDIUM HEAT.

5. ADD THE ONIONS AND SALT AND PEPPER.

6. COOK ABOUT 5 MINUTES, STIRRING UNTIL SOFT.

7. ADD THE SWISS CHARD AND COOK FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES UNTIL SOFT AND TENDER.

8. TASTE FOR SEASONING—ADD MORE SALT AND PEPPER IF NEEDED.

 

SALSA

1. CHOP TOMATOES INTO SMALL PIECES AND PUT IN A BIG BOWL.

2. CHOPS THE PEPPERS INTO SMALL PIECES AND ADD TO THE TOMATOES.

3. CHOP THE SCALLIONS INTO SMALL PIECES AND ADD TO THE TOMATOES AND PEPPERS.

4. SQUEEZE THE LIMES OVER THE SALSA.

5. ADD SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE.

Planting Seedlings

The rest of the seedlings from the Planting of the Green were planted during the end of April and early May. Here are pictures from some of the plantings:

Mrs. Gilbride's class plants their corn!