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.