Smoothies are a great way to pack a ton of nutrition into one delicious drink! We took advantage of the abundance of fresh greens and gorgeous beets in our garden at West Vernon to make some delicious smoothie recipes: Beet/Strawberry Smoothie 3 medium sized raw beets, peeled and chopped one 12oz bag of frozen strawberries…
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The recent cold snap in Southern California may make us shiver, but the cool season plants at West Vernon Elementary are thriving in the frigid temps!
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West Vernon Elementary Garden Students had a very special visitor in the garden last week! Ceebs Bailey from HoneyLove Urban Beekeepers came to tell us all about our amazing and very important garden friends, bees! Sometimes bees are considered a threat because of those scary stingers, but Ceebs explained that bees only sting when they…
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We discovered something strange in our garden at West Vernon: giant holes in the leaves of our kale, broccoli and cabbage leaves!! A little investigating proved that the culprits were none other than the notorious Cabbage Worm! These adorable caterpillars are voracious eaters of all things cruciferous! They can decimate a garden in a short…
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We had a great beet harvest at San Pedro recently. After pulling some gorgeous beauties from our garden, we bi-sectected a beet to see how the nutrients travel from the root up to the leaves. We talked about how beets are high in vitamin C, and how beet juice is a traditional natural dye! Then…
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…and our discussion of good critters and bad critters in the garden, a Black Widow spider showed her scary face amidst the strawberries at San Pedro! While spiders in the garden are usually very welcome, since they snack on ants, moths and other plant munching foes, Black Widow spider bites are dangerous and can even…
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“Stead of pottage and puddings and custards and pies Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies, We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon, If it were not for pumpkins we should be undoon.” –Anonymous poem about the New World, 1639 Pumpkin celebrations were in full swing this week at West Vernon Elementary! Our…
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It looks like we timed our pumpkin planting perfectly at West Vernon Elementary!
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TS Roosevelt has a problem. Lured by the sweet ‘nectar’ left by aphids, the ant population has exploded over the course of the summer! Aphids are easy enough to manage over time, with some strategic planting (plants in the onion family are perfect for planting now, nestled among aphid attracting cruciferous veggies and lettuces) and…
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Our eggplant crop at West Vernon has been producing quite a harvest in the last couple of weeks! Aided by the shade of the nearby pumpkin leaves, the eggplants are loaded with shiny purple fruits, and the chilis are covered in spicy peppers! Since most of the students have never tried eggplant before, I took…
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