Thursday, August 7

First in the morning we took attendance and we played the game with the hula hoop and we couldn't let go of each others hands. We got a pretty good time for having all of the adults playing too. Then we took our waters and gathered up all of our stuff and we went to the seven stars farm across the street and we picked beets. The beet picking took about an hour then we took all the weeds off the beets and put them in a container. After that we took our break. The people that owned the farm were going to store the beets in a root cellar.

Written by Kahron

In the afternoon we split into three groups and Mr Mark picked a couple people to make a new recipe for rice crispy treats that were vegan. We made them with rice mellow. It was very sticky and got everywhere. We then cleaned up our mess and observed the people who were making the fried rice. We then tasted it and it was delicious. We then got into our groups for chores.

Written by Hannah

I was in the group who made the fried rice. First we had one group chop green peppers, one chop celery, and one chop onions. We diced the vegetables, meaning we cut them into little pieces. Then we put the veggies into a pot called a wok and sauteed them. Denise and Yvonne passed around a little white plant - it was a mung bean sprout. We scrambled eggs, then we fried the rice and then mixed everything together with Tamari sauce. Tamari smelled a little interesting, so I didn't try it. The fried rice was very good and Denise and Yvonne said you could add anything you wanted to it - chicken, shrimp, anything!

Written by Eliana

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 Green of Green Day

We started off the day with circling up and playing a hula hoop game where we all had to hold hands and jiggle a hula hoop around the circle without letting go of hands. We did it three times: 1:39, 1:32, and the last time 1 minute and 5 seconds.

After that we got our journals and wrote up the cost of our expenses and our income. We subtracted expenses from income and we ended up with $21.50 as our profit from last week's brownies and cookie sale.

We split into two groups; one worked on making pesto, the other group made peach jam. Andre calls it 'Space Jam' for some reason no one can figure out, as usual! We cut up two big boxes of peach 'seconds', we blended them slightly, then added sugar and pectin. Then after lunch we processed it while it was hot, and put it in a boiling water bath. At the end of the day, we had make a good bit of pesto, and 70 small jars of peach jam. Triskeles will buy all of this from us for their golf outing.

At lunch we had beef hot dogs, tofurkey hot dogs and turkey dogs, with potato wedges wedges and the sweet potato chocolate mousse we made on Tuesday. We ate our own catchup also.

In the afternoon, one group took a walk down to French Creek and also the basketball courts. Then they cleaned up, while the other group, who had finished the jam, went to the creek. They found fresh watercress growing in the brook.

Jacob, Eliana, Andre, Hannah, Tessa, Alexis, Mr. Mark

Tuesday, August 5

Today was definitely a learning experience. This morning we pulled onions, we counted veggies so that some could be sold at a market, some could stay at the farm for the CSA pick up and some could be given to the pigs (who smelled really bad). We fed the pigs and Eliana thought it was nasty - the pigs stank and she never wants to do it again! We also pulled bugs off plants. They were called mexican beetles and we had to squash them. We pulled the bugs off the bean plants so that the plants wouldn't get eaten. Some of us felt disturbed and disgusted by killing the bugs. Some of us felt like it was just another day's work. On any other farms without people to pick the bugs off the plants, the bugs would have taken over, or the farmers would have used chemicals to kill all of the bugs - even the useful ones that help the plant. Also today, we saw things that we've never seen before - we saw mice in the onion patch!

We came back to the garden building and made some "foul concoctions" according to Tessa, except for the pear-peach-apple juice and the last juice that we created ourselves - it was made with lime, pineapple, apples and peaches. We used a juicer to blend fruit and vegetables into different kinds of juices. We all got to taste each juice in a little cup and rated them 1-5, 1 being the worst and 5 being the best. We used apples, pears, peaches, celery, tomatoes, fennel, beets, carrots, lime, and ginger in different combinations. Our favorite juice would definitely be Juice #3, which we described above. The worst juice we tasted was the one with the beets. It tasted, "indescribably disgusting. There was so much that was nasty about it, I can't put it into words," says Eliana. Everybody tried the juice, though, so we can all have our own opinions. Mr Mark told us that juices are good for the digestive system and that they can boost your immune system.

Today is pay day! Though for some, it is not about the money, it's about the educational credit. Today was just fine.

Written by Eliana, Lonnisha, and Tessa

Monday, August 4

This morning we split up into groups. One group stayed and helped Mr Mason work around the garden building. That group weeded around the building, cut weeds in carrot patches, and Stephanie picked tomatoes for the afternoon. At Kimberton, we picked onions, weeded cabbage beds, chopped the tops off of onions, and one group worked with Mr Tom. Weeding the cabbages was hard because there were lots of prickly plants in the beds that we couldn't touch without hurting ourselves. Picking onions was hard because some of them were mushy and wet because they were rotten. We processed probably a whole bed of onions - 3 wheelbarrows.

This afternoon we came back to eat lunch and then Ms Cara arrived. We made ketchup, waffles that were vegan, groundnut soup (groundnuts are peanuts), kale chips, collards and sweet potato mousse. To make the kale chips, we had to rub little pieces of kale with olive oil, season them, and then bake them in the oven. We didn't like the kale chips - it was an unsatisfying taste, in our opinion. The waffles were okay, but we would have liked them better warm and with maple syrup. Alexis chopped celery for the soup; Haley worked on the kale chips; Jacob helped measure water and oats for the waffles; Willie also made waffles. Today we learned to never trust Zairre with waffles - Willie and Zairre burnt one, and apparently it was Zairre's fault. We also learned that there are two different ways to make ketchup - you can make it with tomato paste, or boil down tomatoes. It takes an hour and a half to boil down tomatoes because they have a lot of water in them and you have to take all the water out. Today was a little hectic in the kitchen because our kitchen is small, but we made a lot of food items.

Written by Alexis, Willie, Jacob, and Haley

Friday, August 1

On Friday we went to the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, PA. We had a scavenger hunt that took almost an hour and we weren't even finished! We had to find certain items and answer questions. We had to ask the owner of the stand for some of the questions - we had to ask the sugar free candy section about what kind of treats they sell there; we talked to the cheese place and found out that the "chevre" was from California; we found out that the big lobsters came from the west coast; that honey is good for your immune system. After the scavenger hunt we ate lunch. Haley and Jacob had cheesesteaks, Alexis had a veggie sandwich, Kate had sushi and a turkey sandwich, and almost everyone had ice cream. The market had everything! They even had a bookstore. We all loved the market and want to go there again.

After that, we went to the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College. Mr. Natale showed us around. We saw two or three of their restaurants, five different kitchens where they have cooking classes. We saw a kids cooking class that was cleaning up and playing air guitar. We talked about the different majors that the School has (hotel management, restaurant management, culinary arts and pastry arts), how many students go there, how many people are employed in the restaurant industry, and other things. The best part was seeing the bathrooms! The girls bathroom was Moroccan themed. It had lamps and pillows and ornate pots decorating it. The boys bathroom had a car hanging from the ceiling, license plates on the walls, and a crosswalk sign that was made into a chair. We liked to visit the Restaurant School but Haley says she will never attend - some people like Tessa and Andre really wanted to go there! Mr. Natale told us about the scholarships you can get to attend the Restaurant School and told us about how to apply.

Friday was a very successful trip.

Written by Jacob, Haley, Alexis and Willie 

Day Eight (July 30) and Day Nine (July 31)

Wednesday:

On Wednesday we baked zucchini brownies and oatmeal raisin cookies. We split up into groups - one group did cookies, one group did brownies, one group did marketing. The marketing group made signs that said "Bake Sale" "Cookies" "Brownies." We also used words like organic, fresh, nutritious - we used those words because they're true, and because the people at the farmer's market and at the whole foods store would like those words. We cut up the brownies and cookies, put them in bags and labeled them. The labels listed the ingredients, the name of the product, and the symbol of Triskeles. Some of us sold the treats at the Mill at Anselma and some went to Kimberton Whole Foods. At the farmer's market, Zairre lured people into buying the product by having a script to say to people at the market. He targeted older people and people with kids because, "older people won't remember what they buy afterwards and kids like cookies and brownies, and the parents like the fact that they're healthy," according to Zairre. Business at the market was healthy. It was hard at first to go up to people and talk to them, but it got easier. We also had someone handing out samples - Megan and Eliana.

At Kimberton Whole Foods we set up at the back and front of the store - we had two stands. We put up signs and displayed the products on the table so that people would see what we were selling. Not very many people came because we were at the back of the store. The customers were mostly old ladies. We tried to say hello to customers at Whole Foods so that they would notice us. We made around $20. Both groups made about $50 total profit - but before we spend that, we have to decide on our expenses. Our expenses were ingredients. At the Whole Foods store, Jaryn got a bag of popcorn that was three feet long. Some of us loved selling, but some didn't.

Thursday:

This morning we picked onions and weeds at Kimberton. Mr. Mark's group stayed at the garden - they weeded the garden and picked basil and cut mint. We used the basil for our afternoon cooking. We also had to cut the ends off the onions to process them. Weeding was hard because some of the weeds were four feet tall. It was almost all weeds. We also found praying mantises - they jump and fight and pray and kill all the small insects that affect the plants.

This afternoon we cooked pesto -it was made with olive oil, cheese, basil, garlic, and pine nuts. We made one batch with a blender but then it broke, so we all used mortar and pestles to make our own batches of pesto. We made salad dressing - "Raspberry Matt" - raspberries, salt, olive oil, mustard, garlic, apple cider vinegar and blackberries and sugar. We also made "A Zillie" dressing - it was made out of the ingredients of Raspberry Matt, but without the berries and sugar. We made the dressing by hand and shook it up in glass jars. The third group made mayonnaise, but failed because they didn't drizzle the olive oil the right way. We ended up just with sauce that was made out of eggs and olive oil. Some people made mustard. When everything was made, we ate it on bread. Some people took it home with them.

Matt's final words about today are, "Can I go now? Chicken." ...he's crazy. We're looking forward to our field trip tomorrow.

Written by Group 1 - Zairre, Jaryn, Skyler, Matt and Alyssa

Day Six (July 29)

Today half of the group was picking onions and other half picked weeds at Kimberton. None of our group was doing onions - we did the weeds. We picked the weeds out of the flower beds so that they wouldn't kill the flowers. Weeding was hard for the really big weeds that looked like sunflower stalks, but it was easy for the small weeds. The hardest part about the work today was trying not to accidentally pull up the flowers with the weeds. When that did happen, we put the flowers in a bucket of water to take back to the school. Also - Mr. Mason's group stayed at the school garden. One group weeded the potatoes and corn, and another group put in a fence around the corn, and said they got really sweaty doing it.

This afternoon we cooked quiche. Tamara mixed eggs, Lonnie was the grinder and chopper and put stuff in the bowl to be mixed, and Ed cut the green bell peppers. We thought the tasks were very easy. We used sharp knives, graters, teaspoons and bowls. We learned to cut onions from stem to stalk and to always cut peppers and tomatoes in half first, so you don't cut yourself. The ingredients were used were: green pepper, onion, tomato, eggs and cheese. After we cooked, we talked about CSAs and how much you can make with the money the members give. Yvonne handed out a tree of what fruits and vegetables grow in the summer, winter, spring and fall. She also handed out a map of Chester County - the map had all of the places where we live, and marked all of the places around here where you can buy fresh food - farms, farm markets, CSAs. While Yvonne was talking, we got called up for our paychecks. They explained why we had deductions from our checks - like being absent, talking a lot when other people were talking, acting out on a trip, transportation. Why do they take out money for transportation? Because they have to pay for gas, the bus and the driver. We think it's fair to take out money for transportation, but we wished they had told us earlier that the money would have come out of our pay. Overall, we think today was great - we had fun, and we're leaving with money! It feels good to be paid for hard work.

Written by Group 2 - Lonnie, Tamara and Ed