Quote of the Week

"We come from the earth,
we return to the earth,
and in between we garden."
~Anonymous

Fall Harvest

Today we harvested about 30 pumpkins from our garden! We also had quite a few canteloupe, yellow squash, green onions, green beans and 2 watermelons.

The 11th grade boys class had a feast of the canteloupes.
Our kindergarten class also tasted some canteloupe last week. Today, they had a snack of fresh yellow squash. We even found a "twin squash" where 2 were conjoined. How fascinating!

Since we've cooked pumpkin every which way: pumpkin soup, pilaf with pumpkin, roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cheesecake (with some local goat cheese), we let the 8th grade girls each take a pumpkin home to their families. We also sent them home with recipes to make their own pumpkin cheesecake with their parents for Thanksgiving dinner.

Quote of the Week

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for."
Georgia O'Keeffe


Ms. Polly's drawing of a squash from our garden.

Dia de los Muertos

On Monday we had a festive celebration of the Mexican holiday "el Dia de los Muertos" (the Day of the Dead) where they pay homage to their relatives and friends who have passed on before them. The 5th grade and 1st grade were studying the Aztecs, the Mayans and the Incas of present-day Mexico, so we combined their studies with projects in art and cooking.


The 1st graders were very creative in their costume-making.


Sicily and Jenna debate which food to try next.


Mexican music and handmade tissue paper flags gave authenticity to the atmosphere.


Ms. Polly gets into the spirit!

Blue Moon Pumpkins

Our heirloom "Blue Moon Pumpkins" are almost ripe!


Have you ever eaten lettuce this color before?


This sunflower bud is about to burst open.

5th graders in the kitchen

William, Jack & Peter practice grinding coriander seeds. They loved the smell of fresh ground spices. We are getting excited about our "Dia de los Muertos" celebration coming up on Monday, for which they will have made costumes, decorations, and will prepare Mexican food.


Katie & Rachel are naturals with a mortar & pestle.

Quote of the Week

"A culture is preserved one generation at a time."
~ Dewey Balfa



Scarlett and Mariah (sporting their Fall Festival t-shirts) show off our bounty of pecans before the 4th graders dig in to crack, shell and eat a healthy snack!

Garden Treasures

Madasyn finds a beautiful yellow squash.


Ivy discovers a pumpkin hiding among the leaves.


The children were amazed by the bees hovering and pollinating all the pumpkin flowers. This one's covered in pollen before he takes flight again.


We planted shallots today and harvested some green onions. As she helped the other fifth graders weed and plant the shallots, Rejane remarked, "I've never been this close to a teacher before!" It's always the little quips that make me smile.

Ms. Billie Kay's Etiquette Class

Ms. Billie Kay is getting into the halloween spirit!


Ms. Bobbi Coco dressed in a specially made holiday apron.


The table was perfectly appointed.


The girls enjoyed Ms. Bobbi's gumbo, sweet potatoes and rolls. This was their chance to show their teachers how much they learned about dining etiquette these past few weeks.


All smiles and compliments to the chefs...
Bon Appetit!

Recipe of the Week

Leaf-peeper's Salad

1 head of Red Cabbage, shredded
8 Carrots, peeled & shredded
1/2 c. sunflower seeds or chopped nuts
1/2 c. golden raisins

Oil & Vinegar Dressing
*you can use a variety of oils or vinegars to change the taste of your salad.

This recipe also comes from Vermont's Cooks Garden.
It's named for all the people who travel to the Northeast to view the vibrant colors of fall leaves. This salad is bright, beautiful, nutritious and delicious!

Pink October at APCS

Today we paid $1 to wear pink t-shirts and another $1 to wear blue jeans to raise money for the Susan Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.


Dayton picks some pink zinnias from the garden for the front office.


According to "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth" by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., some foods that decrease your risk of getting breast cancer are the following:
Beans, Broccoli, Red Cabbage, Carrots, Cranberries, Eggs, Flaxseed, Grapefruit, Kale, Lemons, Lentils, Olive Oil, Pineapple, Prunes, Spinach, Strawberries, & Tomatoes. The spice Cumin & the herb Rosemary (which we have an abundance in the garden) also seem to play a role in blocking cancers.

Pumpkins beware...

5th graders Lindsay, Elyse & Shawna are charmed by these pumpkins.


The children have scooped out the seeds for toasting and chopped the pumpkin into large pieces for roasting.


The toasted "pepitas", which is Spanish for pumpkin seeds. They are a healthy, nutritious snack. Even the children who never tasted them before loved them. I love to garnish a creamy pumpkin soup with a few crunchy pepitas.
Parents, try this one at home!

Quote of the Week

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap
but by the seeds that you plant."
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Art for Kitchen's sake

A BIG Thank you to Ms. Billy Kay's sewing class for making us some colorful curtains and napkins! Our kitchen renovation is slowly coming along. We now needed some art to spice up the kitchen walls, so I asked a few of the classes to create visual art that was inspired by food or nature. Although I was pleased by so many, here are a few of my favorites:


Dontrell


Jane'a


Jordyn

Celebrate Fall ~

Our 11th grade boys built this cute picket fence out of scrap from the potting shed. The new signs for the garden have a mirliton image, which is "Uniquely Louisiana".


A baby yellow squash.


Various colors of mums popped up from last year.

Families in the Garden

We are so proud of our APCS families! Last night at Open House, we took family photos in the garden. It was so wonderful to see our students proudly bring their parents and grandparents to the garden to have their picture taken.
I thought they all turned out great.
Here are just a few...

Happy Fall!
Ms. Paige & Ms. Polly

Work Day Postponed

The "Dig-In" workday scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 25th has been postponed.
We will have it when the weather cools a bit.

Thanks for your support!

Quote of the Week

"Gardening requires lots of water -
most of it in the form of perspiration."
~Lou Erickson


These are some "Hidden Lilies" in our garden, which are so named because their blossoms are hidden down in the leaves. There's not much of a fragrance, but as you can see- they almost look like orchids... very exotic!

September Garden Tour

Raven says according to our new thermometer even though Fall is almost here, it's still 100 degrees!


Marshall shows us the height of the corn & squash.


Bella is squinting from the sunshine in front of the pumpkin patch. There are a few blossoms, which will become baby pumpkins soon.


Devon spots a baby cabbage nestled around a compost pile.


Maci stops to smell the roses and declares the fragrance delightful.


Roses can be organic... look at these beauties!


Twins Corey and Courtney show us the lovely minature Lilliput Zinnias by the potting shed.


The 2nd graders play "Ring around the Rosemary".

Quote of the Week

"Insist on yourself.
Never imitate."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Planting fall crops

We're getting ready for Fall crops.
Although it was still 98 degrees today in the APCS garden. We just put a new thermometer on the potting shed, so we could torment ourselves by knowing that it is, in fact, 98 degrees (with high humidity, of course).
Today in the garden, we planted cauliflower, lettuce, and shallots.
Yesterday we planted some seeds~ 2 types of kale, brussel sprouts, swiss chard, spinach, broccoli, more shallots, garlic, cucumbers, butter lettuce, green onions.

We want to thank Darrel Voelker who has been volunteering in the heat to till the garden for us and map out the area for our new ramada.

Gratitude also to Dean Kramer and my 11th grade boys class who have been working hard to get some irrigation out to our garden. It will be so wonderful to have easy access to water.
Thanks Darrel & Dean!!

Cooking Cushaw

Ms. Paige brings a cushaw from a local farmer to the 8th grade boys class.
Do you know the main difference between a summer squash and a winter squash?


Ms. Polly splits it open and the cooking begins. We bake half with cinnamon, butter & honey, chop the other half into cubes to make a soup, and toast the seeds. The shredded skin goes into the compost... nothing is wasted.


Nathan, Casey & Ashton enjoy eating the toasted cushaw seeds sprinkled with sea salt.

A cushaw is a Cajun favorite hard-shelled squash harvested in the fall. Many locals eat it as a dessert. Here is a link to Chef John Folse's recipe (click on this). It is also listed as one of Slow Food's Ark of Taste foods (click on this)