community servings

The interns for the Peabody school went to J.P. to see community servings. Community servings is a organisation that makes meals for sick people. When we where there we helped decorate the bags for the kids. On the side of this blog is the money going to community servings

Photographs

I found this wonderful photographer on Flickr - check him out! click here
I found him while browsing through google images- here's a sample of his work

Snail- Nature's Art, Two's Company-

Ladybug- Ladybird's Travels-

Bee- Dusted-

Butterfly- Butterfly1, Butterfly2, Syntarucus pirithous (?)-

Caterpillar- Swallowtail Caterpillar-

Flowers- Lnatana 3, Dew and Morning Light, Vinca, Heart of a Succulent, Center of Tropaeolum majus, Snow Drops, Bald Headed-

-posted by Morning Star

fertilizer

One day we had to fertilize plants. we used this fertilizer with fish and seaweed. The stuff looked thick and was a dark brown color. The smell was really bad. Well I had to pour on plants. The fertilizer needed a lot of water. Next we poured on it the plants. It got on my shoes and clothes. They smelled for the rest of the day. The plants finally got all of it. I hope I get to work on compost next time. Because really who wants dead fish and seaweed on them? But I still did it and had a O.K. time only because I did work.

Community Servings

Last week we went on a field trip to Community Servings in Jamaica Plain. Community servings is an organization that volunteer, which is good because community servings runs mostly on volunteers. At community servings we learned a little about what they do and decorated bags for the children's meals to be delivered in. The woman who delivers the meals described to us the looks on the children's faces and how excited the always are to see their bag when she comes to deliver the food.
In the end our group of interns, the G&P interns, and the staff combined made over 70 bags. That means over 70 children got a bag that we decorated. I hope that one of my bags brightened up one of the children's day.

The Community Servings Official Site

Peabody Interns go to The Food Project

On Wednesday, the Peabody School Interns went on a  field trip to The Food Project, in Roxbury. While there they were able to ask the interns at The Food Project questions about they're work, the garden, and The Food Project. They also did a group activity about the steps from the farm to the store. This taught the Interns about where their food was coming from and how far it had traveled. After this, we went outside to work on the farm they had. Although the rain was thick, it could not dampen the Intern's spirits, as they weeded, harvested, and cut plants alongside other Interns from all across Cambridge. This was a great opportunity for the Peabody Interns, and I hope The Food Project flourishes for many more years, so the kids after us can have the same opportunity.

To learn more about The Food Project, please visit: http://thefoodproject.org/

To watch a video please Click Here.

Drop-In Activities, 5/20/08

Greetings Peabody Gardeners!

Mother's Day Paper-Making was a huge success!! Hopefully the flowers are beginning to germinate because butterfly season is around the corner.

-This Week's Activities-
We have a long list of garden tasks for drop-in this week. Come for one, come for all, or come for something else entirely! Drop-in runs from 3:00-4:30 every Tuesday after school.

Planting:
Potatoes
Beans
Flowers
Native plants
Weed refuge

Transplanting:
Shade garden by lower-grade entrance--hostas, violets
Empty wooden barrels

Weeding:
Yes please!
Finish removing cover crop

Harvesting:
Perennial herbs if you want them

Special Notes:
**We have extra vegetable seedlings (and some seeds) if you'd like to take some for your own garden at home
**5th-8th graders: Are you applying to be a summer garden intern? Applications are due May 30, please talk to me if you have any questions.


See you in the garden,
Daniel

Spring 2008 Greetings!

Welcome to the Spring 2008 season in the Peabody Garden! My name is Daniel MacPhee and I am excited to be starting as the new CitySprouts garden coordinator at the Peabody School. Even though we are still wearing sweaters, spring has arrived in the garden... trees are budding, bulbs are blooming, and bees are buzzing. It seems like the perfect time to renew the open invitation to the garden and to encourage everyone to make use of this wonderful resource in a way that fits your needs, interests, and class schedules. Official weekly afterschool drop-ins begin the Tuesday after spring vacation, but the garden is always here for your use, and I am also happy to work with your students any time I am around. I will try to give regular email updates on special happenings and seasonal activity ideas--but please do not hesitate to contact me at any point to arrange or suggest a particular activity for your students. The Peabody School Garden blog is also a good place to check in for ideas and updates. Between the Peabody and Haggerty gardens, I work Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

-Daniel
dmacphee@citysprouts.org

Spring Greetings Continued...

This week's garden star is:
--- RHUBARB! ---
Take a peek underneath the picture frames hanging in the cherry tree and you will see one of the most amazing signs that spring has arrived... It is a wonderful time for students to observe the growth stages of this strange perennial vegetable. Some stalks are bright red and nearly mature, while others are just beginning to come up from the ground. They look like white leathery turtle eggs coming out of the ground. Eventually each one splits open, revealing a large crinkled leaf that unfolds and begins to grow upwards. Come by to observe this strange vegetable emerge from its winter rest, and make room in your bellies for strawberry-rhubarb crisp in June! (Remember, Rhubarb stalks are edible but leaves are not)


------ Some key dates ------
Peabody Garden Drop-In: Tuesdays 3:00-4:30, starting April 29.

Garden Coordinator Availability: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday


------ Some spring activity ideas ------

Art:
*Decorate wind-damaged larch tree: make birdhouses, bird feeders, or other art to hang from our garden "gallery"
*Observe/sketch signs of spring

Science/Math:
*Analyze the garden soil (sand/silt/clay content)
*Check out the stages of compost... and identify compost critters
*Observe/discuss signs of spring and effects of winter
*Observe/hypothesize garden microclimates and habitats
*Chart soil, air, and greenhouse temperature throughout a day, week, season etc
*Calculate germination rate for seeds in the greenhouse
*Measure garden beds, map the garden
*Conduct an outdoor experiment

Language Arts/History/Social Science:
*Journaling activity
*Plan a historically-themed garden

Garden maintenance activities:
*Spread compost
*Rake mulch
*Clear beds
*Trim downed branches
*Sow seeds in the greenhouse or garden beds
*Divide/transplant perennials

Indoor activities:
*Make a set of sprouting jars, taste test a variety of sprouts
*Sow seeds, observe germination
*Dissect bean seeds
*Start a worm bin for compost

I look forward to meeting all of you this spring. If you would like help or support with any of the ideas above (or any other garden activities) please email me or find me in the garden.

-Daniel
dmacphee@citysprouts.org

Season's Summary

From April to this November, the Citysprouts’ garden has been a busy place at the Peabody School! Starting in early spring, volunteers and students grew lots of food including tomatillos and chili peppers in our salsa garden, cherry tomatoes and basil in our pizza garden, plus husk cherries, cucumbers, raspberries, carrots, lettuce and much more.

Over the summer, Citysprouts hired wonderful middle school youth interns Emoni Baffour, Tsega and Rangdol Tenzin, Amanda Ugorji, Sneha Mathew and Tim Traversy to cultivate the garden, learn about local foods, visit working farms and develop as leaders in a first real job. Applications for next year’s internship will be out in early spring.

Nice job to all of the adventurous teachers using the garden to support and enrich curriculum this fall! Some creative uses this year included studying colors and counting, the five senses, soil and decomposition, plant development and seeds, health/nutrition, using naturalist tools, developing language and enhancing science observation skills.

In October, all students in pre-K through 2^nd grade participated in the Peabody's annual apple cider-pressing in the garden to learn more about local harvests and food history.

Get involved in the garden next spring! Check out this Garden resource blog for ideas or contact Amy. Please join us in volunteering next season: weekly garden volunteer drop-in times re-start in late April.

Thanks for a great season and see you in the spring!

Amy Baron, Citysprouts Garden Coordinator

abaron AT citysprouts DOT org

Garden Update - October 10, 2007

Happy October! The garden is STILL green and very full of food and amazing learning opportunities. Please read below for lots more info and resources…

In this Garden Email:
1. What's Available for your Class Now?
2. An Easy Way to Get Outside - Plants and Seasonal Changes
3. Apple Cider Update

* * * * * * * * *

1. What's Available for your Class Now?
If you are interested in harvesting any of the following items or
doing any of the following activities with your class, simply reply to
this email and let me know. I will reserve it for you and help you
do/harvest it with your class! In these coming weeks, the following
is available:
- potatoes for harvesting
- broccoli (some edible buds, but LOTS of yellow flowers with
pollinators all around - see how broccoli is really a flower!)
- SEEDS: dry soy beans, popcorn, fennel, chive, flowers
(batchelor button, calendula)
- planting garlic
- planting wheat
- planting cover crops and preparing the soil for next spring
- harvesting basil and other herbs
- harvesting purple and green string beans
- tomatoes
- salad greens
- cucumbers
- tomatillos
- pumpkins
- dry beans
- husk/ground cherries
- gourds for drying
- watermelon
- carrots

2. An Easy Way to Get Outside - Plants and Seasonal Changes
Take a field trip right in your own school! Come observe plants
changing with the seasons with periodic visits outdoors in the garden
(come at ANYTIME with your class). Have students take a look at a
small branch on a garden tree (choose any but the larch pines near the
doors), observe it carefully and tie a piece of bright yarn on it (in
shed). Ask them to make a detailed, scientific drawing of it. Come
back each month or each season and draw it again to watch leaves
change, dormancy, and budding. You can also do this with perennial
plants (strawberries, viburnum shrubs, chives or other herbs, etc).
You can compare it to the cycle of annual plants (those that will die
when frost hits and need to be started from seed in spring).

3. Apple Cider Update
The apple cider press will return to the Peabody in the last week of
October. Please respond to the Apple Cider Email (coming soon) to
schedule a time if you are interested.

Resources and Contact Info for Teachers

Would you like help on a class garden outing? Want ideas for an
activity or lesson? Need support materials for a project? Contact
Amy Baron, Citysprouts Garden Coordinator at Peabody:
abaron (at) citysprouts.org or 617.349.6562 x208

Looking for a specific activity or lesson idea? Check out the new
Citysprouts website with teacher resources! www.citysprouts.org

Teachers, please remember:
- Remind students of garden rules (posted on garden doors).
- Check in with me before harvesting large quantities or entire plants.
- Return garden materials back to shed and close the door.
- SIGN IN on garden doors when you use the garden – we need to keep
track for our funding reports!

www.citysprouts.org
Citysprouts is a year-round garden program that partners with Cambridge teachers and
other educators to develop and utilize outdoor classrooms in 8 public schoolyards.
617.349.6562 x208

Easy Ways to Get Outside ANYTIME!

Take a field trip right in your own school! Use the space! Here's a
list of easy activities you could do outdoors in the garden ANYTIME
with your class:
- Read books outside
- Make leaf rubbings
- Look for colors and shapes
- Observe: sketch plant and animal life
- Count vegetables, plants, colors, bugs…
- Go on an insect hunt with magnifying lenses
- Explore the senses: touch, taste, smell, listen!
- Measure plant height, bean length, sunflower diameter
- Watch decomposition: bring compost to bins, mix it up, look at critters

Garden 101 for New Staff

The Peabody garden is a coordinated effort of the Peabody School,
CPSD, and Citysprouts (a grant-funded schoolyard gardening program in
Cambridge). It's maintained by school community volunteers, youth
interns and Citysprouts staff. At the Peabody, Citysprouts Garden
Coordinator Renee Portanova, supports teachers in using the garden as part
of their curriculum in spring and fall, as well as running afterschool
and summer programs for youth and adults. The school garden is
located in the central courtyard at the Peabody and is accessible ANY
time of the school day. PLEASE SIGN IN on the doors when you use the
garden with students (we need records to report to our funders!) and
remind students of garden rules. If you are interested in harvesting
or picking something from the garden or have other questions, PLEASE
get in touch with Renee.

Shed and Greenhouse Info

Materials in the garden shed and greenhouse are available for teacher use! Buildings are always unlocked!

Inside the SHED, you will find:
- hose "water key" for putting on the faucets
- tools: shovels, rakes, hoes, pitchforks, clippers...
- hand trowels (small shovels)
- compost crank tool for mixing compost bins
- clipboards
- pencils
- crayons, markers
- scissors
- and lots of random useful things: yarn, plastic bags, etc

In the GREENHOUSE, you can find:
- used plastic pots
- trays for starting seedlings
- plastic bins and utensils for looking at compost/soil samples
- a portable table
- potting soil
- watering cans, sprinklers