Theme: Celebrating Black History Month - George Washington Carver

 Greetings Scientists!

George Washington Carver was an American scientist, scholar, and farmer. He was born a slave in Missouri in the 1860's. His actual birth date is unknown.

He attended as much school and college as he could and became a scientist - especially interested in farming, research, and growing food.

He noticed that Southern farmers grew the same crops year after year in the same fields and that the soil became "tired" or depleted after heavy use.

He tested and developed science experiments to improve the soil!

GWC developed many methods of crop rotation and discovered that the use of certain plants helped rebuild and make soil healthier.

*In our garden, we use these methods today!

*We plant cover crops in the Winter to add nitrogen back into the soil:

*We rotate what types of plants we grow.

*By adding plants such as fava beans and other legumes (peanuts, peas, sweet potatoes), we make the soil stronger from year to year.

George Washington Carver is famous for his work with peanut plants!

He also encouraged poor people to grow their own food to help with their own economic independence.

Activity: Think of a problem in our garden or a question you have about plants. 

*Design a science experiment to test out a solution!

Student Questions 2/25/21:
- Do green grapes turn into purple raisins?

- What's the heaviest rock?

- If you drop water on a leaf, will it splash off, bend the leaf, or stay in place?

- Can you see air coming out of leaves?

- Can we change a flower into a different color?

Theme: Eat a Rainbow!

 Welcome Everyone, Everywhere!

We've been learning about "Anytime vs Sometimes" foods and "Whole vs Processed" foods in our garden classes.

Another great way to think about eating healthy is to "Eat a Rainbow," that is, eating as many natural colors of the rainbow as possible! 

Each color of the rainbow helps our bodies in a different way. 

Try to eat fresh fruits and vegetables of each color: 

Red - helps your heart - Lycopene

Orange - helps your eyes - Vitamin D

Yellow - helps your immune system - Vitamin C

Green - helps our digestive tract, it's the "broom" for our bodies - Fiber

Blue/Purple - helps brain function - Flavanoids

Brown/Tan - helps the lymph system - Allyl Sulfides

*Eating the full rainbow ensure our bodies get the nutrients we need to be healthy!

Theme: Black History Month - Ron Finley

 Greetings Farmers!

Our focus-farmer this week is Ron Finley - an urban farmer in South Central Los Angeles. His group, LA Green Grounds, works to grow food in the patch of land between the sidewalk and the street in neighborhoods known as "food deserts."

A "food desert" is an area, usually in a city, where there are no grocery stores and access to fresh food is limited.

Ron Finley noticed that access to fast food, convenience stores, and processed food was negatively affecting the community, so, he decided to teach people to grow their own food and be stewards of their own land.

Watch his amazing TED Talk:

*He says, "Growing your own food is like printing your own money."

Take care, Everyone, Everywhere!

Theme: Sometimes vs Anytime, or, Processed vs Whole

Greetings Eaters Everywhere! 

We've been looking at FOOD in garden classes! 

We started our exploration looking at how water gets into our food through the water cycle and then, we have been discussing what ELSE do we get from our food?

*Food provides us with all the energy, nutrients, and vitamins that we need to survive. Plus, it tastes good!

*We can think about our food as "Sometimes Foods" and "Anytime Foods" - literally, foods we eat as treats, occasionally, as snacks, or parts of meals, and foods we can eat anytime:

*Everyone is a little bit different regarding how and what they eat and no one's diet is better or worse - the goal is to get all of us to think about what we eat and make choices for our best health!

*Anytime foods are usually whole - meaning, they don't change from when they are grown to when we eat them.

*Anytime foods are natural and have 1 or 2 ingredients.

*Anytime foods look like what they are.

*Nothing is added or taken away.

*Sometimes foods are often processed - they change A LOT from the original ingredient.

*Sometimes foods have added ingredients like sugar, corn syrup, preservatives, or artificial colors.

*Processed foods have lots of ingredients! Read some labels!

*Look at the foods you eat. You probably eat both whole food and processed food! 

*Balance your diet and make healthy choices when you can! 

Theme: Celebrating Black History Month!

Greetings Farmers!

February 1 begins Black History Month!

To celebrate, we will be learning about many Black people who have had great impact on our world in the areas of farming and gardening.

Today, we will focus on Leah Penniman, an activist and farmer in Upstate New York at Soul Fire Farm. Their website states:

"Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system."

Leah Penniman also wrote the book, "Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land" and most recently, an article entitled, "To free ourselves, we must feed ourselves," about food sovereignty.

*Food Sovereignty means growing your own food in your community - which means having more freedom over your own life and less dependence on social systems that are unbalanced and unfair.

*Food sovereignty means that the people who grow the food also control how it is distributed. This means more equitable food systems, care of the environment, and better access to healthy food.

*Each week in class, we will focus on another Black leader who is working to change our society in a positive way.

Read more about Leah Penniman. And watch her video on farming and activism: