Summer fades as school begins

With tomato, pepper, and okra season waning, Buford students seeded our first trays of fall crops.  This year’s fall harvest will include, but is not limited to: Lark’s Tongue Kale, Green Glaze Collards, Southern Giant Curled Mustard, Belle Island Cress, Red Salad Bowl and Winter Density Lettuces, Cilantro, Black Spanish and Misato Rose Radishes, Scarlet Nantes Carrots, & Dolce de Chioggia Beets.  Can you taste the soups and salads on the horizon for our dinner plates?!?

Students from Ms. Wisbauer’s Cooking Class, the after-school Cooking Club, and the after-school Chef Club will select from these veggies to craft  their soups for entry into our 2nd Annual Soup Competition at Buford’s Harvest Festival on Friday, October 19th from 5:30-8:00 pm.  We hope to see you there to vote for the People’s Choice Award and enjoy the festivities of the harvest season!

Turning the compost.	Setting up row cover to protect seedlings from the rain.
Rachel and Elizabeth planting fall greens.	Nice and cozy in their new home.

As part of teacher back-to-school work week, Principal Johnson had the faculty gather Friday morning in the garden for breakfast and wandering.  During a short talk about the previous year’s successes and new programming for the coming year, teachers were encouraged to continue to see the garden as an extension of their classroom.  Buford teachers and staff have already taken incredible initiative on garden projects.  Two of note in the past year were Ms. Heard’s application for a grant for a garden greenhouse and Ms. Muse and the rest of the summer school teachers creation of a garden cookbook (look for it at the Harvest Festival!).  We are so grateful for the embrace of the garden into the school community.  Buford teachers rock.

Principal Johnson (center) and staff listen to a story about a recent student garden visit.
Lovely to have a garden full of educators.	After breakfast, Mr. Benson, Ms. Wisbauer, Principal Johnson, & Mr. Presley (shown left to right) helped install the garden shed doors (a post on the shed is coming next week).

Below are some shots of our recent amaranth grain harvest and the garden in its summer glory.

Harvesting under cover during an August rain.
Gorgeous burgundy blossoms!	Beautiful black seeds!
Come visit this fall!

Check back next week to see photos, plans, and a material list for our new garden shed, The Bird’s Nest!