Fava Bean Chummus

We harvested all of the fava beans in the garden and made a tasty concoction: fava bean chummus.

First you shell the beans from the pods and blanch them in boiling water for three minutes. This slightly cooks them and separates the membrane from the inner bean.

Then you remove the membrane.
Put all of the shells in your compost bucket for later and place all of the beans in a blender or food processor.Add olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and cumin.
Mix it up and get ready to dip.
Eat with pita chips. Garnish with a bit of cilantro and enjoy.
Most of the students really liked it:
Although a few had a different reaction:
All in all, a good time was had by all.

kumquat lemonade

We harvested lemons and kumquats last week. We decided that when life gives you lemons and kumquats, squeeze 'em and add lots of sugar. Serve over ice.

Today we made kumquat lemonade. Our group accidentally put too much sugar in. Since we didn't have enough lemon juice, we used kumquats too. I liked it a lot.

Lara M. ;)

Today I am at the garden. I see wonderful trees and grasses. I love the plants. We planted fava beans that are growing. We planted radishes and carrots. The radishes were spicy and the carrots are barely growing. Some of the trees still have leaves. Many of them are bald. I feel sorry for them. Anyway, I love the garden.

:) Maria Fernanda

Pumpkin investigations

Here are some pictures from our experiments and investigations with pumpkins. First we made hypotheses about pumpkins. Then we experimented on the pumpkins. We measured the circumference of our pumpkin. After that we counted all of the lines on the pumpkin. Then we counted the seeds and my group had the most seeds. My most favorite part of all was to put my really big pumpkin in a bucket of water and my really big pumpkin floated.

:) Alexus

Pumpkins galore!

We did some fun experiments with the pumpkins that we harvested in the garden. Then Laura Carter (Kathleen's mom) took some of the pumpkins home and prepared them for some more fun stuff. She roasted the seeds for the students to snack on and prepared the pulp for future recipes.
She brought in an ice cream maker and all of the proper ingredients for homemade pumpkin ice cream. All of the students participated in executing the recipe and everyone enjoyed the tasty concoction. It was a real autumn treat.

We ate a cactus!

Today we went into the garden for the first time. We found snails and a praying mantis.We got to pick grapes,corn, and pumpkins. We got to eat the grapes. It was fun. Then Ruben came in and he showed us how to eat a cactus fruit from Mexico that grew in the garden. He called it "tunas." It was actually good.

:) Michaela

When I went into the garden, it was so big. I could not believe how big it was. I saw very big sunflowers, but they were all dying. There was corn in the garden. The grass was so tall and green. I had one fig. When I opened it, it looked gross; but when I tasted it, it was so good.

:) Erika C.

Everything is booming!

I stopped in the garden for the first time this summer to check up and see how everything was going. The drip irrigation system is working beautifully. It was even running when I got there. Everything is going crazy. There are pumpkin feelers invading every corner of the garden. Little pumpkins are already getting started. The corn stalks and sunflowers are tall and happy. No ears of corn are ready yet. Every tree is happier than I've ever seen them in the summer. The lemon trees have produced tons of lemons. The kumquat tree has fragrant little white blossoms, and the fig has hundreds of figs proud and ripening in the sun. The plum tree has definitely had some visitors who enjoyed all of the fruit it had to offer this year. There are grapes hiding among the leaves all along the fence. They are not quite ready, but by next week will be perfectly ripe and sweet. So if you happen to be around, feel free to reach through the fence and enjoy some. The lambs' ear patch has taken off around the Mexican sage that the butterflies and bees are laboring over. All in all, everything is truly alive and kicking.