Last Chances for Market and Community Work This Semester

Last community Work Day of the semester at the FARM: Wednesday 11/18 during 7th and after school until 4pm.  Come for all or part.

Last Market Day of the semester at the RHS flagpole: MONDAY 11/23 during 7th and after school until 3:45pm.  Do your Thanksgiving shopping.  Look for: lettuce, bean leaves, chard, kale, basil, cilantro, rosemary, lemon verbena, lavender, beets, beet greens, arugula, seedlings, and seeds.  Good food at good prices!

--Mr. Stew

Iron Chef: "El Desayuno Mexicano" (picture)

6th period winning dish.

Picture by Elly L

Iron Chef: "Potato Texas Dream" (picture)

picture by Elly L

Iron Chef 2

This week in SustAg we had our second Iron Chef competition!!

To start off the day, we went to the farm to harvest a bunch of different plants and vegetables that we would be able to use in our meals. We went all around the farm, going to different beds, seeing what we could use. My group ended up harvesting just about everything, from broccoli leaves to butternut squash. When it came time to prepare our meals, we were so excited! My group made a stir-fry consisting of butternut squash, bell bean leaves, kale, broccoli leaves, tomatoes, basil, and lime. We also made a side salad with a lettuce blend of bell bean leaves, kale, broccoli leaves, and romaine. Then we cut up some pears and sprinkled them along the edge of the salad. We grated some butternut squash and red beets and garnished the salad with those, along with some roasted butternut squash seeds. To top off our salad, we made a dressing out of olive oil, vinegar, lime, and salt and pepper.

According to the judges, our dish wasn't exactly the tastiest, but we ended up winning for our good clean-up skills and our sustainability!! My group has decided that we are going to utilize Maia's chickens, and make a tasty omelette next time!

Below are a few pictures from our Iron Chef competition, and a pretty picture of water droplets on a leaf at the farm!

-Marisa R.

--Marisa R

Bees and More: The Week in Review

This week on the farm we worked on our management jobs and did a special Iron Chef competition. Monday we spent our time in the classroom instead of going to the marsh due to the weather. We were lucky to have David Peterson of the Marin Bee-Keepers association come in and talk to our class about the importance of bees as pollinators. We learned that up to 1/3 of the food we eat us pollinated by honeybees.

Tuesday we spent time choosing our companion report plant or animal and working on our learning report for our 3rd management job. The, on Wednesday, we spent 15 minutes in the farm carefully selecting our sustainable food to use in the Iron Chef completion. My team was a close runner-up, barely defeated by a spicy, zesty Mexican breakfast cooked with 100% organic and sustainable food. We prepared a wonderful, balanced meal with sautéed chard, sweet mashed potatoes, and a nice arugula salad topped with strawberries. On Friday, we will finish up or management jobs for the 3rd rotation and water our one beds.

We were very sustainable on our farm and this week was a great representation of the kinds of food our farm produces and how successful we have become.

-Elly Lundberg, period 6 [editor's note: pictures attached above]

The chicken run

This week on the farm my group spent most of their time on digging holes. The purpose of these holes were to fence off the chickens so the chickens can have room to run around the farm. The holes were for the wooden posts for the fence which might be held in with cement or either wood. The soil I dug up from the holes was put onto the un-elevated ground to make the ground level more even. In order to dig the holes I used either the thin shovel or the turning shovel [auger] which would suck up the soil. We wouldn't use the thicker shovels because they would make the hole to wide. If the hole's were too hard to dig we would soften the soil with water.

Some reasons why we should have chickens are that chickens recycle food and yard waste and turn it into organic soil which is rich in nitrogen. Chickens also eat the insects in the garden which helps the garden. Also insects are healthy for chickens. The chicken run is important for the chickens because then they can run around instead of being made to sit in a chicken coop and this makes the chickens more happy and healthy. The eggs from chickens in chicken runs are more nutritious and tasty.

Blaise Van Brunt

Chicken Coop (follow up picture)

Coop in progress.  --Alex J.