The garden was maintained and watered over the long hot summer break by willing
parents, Mr. Danny the school custodian and by both faculty and children at the school
involved in the summer camps. I kept the school community informed over the summer as
to the garden’s progress with lots of photos sent to staff and faculty and to the school
Facebook page which were very popular! I have been reliably informed that whenever a
post is made on the CDS Facebook page about the garden we receive the most nu,ber of
hits and views! Over the summer I also harvested peas and beans, blanched and froze
them for future use.
When we came back to school in September 2014 the garden was bursting with life.
Children were so excited to see masses of produce:- pumpkins beginning to swell and the
flower bed a riot of color. In mid-October the Health and Wellness committee hosted a
fabulous food tasting for the entire school over one lunch period with produce from the
garden. We had over 10 different recipes from fresh tomato sauce with spiralized zucchini
"zoodles” , eggplant parmigiana to fresh minestrone soup (made from 5+ products from
the garden), green bean and pea dip and zucchini muffins! The children were very
adventurous and our Head of School gave a little talk to each group of student diners with
information about the tasting. They were all excited to know the provenance of their lunch
and many of them commented on how they had grown the produce from seed. It was so
heartwarming to see my dream envisioned - children enjoying fresh produce from their
own homegrown garden - literally from garden to table. By Halloween we were able to
have a full harvest display and carve the very first home-grown CDS pumpkin. I also
organized a session with Kindergarteners where we harvested one of the huge sunflower
heads together and are keeping the seeds in a safe, dry place until next spring when we
will replant the seeds and begin the life cycle all over again.
parents, Mr. Danny the school custodian and by both faculty and children at the school
involved in the summer camps. I kept the school community informed over the summer as
to the garden’s progress with lots of photos sent to staff and faculty and to the school
Facebook page which were very popular! I have been reliably informed that whenever a
post is made on the CDS Facebook page about the garden we receive the most nu,ber of
hits and views! Over the summer I also harvested peas and beans, blanched and froze
them for future use.
When we came back to school in September 2014 the garden was bursting with life.
Children were so excited to see masses of produce:- pumpkins beginning to swell and the
flower bed a riot of color. In mid-October the Health and Wellness committee hosted a
fabulous food tasting for the entire school over one lunch period with produce from the
garden. We had over 10 different recipes from fresh tomato sauce with spiralized zucchini
"zoodles” , eggplant parmigiana to fresh minestrone soup (made from 5+ products from
the garden), green bean and pea dip and zucchini muffins! The children were very
adventurous and our Head of School gave a little talk to each group of student diners with
information about the tasting. They were all excited to know the provenance of their lunch
and many of them commented on how they had grown the produce from seed. It was so
heartwarming to see my dream envisioned - children enjoying fresh produce from their
own homegrown garden - literally from garden to table. By Halloween we were able to
have a full harvest display and carve the very first home-grown CDS pumpkin. I also
organized a session with Kindergarteners where we harvested one of the huge sunflower
heads together and are keeping the seeds in a safe, dry place until next spring when we
will replant the seeds and begin the life cycle all over again.