The beginning of the school year is a great time to get the gardens ready for the Fall planting. The 100+ degree weather and 40+ days without rain have left the soil dry and compacted. The students discovered that a little water in the garden makes the weeds easier to pull and working with your friends makes it much more fun. We have gloves available for everyone but this seems to be a very personal choice.
They have loosened all the soil, pulled out the weeds and trimmed the herbs. The herbs are cut back to encourage new growth. We will be selling our herbs at The Sustainable Food Center's Downtown Market. We have basil, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano and Mexican mint marigold to harvest.
The 3rd-5th grades discussed what courage looks like and interviewed each other and performed skits about times to show courage. We also discussed what can cause stress, how to manage stress and how to avoid it.
The younger grades focused on back-to-school Health basics. We reviewed what lice are and how to stop them from spreading. We discussed how germs spread and practiced washing our hands. We also discussed what an emergency is and practiced dialing 911 on cell and old fashion phones in case of one. What caused some inner chuckles for me was answering all the questions about what a phone receiver is and how to use one. Cell phones we have down, but telephone receivers are now a history lesson as well.
Practicing our healthy habits is an essential component for our students.
The best part of the start of school is making pesto from the basil which grew tall over the summer. Six simple ingredients come together to create and entirely new experience.
The first step is to wash all the basil we harvested and then work together to pick all the leaves fro the stems.
We use 2 cups of fresh basil leaves. We roast 1/2 a cup of local pecans, which are a good substitution for pine nuts, for 5 minutes. This brings out the oils and flavor of the pecans. We put these in a food processor with 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese and juice of a 1/2 a lemon, sea salt and extra virgin olive oil - all to taste.
Of course, the pesto tastes much better on freshly baked crackers. Baking also gives us a chance to discuss the chemical changes caused by the heat vs. the physical changes of mixing the pesto. We also talk about the exact measurements required in baking.
The students learn the technique of use the back of a knife to scrap the extra flour from the measuring cup. They measured the 3 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons of salt. Next we combined the wet ingredients, 4 tablespoons olive oil and one cup of water, and poured them into the center of the mixing bowl.
Next we combined the wet ingredients, 4 tablespoons olive oil and one cup of water, and poured them into the center of the mixing bowl. Stirring the dough is very important. Too much stirring and the dough is tough - too little and the dough is not mixed. It is also very important to stir with style.
The students took turns rolling out the dough. They learned how to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin or the pan.
They also perforated the crackers to give them
an authentic cracker look. Chef Mario baked them for us and then we all got to try our freshly made pesto with warm crackers. It was a big success and we have more basil growing.
During the first few weeks of the school year we have set a fun and active tone. We learn new cooking skills, how to identify lice and keep them from spreading, how to stop germs from spreading, and how to make delicious snacks from our garden produce.
