"Working Is Like Playing"

  

On Saturday, Nov. 2, the Longfellow Learning Garden hosted several industrious volunteers, both young and old, for its annual fall work day. The weather was perfect. The thermometers read in the low 60s, but under the warm Maine sun, it felt like a beautiful summer day.

  

It may not look like much in this picture, but the garden has been the site of much activity in the past month. These beds yielded hundreds of pounds of potatoes and carrots, while sunflowers, squash, corn, greens and radishes all slowly and steadily grew right outside of our classrooms. Even into this past November weekend, we were harvesting the last leafy bits of arugula, which didn't make it into the Spaghetti Supper.

  

To prepare for the winter months and our next planting in the early spring, Longfellow parents and students eagerly participated. Everyone was up to the challenge. As one of the kids joyously said, with shovel in hand, "Working is like playing."

One of our biggest jobs was digging out a huge pile of compost soil, loading it up into wheelbarrows, and then dumping the dirt into our beds.

 
It wasn't all back-breaking work. In fact, thanks to the generosity of the Garden Committee, kids and parents alike frequently helped themselves to cider, coffee and a Holy Donut (or two).

And if you think the winter is completely upon us, look again: Autumn is still lingering.

It's Off to Work We Go: This Weekend!

Work off that Halloween candy this Saturday, November 2nd, at the Longfellow Learning Garden's annual work day. Volunteers are invited to stop by any time between 9am until noon. Come for a few minutes or stay for hours--we can use the help. The weather is supposed to be nice, so what better way to spend your Saturday morning than outside in the garden?

We will need all able-bodied men, women and children to help haul compost, clean up perennial beds, organize the shed and greenhouse and build compost bins. Refreshments will be provided. (We promise: No candy.)

Speaking of refreshments, all those who attended the Pasta Supper at Deering High School were treated to some of the garden's recent harvest of greens and radishes. And recently, Ms. Chiodo and her pre-K class made kale chips from the cruciferous vegetable that was planted by her class last spring. During these cooler months when few fresh vegetables can survive the chills, kale is a hardened fighter and makes for a wonderful healthy snack, sprinkled with a little salt and baked in the oven.


Here's a little recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 ℉.
2. Carefully tear the kale leaves off of the stems and break them up into pieces. The pieces will shrink in the oven so don’t make them too small. Wash the leaves and then pat them dry.
3. In a large bowl, sprinkle your kale leaves with olive oil and a mixture of seasonings--a little salt, and whatever else sounds good to you--rosemary, garlic, sage, black pepper, paprika, chili powder, etc. Toss gently.
4. Spread the kale leaves out on a baking sheet in one layer. 
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until crisp and golden brown, but be careful not to overcook.

Garden for Lunch

Portland's elementary school kids received a special homegrown addition to their lunches on Tuesday--roasted potatoes and carrots from Longfellow's very own garden. Now that's what we call "eating local."

More than 2,000 students ate up the 112 pounds of potatoes and 140 pounds of carrots that were harvested from the garden just a couple weeks ago. According to Blair Currier, Portland School's Local Foods Specialist, the local lunch is one of the district's most popular meals. Longfellow students--and garden volunteers--should take pride in the fact that they're creating a more sustainable, environmentally friendly and yummy food system.

Word is the chicken nuggets were pretty good, too.

Harvest Time Is Here Again

The Longfellow School Garden's fall harvest took place on Wednesday, with dozens of kids yanking, pulling, digging, scraping and washing off huge numbers of potatoes and carrots. Many of the children who took part in the harvest were responsible for planting the very same vegetable seeds several months earlier.

Before the harvest, our garden beds were full of carrots stems. But it didn't take long for Longfellow kids to empty them.

The carrots were easier to pull out than the potatoes, which students had to dig through the dirt to find. But they were up to the challenge. With plenty of gloves to go around, kids were sifting through the soil like gold-diggers searching for precious stones.

 

After the carrots and potatoes were dug up, off they went to the washing bins, where children diligently cleaned off the soil.

 

In all, 112 pounds of potatoes and a record haul of 140 pounds of carrots were harvested, which will go to Portland School's Central Kitchen to feed the district's schools on Maine Harvest Lunch Day.

Don't Fall Back: Garden Harvest!

Now that the school-year is back in session, it's time to begin to reap what we have all sown. Thanks to everyone who helped maintain the garden during the summer--lawnmowers and weeders, you know who you are! Your help was an essential part of the success of our growing season.

And a special thanks to all the children who planted in the Spring. We will enjoy a bountiful harvest of carrots and potatoes this October in the school lunch. Look for exact dates on the school menu in October.

But the harvest can't happen without your help. On Wednesday, September 25th, immediately after school (with a rain date of the 26th), our garden harvest will take place. Please mark your calendars and join us for our annual afternoon of pulling carrots and digging potatoes.

As you can see from above, our sunflowers are also soaring into the sky. And our Three Sisters garden--corn, beans and squash--is also flourishing. We also have greens for the Fall spaghetti supper, as well as kale, and even a few tomatoes.

 

Movie Night in the Garden

On Thursday night, Longfellow's Learning Garden Committee presented its third annual Movie Night in the Longfellow Garden. Fortunately, the rain stayed away, and the overcast skies actually suited the evening screening. The movie was Hayao Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro," about two young sisters who encounter friendly wood spirits in Japan--the story seemed apt for the garden, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Though the Longfellow kids and parents who attended might not have known it, the potatoes and carrots nearby are about to be ready for harvesting and some of the sunflowers are starting to bloom. Stay tuned for more information about the Maine Harvest Lunch in late September. If you want more information about the Garden, you can come to the first PTO meeting on Thursday, September 12 to find out more. 

 

Summer Break; Garden Awake!

The school year may be coming to an end, but Longfellow's Learning Garden is just getting started--and even flourishing.

Many of the Kindergarten plantings are already bearing vegetables. For instance, full-fledged spicy radishes have arrived...

... and the potato seeds and three sisters beds--corn, squash and beans--are already bearing leaves.

And what's this strange, spiky purple-flowering plant? In the herb garden, looking over the lower playground, it's a bush of allium schoenoprasum, or as they're called when we mix them in our potato chips, "chives."

While teachers, parents and children enjoy the summer break, take note: the vegetables, herbs, flowers and trees in the back of the school won't be going on vacation. In fact, they'll need our help. All summer long, members of the Longfellow community will be tending to their needs--such as watering and weeding--to make sure they stay healthy.

Would be garden volunteers, green thumbs or not, are encouraged to contact the school, or better yet, head out to the garden at 6pm on June 17th (access is through the back gate off the parking lot) as we discuss the summer maintenance schedule.

Spring Fever! Farming, Flowers and Festivities

Spring is back--with forecast temperatures for the upcoming Longfellow Spring Fair this Saturday predicted to crack 80 degrees. Put on your sunscreen, get ready for fun in the sun, outdoor games and grilling, and a bevy of plants and seedlings for sale from our very own garden.

corn seedlings

squash seedlings

There is also a lot to be learned in the Longfellow Learning Garden, and plenty of Longfellow students have been helping out, preparing our future crops and learning about sustainable agriculture in the process.

While the Fourth Grade classes planted four beds of potatoes last Friday, they sang the ’16 Counties’ of Maine song, because Maine's Aroostook County produces more potatoes than any other county in the United States!

When you're tired of bending over to tend to our seedlings, take a rest in the garden's new picnic tables, which were made just down the street at Davis Woodworking on Brighton.

In other news, next year's Kindergarten students will be planting sunflowers in the Garden, which they will get to enjoy when they return in the fall, while third grade classes will be planting carrot seeds this week--which should also grow into edible treats during harvest season. But if you can't wait that long, take a look at this year's Kindergarten classes' cold-weather green beds, which are already beginning to sprout. Salad, anyone?

Springing into Action: Gardening Fun in the Sun

Could this Spring be any more pleasant?

While the lack of rain may be making our gardens thirsty, the dry and sunny weather has made for some warm and wonderful work-days in the Longfellow Learning Garden.

In just the past week, kindergarden classes have planted peas and radishes, while the Magnolia tree and the tulips are beginning to bloom.
 

On Sunday, a number of intrepid garden volunteers helped out with the Spring Work Day, getting things ready for the busy planting season. In between sips of hot chocolate and fresh doughnuts, our gardeners -- novice and experienced, young and old -- removed weeds, pruned bushes, raked debris, watered seeds, and prepared the soil for the "Three Sisters" garden.

If you don't know, the Three Sisters garden is named after a Native American legend that claims corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who only grow and thrive together. But the myth is based on a sustainable growing reality.

According to Renee's Garden website,

"Corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. Beans fix nitrogen on their roots, improving the overall fertility of the plot by providing nitrogen to the following years corn. Shallow-rooted squash vines become a living mulch, shading emerging weeds and preventing soil moisture from evaporating, thereby improving the overall crops chances of survival in dry years. Spiny squash plants also help discourage predators from approaching the corn and beans. The large amount of crop residue from this planting combination can be incorporated back into the soil at the end of the season, to build up the organic matter and improve its structure."

A Spring in Your Step and in the Air; Let's Get to Work!

Finally. Spring has arrived here in Maine. Folks are tuning up their bikes, breaking out their barbecues and starting their early seedlings.

The Longfellow Learning Garden may not look like much right now, but just you wait. With what looks like no frosts in the forecast, plans are in full swing to get the garden going for the next growing season.

Karen Koppen's Kindergarten class and Allison Chiodo's pre-K class are beginning to start some early crops, and the rest of the Kindergartners will begin seeding inside during the first weeks of May, then moving their plantings into the greenhouse and then finally transferring them into the garden at the end of the month.

On Sunday, May 5, starting at 9am, all would-be gardeners, birders, planters, green-thumbs, and those who just want to get outside and dig in the dirt, are invited to our Spring Work Day! Treats will be provided to all who contribute--including the children. 

We will be working on the following areas:

• tidying up the composting area, 
• dead heading perennials near the pond and in the habitat area, 
• trimming broken branches on shrubs, trees, and wisteria, 
• cleaning out the stream and pond, 
• putting all the signs in, 
• removing the broken picnic table, 
• buying a new round picnic table (anyone have a truck?), and
• setting up benches.   

There will be more opportunities throughout the Spring and early Summer to help out, but now's the chance to take part in the miracle of growing from the ground up. Remember, the seeds we sow today will yield the flowers we'll smell and the vegetables we'll eat tomorrow!

A Snowy Start to Spring

You wouldn't know it from the snow, but the first day of Spring arrived in the Longfellow Garden -- with not a bud in sight. The late March snowstorm brought another foot of the powdery white stuff to Southern Maine, making this winter one of the top 40 snowiest in recorded history.

With snow caking tree limbs and blanketing the ground, it's hard to believe that anything is going to be growing on these grounds anytime soon. But seed orders are in -- carrots, sunflowers, scarlet runner beans, corn and potatoes -- and before you know it, that snow will be melted, and we'll be hard at work cultivating the garden.

To help make sure the soil is healthy, hearty and full of nutrients for our vegetables and flowers, Mr. Johnson's 5th grade class will be testing the dirt in the raised beds to make sure they're ripe for growing.

Here's hoping the soil passes with flying colors.

Winter Birdwatching in the Garden

Spring isn't here yet, but you can still hear the birds tweeting.

And with the Longfellow School Garden's new bird feeders, the little warblers will be a lot happier to stick around.

Currently, there are feeders for several classrooms, with the teacher's names listed on each feeder. Teachers and students should work together to keep the feeders full and inviting. There are a number of birds that everyone should keep an eye out for, including chickadees, titmice, blue jays and robins.

If you get a chance for a winter walk in the garden, be sure to check out the colored paths that will lead you to the feeders--that is, until the next snow covers them up.

According to birdwatching.com's Diane Porter, there are several ways to maximize the number of bird species that visit your feeders, from supplying a wide variety of edibles to offering food at different heights above the ground as well providing plenty of fresh water, which birds need in the winter as much as food.

Because insects are hard to find in the cold weather, most winter-weather birds eat seeds. According to Porter, black oil sunflower seeds are perfect for attracting cardinals, woodpeckers, blue jays, goldfinches, purple finches, chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches.

 

Porter also recommends Safflower, a white seed, slightly smaller than black sunflower seeds, which are a favorite of chickadees, titmice, chickadees, and downy woodpeckers.

Porter's site also warns not to buy bags of mixed birdseed, because they contain a lot of filler, such as red millet, which most birds won't eat.

When starting up a feeding program, be patient. Porter suggests it may take as long as several weeks before the birds discover your feeders, "While you wait," she advises, "be sure to keep the feeders filled."

If you build it, they will come.