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