Foodwisdom

Foodwisdom, our last summer camp of the season, enjoyed a sunny morning in the garden planting Fall crops (arugula, radish, spinach, mustard, mesclun), and creating a delicious semi-sweet kohlrabi salad with strawberry basil vinaigrette.  With 5 yr. olds in this group being the youngest visitors to the garden, we had an opportunity to reflect on the space as a classroom for many ages and abilities.

Food literacy was at the core of this camp and as such, the children asked great questions and were genuinely excited about their visit.

"Can we make honey?"

"I found a potato!"

"My mom calls me 'sweet pea'."

"I want to plant all the radishes!"

"Does this come before or after the flower?" (poppy pod)

"Do you have any rare vegetables in this garden?"

"I had no idea how sweet kohlrabi was! May I have some more?"

"I don't like the kohlrabi but I like this leaf stuff."  (spinach)

"We eat bitter melon at my home.  My dad eats it in soup."

"Can I eat this flower?"

Recipe:  Kohlrabi, spinach salad with strawberry/basil vinaigrette

Ingredients:

large bunch of fresh spinach

2 handfulls sugar snap peas

1 large kohlrabi

handful of strawberries

edible flowers

basil

1/2 lemon

olive oil

pinch of salt

handful dried cranberries

Dressing

Whisk together lemon juice and olive oil.  Mash strawberries into this mixture.  Sprinkle with salt.  Add sliced basil leaves.

Salad

Peel kohlrabi bulb.  Chop into small cubes.  Slice peas on a diagonal. Tear spinach into large bowl.  Add kohlrabi, peas and edible flowers.  Toss with dressing.  Sprinkle with dried cranberries.  Enjoy!

*A thank you note from Francesca, Director of Foodwisdom, describing some of the highlights of their week-long food literacy camp:

"...another said planting radishes in your garden. Still another really enjoyed eating the salad that we all made with you. Some of these kids want to come back and see what happens to the seeds they tucked into the Earth’s pocket under your gentle guidance.

We had to give a small talk on the difference between edible flowers and non-edible ones, as eating flowers turned out to be quite a memorable thrill.

Thank you for your generosity of spirit in hosting us."