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.