Sprouting Chefs

The heart of our programs is that awesome quote from former Principal of Forest Grove and Chair of Sprouting Chefs is that "Gardens build community." The proof of this are these awesome Sprouted Chefs, various alumni who have now gathered twice to share stories of their high school and university experiences.

I'm so blessed and grateful to know so many great kids because of our programs who continue to inspire me and give me tremendous hope for the future. 🙏✨️

About 15 of them came together today on the last day of high school. Some from Garden Club, a few from cooking classes who are also staff with me at camp now all in one room, together. ❤️

So fun to show them the new garden at Forest Grove and hear about their various adventures while inspiring each other too!

Full Heart and best way to kick off the summer!❤️😎🎉🌞

This past Monday, Sprouting Chefs Cooking Class and Garden Club students helped create a lunch to appreciate their teachers. It wasn't a big crew of kids but they were all very focused, responsible team players who spent most of the day preparing, serving and then cleaning up after the event.

On the menu:
Pasta with a fresh tomato sauce
Caprese salad with basil and soft mozzarella and basil (a student offered olive oil and balsamic drizzled on top)
Lentil Salad (that was a huge hit) made with a veg stock and fresh thyme and a dressing made with chive flower vinegar, maple syrup and more fresh thyme as we had a box donated from the Food Bank
And for dessert...
An awesome vanilla cake with lemon curd and fresh local strawberry filling iced with buttercream!

We hope the teachers felt as appreciated as they truly are at this special Community School of Edmonds 🥰✨️🙏

Time flies when you're working solo!

Moving the compost bins one at a time to bring things closer...slowly. Will be waiting till Friday when the Garden Club crew can work together to move the rest. Whew!

Had to pause and take in the cuteness of the art from Friday 🥰

Watered, cut back the kale, planted some more beans, fixed a hoophouse for the watermelons and made sure comfrey is still growing around the compost bins which we can chop up to add when it gets bigger to accelerate decomposition. (Only took 3 pieces of comfrey roots from Windsor Elementary a few years ago and now have a few bushes at Forest Grove, Edmonds and Burnaby Mtn)

Started at 8 am, left around 11 am with Dad's wise quote: "Know when to stop..."

Time flies when you're in the garden! 🤪

Next bulb blooming up on the hill of Forest Grove by the garden: Irises!

Poppies and lupine will be next! So lovely and exciting!

Art in the garden today painting the bins at Garden Club at Forest Grove. After all the work, it was nice to slow down and create some outer beauty while wating for our plants to grow.

There was also a group taking apart and turning the compost bins, not quite done yet tho. Also some grade 7s planted some nootka rose bushes as a legacy project.

Full day for Ms. Barb in the garden!