Native Dyes

 

2^nd grade students used materials from the Discovery Garden to learn about the ways Native Americans dyed clothing and other materials.

Some dyes used included black walnuts, dried mint, acorns, madder, and marigolds. They dyed fabric placemats that will be donated to families in need this Thanksgiving.

Pansy Patterns in Kindergarten!

 

kindergarteners took advantage of the warm October weather to plant their AB, AABB, pansy pattern garden. Did you know that pansies are edible? They are often candied and used as garnishments in salads and on cakes.

 

Discovery Garden Mustard!

 

Kindergartners were hard at work today making mustard!  Students used dried mustard seeds from the garden along with vinegar, salt, and a few other ingredients to create a mustard that would put Grey Poupon to shame. What a great measurement activity.

 

Fall Harvest Time

 

 This Friday Terra Centre students harvested all of the Discovery Garden bounty that students planted in June. Items harvested included luffa gourd squash, okra,  beans, tomatoes, cantelope, and African cucumber which were grown in the slave gardens at Monticello. Our cotton crop is still growing and will be harvested in early November. Students also planted our winter crop including winter wheat, chard, brussel sprouts, spinach, garlic, and onions. 4th graders will be canning green tomatoes this week and pre-school will use the luff gourds to make sponges that they will use for painting.

 

 

 

Fall is almost here!

This summer we have had luck growing our largest pumpkin crop since the start of the Discovery Garden. Ms. Nevin's kindergarteners harvested the first pumpkin this week. They can't wait to use it for math and science experiments in class this month.

Summer in the Garden

It has been surprisingly wet this summer. This year we planted okra for the first time and it is growing well. Our corn looks healthy and our luffa gourds are coming up nicely. Terra Centre school renovations have started and the garden stands among the construction fences and debris.

Happy Harvest Day

Happy Harvest Day!

Terra Centre had wonderful weather for our annual spring
 harvest this June. Some of the Discovery Garden crops were
stunted from the cold snap we received back in April.
We had a bumper crop of lettuce, spinach, arugula, and beets!
Our snap peas are still growing and we hope to harvest them next week. Another exciting addition to the garden harvest were our pansy Popsicles!  This summer we will be planting
a new variety of beans in the garden that include soy beans and black eyed peas!

White Asparagus
Spring has arrived and we have been busy planting
our crops. Last week our asparagus emerged.
Our first graders are conducting an experiement.

Our cabbage is growing well this year!

They are covering the aspargus with soil as it slowly
rises ouf of the ground. In doing so it causes the
asparagus to turn white. Many European countries enjoy

Winter Wheat is finally starting to grow

white asparagus.Other than color, there's no difference between green and white asparagus -- white asparagus is simply green asparagus that hasn't been allowed to turn green. The way white asparagus is grown is that it's covered in a thick layer of mulch and dark plastic so that no sunlight reaches the spears.This way the vegetable never gets a chance to turn green because no photosynthesis takes place. We can't wait to try it.


Spring Planting

Last week we finished our spring planting. 2nd graders planted potatoes while also harvesting spinach that has grown over the long winter. This spring we are growing a few new varieties including raspberry spinach and heirloom beets that were grown in Thomas Jefferson's gardens.
We have a few new additions to the Discovery Garden this year including blackberry bushes and a paw paw tree.
One of the great horticultural mysteries of the world is: why have most paw paw trees, that were plentiful throughout early U.S. forests, virtually disappeared from their natural habitat today? That answer may lie within the research results that showed that the paw paw is sensitive to ultraviolet light, thus, paw paw seedlings may not grow back after the forests have been harvested, and there are very few virgin forests left in the United States.

Discovery Garden Wheat Bread

6th Grade Chemistry Unit

6th grade students recently used Discovery Garden wheat to create wheat bread baked fresh at school.

Students learned that  before yeast was manufactured commercially, women did their baking by mixing flour, salt, sugar, and potato water, and letting yeast cells in the air supply the enzymes!

The wheat bread was donated to a local homeless shelter in our area.  Our wonderul cafeteria staff helped us bake over 100 loaves.

Winter Spinach Harvest

What is that we see?! 2nd graders recently harvested spinach from the garden and munched on it for their class snack this Friday.  What a great healthy treat.

Spring Planting    After a snowstorm and snow day this week we were able to get some of our seeds in the ground today.  Kindergarten was busy planting snap peas today. 6th grade helped plant cabbage. Did you know that our cabbage plants can grow as large as basketball? We are hoping for wet and mild spring so that our seeds will grow well.