Harvest of the Month
HARVEST OF THE MONTH:
CUCUMBERS AND TOMATOES
Some of the more popular summer vegetables are Tomatoes and Cucumbers....the funny thing is they are ALSO fruits! This is an important point...how a food is categorized depends on WHO is defining the categories -- their languages...For the plant people -- the BOTANISTS - anything that has SEEDS inside is a FRUIT. Therefore Tomatoes and Cucumbers are fruits. However their sugar content is how the GROCER defines things -- so Tomatoes and Cucumbers are vegetables. There are alot of delicious recipies using these two summer produce items. A simple salad with tomatoes and cucumbers is called Shirazi Salad -- you can add mint and/or parsley, lemon, pepper and salt.
There are so many varieties of these delicious summer produce -- head out to a local farmer's market and sample different kinds to see which ones you like better! Tomatoes are rich in lycopene -- a nutrient that helps our heart and skin! Cucumbers are great hydration. Do you have a recipe to share?
HARVEST OF THE MONTH - MULBERRIES!
Mulberries -- though some children's songs talk about a "mulberry bush" they are really trees. We have mulberry tree located right by the bicycle parking at the end of the south garden....some of you may have picked the berries on the parkinglot side when school was closed....I encourage you to keep doing that! YUM!
Mulberries are like blackberries -- but they grow on a tree...they are so sweet you don't need to make them into a pie or jam...just plain is delicious. They might be good in a smoothie though....
Something you might not know about mulberry trees are the leaves are the favored food of SILK WORMS! If you would like to raise a silkworm I can get you leaves! Check out this video below about silk farming.
NOTE: Looking for LOQUATS? Standby for the LOQUAT LOCATOR MAP. Know where some loquats are?
Add them to the map! Enter the address into this form: LOQUAT LOCATOR FORM
HARVEST OF THE MONTH
still ----LOQUATS
This month it is LOQUAT time. Sounds like Kumquat? Right... They both have QUAT in them...you know why? It comes from the Cantonese word for ORANGE (GWAT). And both fruits ARE from that neck of the woods -- south east China. They also have a few other things in common -- they ARE orange, and they are both evergreen -- however they are from different families -- Kumquat is a citrus while Loquat is a distant cousin to Apple and/or Rose..Another name for Loquats is Japanese Plum.
There are some important facts about these tasty fruits:
The plants are drought tolerant and often used as "landscaping plants" because of their nice big leaves
For me they are the first fruit of the spring to summer -- the earliest ready.
In Spanish they call them Nispero - and like Ms. Mindy, the Spanish folks think of Loquats as the "messenger of spring."
Loquats are loaded with nutrients -- especially A vitamins but also B vitamins, potassium and maganese.
You can make a healthy tea out of the leaves that is said to help with coughs and even support healthy blood sugar!
By the way -- loquats are easy to grow from the pits -- and we have some trees that volunteered at Birney available for adoption ;) - Contact Ms. Mindy at mswanson@sandi.net if you are interested!
HARVEST OF THE MONTH
NASTURTIUMS!
As spring springs out around us, notice the creaping round leaves of the nasturtium. An edible plant in the BRASSICA family (our FIRST GRADE Family) they are also good at repelling insects, providing ground cover and great for decoration. The flowers are great for viewing the parts of the flower. There are some great recipes using Nasturtiums in SALADS, PESTOS or as garnish for a plate of snacks. Watch for nasturtiums around you! If you know they are growing in a safe place to harvest and eat them -- try making your own recipes...or check out the recipes from this Nasturtium eater here: Urban Cultivator : Nasturtiums
HARVEST OF THE MONTH
MUSHROOMS!
As we get our winter rains, wild mushrooms who have scattered their spores from last season, begin to come up. We have talked about keeping an eye out for them in class.
Edible mushrooms can be a great source of nutrients including minerals and even protien! Adding fresh mushrooms to a salad or in a sauce or soup can add some additional flavors and increase the nutrient profile of your meal. Dried mushrooms can often be found in Asian supermarkets - and are a easy way to keep mushrooms for a long time.
Mushrooms can also be medicinal - helping our body with digestion, sleep, immunity. Explore the different flavors between a small brown crimini to a shitake. Which do you like best? Here are a few mushroom recipes to try:
HARVEST OF THE MONTH
KUMQUATS!
One of our Birney trees is ripening up - so I picked enough for all the students who were picking up supplies at Birney to have two each. Those of you who haven't had a materials pickup, there are some kumquat bags in the office - and I will also be putting freshly picked ones out with library pickup on WEDNESDAY. In the bag are directions for some "Tuning your Senses" activities - including tasting the kumquat...but like last year I want you to be able to share your SOUR FACE so please record your moment of tasting your kumquat here on FLIP GRID: FLIPGRID LINK
HARVEST OF THE MONTH is BEANS!!!
Beans are in the LEGUME FAMILY -- a family we study more during our THIRD GRADE year at BIrney. Beans are a fabulous source of plant based protiens and nearly every culture in the world have delicious ways to eat BEANS. Beans are often used as CELEBRATION FOODS around the world -- including New Years -- when many people eat Hoppin John -- which is a dish with BLACK EYED PEAS, a kind of BEAN. Many different Asian festivals use recipes with RED BEAN PASTE made from ADUKI BEANS served in Mooncakes or Buns. In Italy it is considered good luck to eat LENTILS because they look like coins. To the left, learn more about a very popular bean, one of Ms. Mindy's favorites: CHICK PEA or GARBANZO BEAN!
PUMPKIN!
Carve it, toast and eat the seeds
roast or boil the pumpkin flesh and blend it to a puree
add it to smoothies, soups, oatmeal -- not just for PIE
Also it cam be composted!! SO MANY OPTIONS!
HAPPY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY!
AMARANTH: Celebrating and Ancient Grain of the Americas!
Many people who know about amaranth think of it as a grain to use to substitute for wheat – a gluten free alternative. If you are a gardener you might think of amaranth as a weed – because it grows readily in our poor San Diego soil. Florists have used the gorgeous colorful amaranths in boquets – so may know it for it’s dramatic colored varieties including “Love Lies Bleeding” – a very read and dramatic display. All these things are true about Amaranth – but what many people do not realize is the indigenous history of Amaranth. On Indigenous People’s Day – October 12th – we recognize this super power plant and the history with the indigenous peoples of the Americas. All the way back to the Aztecs – amaranth has been known as a superfood. The leaves are more nutritious than spinach and the grains are also high in protein not unlike it’s famous cousin grain – quinoa. In fact when the colonists came to the Americas they restricted the indigenous people from cultivating and eating Amaranth, because they feared the super nutritious properties – and the sacredness with which the indigenous people honored this plant.
In the Birney Garden for over a decade we have enjoyed this plant – weeding out the many plants that readily grow and eating an Amaranth snack in class. In the fall we have harvested the seeds - no doubt helping spread them for some more harvesting throughout the year ! One year when we had our “Harvest Festival” on our joint use field one of our Birney Mom’s made a delicious Indian Dal with Amaranth – so this grain and it’s leaves are used throughout the world as an important nutritious food source.
Ms. Mindy will have some Amaranth Seed available at the seed distributions this month if you would like to sprout the seeds, or grow some in your garden! Here is a podcast to learn more about this history of this powerful food. If you want to purchase Amarath, I have seen it at Sprouts and Whole Foods as a grain and in several grain products.
POMEGRANATES
Birney has three pomegranate trees. When we had our classes in person we would celebrate the beginning of our garden year together by tasting the fruits that are ready with honey, since we are Birney BEES -- hoping for a SWEET year and successful year. Pomegranates are one of the special fruits that we taste at this time of year and this year we have many! Here is a video of how you can get out the pomegranate erls (the funny word for the juicy seeds). Eating them fresh is delicious, however some students are sharing about how they love them on ice cream, in a fruit salad or with bananas and honey. I heard today from one of our lunch ladies, Marta, that a delicious way to eat them in Mexico is Chile y Nogada (check out this link here to see this recipe). Do any other members of our Birney Community have good pomegranate recipes?