Blog | Enrich LA

Bugs Hunts and Plant Parts

Written on May 18, 2012 by Libby B in San Pedro

The garden at San Pedro Elementary was bustling with activity!

Volunteer intern Jennifer, starts off the bug team with a buggy question!

Two volunteer interns, Jennifer and Darlynn, from New Village Charter School, came to help with the classes this week! It was great to have extra hands for our busy day, so we divided the classes into two teams:

BUG TEAM

The Bug Team’s mission was to track bugs in the garden. Bugs were identified as beneficial to the plants in the garden, like pollinating bees and earthworms that fertilize and oxygenate the soil, or pests, like aphids and slugs that eat our lovely plants!

The Bug Team also planted marigolds in the tomato beds.

Marigolds are excellent companion plants, since they repel several types of pests that enjoy tasty tomatoes!

Darlynn and marigolds! Happy, happy marigolds!

PLANT TEAM

The Plant Team’s mission was to identify the different parts of plants that we eat.

We listed all the plant parts we eat, such as:

ROOTS: radish, turnips, carrots, onions, jicama, potatoes

STEMS: celery, green onions, rhubarb, leeks

LEAVES: mint, basil, rosemary, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, cilantro

FLOWER: cauliflower, broccoli, marigolds, brussel sprouts, artichoke, rose, squash blossoms

FRUITS: tomatoes, apples, oranges, avocado, peaches, strawberries, pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelon, peppers

SEEDS: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, peas, coconuts, beans, peanuts, chili seeds

We had so much fun naming the different parts of plants that we eat, that we almost didn’t stop in time!

But the best part of the day was making our snack — A Plant Parts Salad!

A healthy salad, full of fresh ingredients and COLOR!

We used one plant part (6 total) to make our salad. Then we drizzled it with a simple dressing and served it on romaine ‘wraps’.

The students loved the salad and were excited to try their own variations of the Plant Parts salad at home!

Yum!!!

Here’s the recipe so you can try too!

Plant Parts Salad

Salad:

Radishes (roots)

Celery (stems)

Oregano (leaves)

Marigold petals (flowers)

Apple (fruits)

Sunflower Seeds (seeds)

Dressing:

Fresh lemon juice (fruits)

Olive oil

Honey

Cinnamon (stems)

Chop all ingredients. Whisk together dressing and toss with salad. Place one scoop of salad on romaine leaf, wrap and enjoy!

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Turnips, Butterflies and Sunflowers!

Written on May 18, 2012 by Libby B in EnrichLA, Main Street

Garden Steward Angela, and the students at Main Street Elementary recently planted some beautiful tomato and strawberry seedlings, but many of the older plants in the garden long ago passed their prime. We spent the afternoon pulling bolted lettuces and out of control weeds! In the process, we discovered tiny onions struggling for some sunlight in the overgrowth, and a crop of lovely turnips!

In the middle of all our weed pulling, we were visited by several butterflies! The students grabbed a net and caught one, examined it, and then carefully released it. We certainly don’t want to harm our friendly garden pollinators!

We also discovered out sunflowers are going to seed!!! We can’t wait to eat our own fresh sunflower seeds!

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The Perfect Test Relief!

Written on May 18, 2012 by Libby B in West Vernon

Students all over Los Angeles are in the midst of heavy California Standard Testing. So it was no surprise that weeding the garden, on a beautiful day at West Vernon, was greeted with such enthusiasm and diligence!

While the students were simply enjoying the change of pace from their rigorous testing, their minds and bodies were enjoying the fresh air, exercise and vitamin D!

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked with obesity, according to research from the Medical College of Georgia. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that 9% of children across the US, was vitamin D deficient, and 61% - or 50.8 million - was vitamin D insufficient! Get out there and weed!!!!

West Vernon Elementary School takes great pride in this beautiful garden, and it was recently dedicated to a beloved teacher. Her spirit is certainly alive in this garden!

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It’s Strawberry Thyme!

Written on May 18, 2012 by Angela J in Main Street

Bad puns aside, we had a great time planting strawberries and thyme at our garden at Main Street Elementary School. We divided up the work so that some students weeded, some dug holes, some put the plants in the soil, and finally some covered the plants back up with dirt.

Ulices and team ready to plant the thyme

Everyone was quite eager to partake in the planting activity! Afterward, we rewarded ourselves with a cucumber snack – we topped off chard from the garden with slices of cucumber, lemon, salt and pepper – yum!

Lastly, walking around the garden, we spotted some strawberries that had been planted previously and were starting to bear fruit. How exciting!!

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Mulch, weeding competition rematch

Written on May 18, 2012 by Angela J in West Vernon

Last week at West Vernon Elementary, the boys and girls of Dr. Hugo’s class participated in a competition to see who could weed more in a given time period. This week the two teams demanded a rematch, and both teams came to the garden determined to be the winners – and off they went!

Boys win this week!

Mulch was also delivered to the school garden, and the students went straight to work putting it in the garden. We reviewed how mulch (wood chips) would hinder the growth of weeds and enable the garden to flourish!

All mulch'd up!

Our snack consisted of a crunchy cucumber paired with red bell pepper – both were sprinkled with lemon, salt, and pepper, making it a light, refreshing snack after all the weeding and putting down the mulch!

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EnrichLA at Fox Philanthropy Fair

Written on May 17, 2012 by Bordeaux M in EnrichLA

The friendly folks at Fox invited EnrichLA to participate in one of their regular events again this past Tuesday. As always it was lovely to spend some time out in the gardens at the studios. We handed out lots of seedlings to passersby, chatted about EnrichLA and had an all-round great time. Thank you everyone at Fox for always making us feel so welcome!

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EnrichLA in FrontiersLA.com!

Written on May 17, 2012 by enrichla in EnrichLA, Press, Shana

FrontiersLA.com has included this Sunday’s EnrichLA event in their “Harvey Milk Day Celebrations” article! If you would like to be part of this great event, join us at RFK Community Schools located at

701 S. Catalina St.,
Los Angeles, CA 90005

“On Sunday May 20, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Stuart Milk, founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation and nephew of Harvey Milk, will host the 3^rd Annual Harvey Milk Day of Service at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools.

At the first commemoration in 2010, Villaraigosa pledged to honor Harvey Milk through a day of service every year to acknowledge Milk’s legacy of community engagement. This year’s We Serve LA” project—held in conjunction with Gay for Good, Enrich L.A., FAIR, Latino Equality Alliance, UCLA Family Commons, Wilshire Center Business Improvement District, principals, teachers and students from the Los Angeles Unified School District, among others—will paint commemorative canvas murals, build two sets of edible produce gardens to be used in educating parents and students alike about nutrition and sustainability, and complete a campus wide clean up at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools.”

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MOLLIE THOMAS TO JOIN ENRICH LA THIS SUNDAY

Written on May 16, 2012 by enrichla in EnrichLA, Home Page Middle Small Slider, Home Page Sliders, RFK Community Schools

Mollie Thomas

Mollie Thomas will join Tomas O’Grady and Enrich LA and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa over 100 gay for good volunteers

Tomas O'Grady

this Sunday to build new edible gardens at Robert Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles

“Aside from being beautiful, she is an inspiration and has incredible grace.” Tomas O’Grady

Mollie Thomas has redefined the image of a pageant girl. As one of the first openly lesbian women to compete for the crown in the 2012 Miss California USA pageant, she has become an advocate for equality and acceptance. Since spending time overseas involved in various service projects, Mollie has developed a deep appreciation for helping others. A passion which she is now focusing on issues very close to her own heart which affect the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning) community. After her campaign for the 2012 pageant received an overwhelming amount of positive media attention from CNN, NBC, and even Fox news, Mollie has decided to run again for the 2013 Miss California USA pageant. She is taking the opportunity to start a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating positive visibility and promoting acceptance of LGBTQ people.

As quoted in the LA Times, “I’m running for equality and will use this in order to promote visibility on current issues, to become a youth advocate and a role model.”

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The new edible gardens at Robert Kennedy Community Schools

Written on May 16, 2012 by enrichla in Home Page Left Small Slider, Home Page Middle Small Slider, Home Page Sliders, RFK Community Schools, Tomas

: Design for RFK edible garden

Tomas O Grady and Enrich LA’s elite team of professionals will lead a team of almost 250 volunteers to build two edible gardens at Robert Kennedy Community Schools, on Sunday May 20^th in honor of Harvey Milk day! Partners include the office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigrosa and Gay for Good.

“This was the site of the old Ambassador Hotel and is now home to an architecturally stunning high school. We have created edible garden designs that we believe will fit right in and add to this important historic Los Angeles location.” Tomas O’Grady

: O’Grady And Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

The new edible gardens will feature redwood raised beds, an outdoor gray water sink, a composting system and eight fruit trees. The garden will be planted with organic seedlings from Sylmar High School including basil, tomatoes, rosemary, strawberries and 5 varieties of peppers

“I have never been so intimated by a project as I have been with this one. My hero Robert Kennedy was tragically shot here. We have to do this right. We have to do something amazing. Mediocre won’t cut it.” Tomas O’Grady

Partners like Enrich LA are the key to increasing the achievement of public school children” Antonio R Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles.

Joining Enrich LA will be Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Mollie Thomas the first openly gay woman who ran for Miss California USA.

You are welcome to come by and see a garden build in action. 9am to 3pm.

: Strawberries at South Gate Middle School

Where? RFK COMMUNITY SCHOOLS at 701 S. Catalina,Los Angeles,California, 90005

When? Sunday 20-May-2012 9 AM to 3 PM

YOU ARE ALSO WELCOME TO VOLUNTEER HERE!

We are also looking for about 20 folks, who are willing to come at 7.30 am on Sunday Morning to assume leadership positions! If you want

: Tomas O’Grady

to challenge yourself and give something back, then this could be for you! Email Tomas O’Grady Tomasogradyenrichla@gmail.com or call 323 387 3866

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Seed Bombs!

Written on May 15, 2012 by Bordeaux M in Gratts Learning Academy

Students at Gratts Elementary helped making seed bombs today for a giveaway at the Kaiser Permanente Downey Wellness Fair this coming Thursday. Everybody was very excited to contribute their efforts in making these to say thank you to Kaiser Permanente Downey Center for the great contributions they’ve made to EnrichLA. Of course, every student also got to take one home to go plant in their own gardens and get their own food growing!

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