First Signs of Summer

The garden continues to move toward summer! Come visit the garden to see the beautiful flowers in bloom and check out what's been recently planted. 

Columbine is blooming in the garden -- in many different colors

A foxglove flower greets guests as they enter the outdoor kitchen

This past week First and Second graders planted tomatoes in the garden. Have you seen heirloom varieties of tomatoes at farmers' markets or the supermarket -- or grown them yourself? Well, come July or August, the EPACS garden will have some beautiful green, purple, orange and yellow tomatoes thanks to our 1st and 2nd graders hard work. These varieties have interesting names that give us a clue as to their colors -- Pineapple, Cherokee Purple, Black from Tula, German Green, and Sungold. We'll be planting over 20 varieties of tomatoes in the EPACS garden this month!

As we plant summer veggies, we are also finishing up with spring plants. Garden Club students harvested and shelled the remaining crop of peas. And they made a few yummy batches of Kale Chips from our bountiful spring kale.

Kale Chips are easy to make: Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove the ribs from the kale, break each leaf into bite-sized pieces. Toss the kale pieces in a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt or a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Bake on a cookie sheet for about 15 minutes, or until the kale pieces are crisp. Enjoy!

First graders in Garden Class finished up their insect explorations by making and painting their own clay arthropods. Students used what they learned about insects, arachnids, other arthropods...as well as their wild imaginations to craft these creative critters! 

Third and Fifth graders learned about the amazing power of seeds. They dissected seeds, planted seeds, read about seeds, and ate seeds! The grand finale included making some no-bake seed cookies in the outdoor kitchen. Here's the recipe that got two thumbs up all around: