Funny Link About Breast Feeding.

You have to Check it out.


...and a photo in solidarity.

A Farmer's Market in Our Very Own School

I have pretty much been out of the garden loop since December but it was wonderful and re-inspiring to see all the harvest from those early September and October plantings. (check out the school blog for more pictures!)Amy spent the day with the 3rd graders picking and washing and bunching everything. Thank God for her dedication!! Now who is gonna get this woman PAID so she's able to keep up this level of commitment? ???!!! Who's gonna find the grant, write the grant to pay her for the 5-10 hours a WEEK she spends tending and teaching our kids???.... because, truly, without her continuous work and organization it all falls apart. No matter how many parents volunteer to weed! (Maybe you can sense my frustration.)
I know that a co-op school is about volunteerism but my worry is that when something is created that is really valuable and an asset that becomes part of the schools identity, it needs to be consistent. Volunteers are inconsistent but Amy is not because she's NOT doing a little volunteering, she is working for free. The goal was to make it more of a cooperative garden but its just not. Amy does 90% of the work. And it will take years of organization to get more teachers on board in a meaningful way (like the model of commitment from Merrill and Dmitry), where the parents from each classroom are actually involved. This is a huge undertaking really. Especially considering that this is only year 3 and we spent the first two years mainly just building boxes and fences and a (sadly underutilized) outdoor classroom.
The things of value in this school need to be focused on and supported. How can we make that happen??? Just look what our kids have grown, thanks to Amy.
Isn't it beautiful!!!

"pickles are cucumbers soaked in genius."
Mac, age 12

such a hippie...

Two things I have been hearing and reading about everywhere are watercress and kombucha.

It turns out that watercress is the best of the best super foods for you and has everything good in it and you don't have to eat bowls and bowls of it to see the benefits, only a handful here and there. (Plus I love it in salad). Check the link and make sure you click on the comparison chart where it tells you how much better it is than just about anything on the planet. And its easy to grow!
watercress, the superfood

And Kombucha! I just heard an NPR thing about it from this hilarious British guy who's doing a BBC series called "Grow Your Own Drugs". He's a scientist who was very skeptical about all the hippy-dippy stuff so he decided to test it all, grow it all and now he makes tinctures of this and that and herbal salves etc right along with his antibiotics and aspirin.
And he raved about kombucha, while reminding all of us that the process of making it at home is very similar to making beer and therefore it is necessary to take uber precautions sterilizing everything.
But I like the store kind. The one with ginger is incredible. It tastes a little like fermented cider and might not be good if you don't like a boozy taste. But it has very little actual acohol!
Check it out! kombucha, fricken delicious to me and good for you

the boys keep on growing!!