Learning to Grow at Mountain View Montessori School Gardens

Earlier this week, I was invited by Kerry Seymour, a Nutrition Specialist at UNCE, on a tour of an exemplary classroom garden in south Reno. The Mountain View Montessori School is governed by the philosophy that recognizes the child as his or her own leader in their educational journey. Dr. Maria Montessori, for whom the school is named after felt that, "The first duty of an education is to stir up life, but leave it free to develop."

The main garden area with raised beds and hoop house frame. Carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, squash, corn and beans are all grown in the garden. The "three sisters" technique is used as a method for exploring North American history.

When you enter the school you will find no grade books or numbers on the doors distinguishing age. There are no fancy projectors or high tech computer equipment. But there are simple things such as compost bins, silverware and china to dine with, laundry tubs, shovels, trowels, writing utensils, paper, tools, a worm bin, pet fish, parakeets and plants. Hands on learning is essential to the school's model for teaching students about "practical life" activities.

 

After being thoroughly impressed with the inner workings of the school, we moved outside to see how the external world has direct impact on the learning environment. Cooking, gardening, building and other hand arts have been integrated into this approach, and a certain division of labor has evolved. Younger children are responsible for planting and harvesting vegetables and herbs in the gardens. Elementary students prepare lunches with the foods harvested. Adolescents learn how to maintain and analyze the use of hydroponic gardening and aquaculture for a full circle approach to sustainable living.

The hydroponics room offers a controlled environment for growing lettuces and other leafy greens.
Although the pineapple trees on the right will not survive winter in the high desert, they will be exported to benefit the students micro economy.

Sitting on nearly 3 acres, the school's landscape has evolved over the years to include: a main garden space, several herb gardens, trellis' of meandering grapes, berry patches, fruit trees and beautiful flowers to attract pollinators. There are also several sheep on the property, and the principal's dog Ruby wanders around freely. In the future there are plans to restore the native vegetation along a nearby riparian area, which will expand the boundaries of a more natural environment and continue to encourage stewardship of the land. 

A valuable reminder.

For more information about Mountain View Montessori School:  http://www.mountainviewmontessori.com/home.html

Nevada Indian Country Extension

I just finished this publication. I have uploaded the file to the free online platform for viewing PDF's at http://issuu.com/. You see, web 2.0 is all about links, now I will attempt to embed the uploaded file to this blog space.

Open publication - Free publishing - More university

The sound of corn growing: Behind UNCE

So this morning as I was coming into work I noticed a bunch of noise in the field of corn behind the building. Sure enough, workers were in the field hacking away at the stalks of corn, packing them in boxes and loading them into the bed of a pickup truck.

Santos, one of the farmers, asked if I had a bag...soon I returned with my eco friendly canvas sack and they started stuffing the thing with corn. They must have given me about 25 ears of corn. Probably some of the freshest corn I will ever eat. So if anyone in the office sees the corn hanging on the doorknob of my office, feel free to grab a few ears...

Great Basin Food Co-op: Local Food Committee

Great Basin Community Food Cooperative 

Last week I had the chance to sit in on a meeting with volunteers from the Great Basin Community Food Cooperative. The Local Food Committe's goal is to support local farmers. We discussed a variety of new ways that we can do this, one of which I am interested in will be to update and maintain geospatial data on foods growing in Nevada.

The project serves two primary purposes. First, it provides a tool in order to better communicate to consumers the relationships they have with the products they buy, and exposing them to the products available. Secondly, it provides producers with a sort of currency for visibility that will heighten awareness and consideration when consumers make their choices.

I did a little research and came up with a file from the USDA that has a current list of Producers in Nevada, click on the map to find out more info:


View Food Producers in Nevada in a larger map

Potentially, this map will also include all types of data related to local foods including: photos of the farms, gleaning opportunities, school projects, local urban farmers and gardens, restaurants that buy local, and anything else that we can think of related to eating and sustainability.

For more info: http://www.greatbasinfood.coop/

Nutrition of the Season: de España

(Photo: Krystal Perez)

I know it's not gumbo, but since Spain was victorious in the World Cup last weekend it would only be right to celebrate with a refreshing summer treat that originated there, GAZPACHO! Recipes can vary greatly in terms of composition (depending on specific geographic origin), but in general, gazpacho can be thought of as a cold tomato soup...

Here's the recipe my friend Krystal in Florida came up with:

What you'll need: 

1 hothouse cucumber, halved & seeded, but not peeled

2 red bell peppers, cored & seeded
4 plum tomatoes
1 red onion
1 avocado
1 lime
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1.) Roughly chop cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, & red onions into 1-in. cubes.
2.) Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade, & pulse until roughly chopped. Do NOT over-process!
3.) After processing each vegetable, combine them all in a large bowl. Then add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and black pepper.
4.) Mix well & top it off with the avocado and lime.
5.) Chill thoroughly before serving. 
Makes 6-8 servings.

Thanks for sharing Krystal!

Extra Curricular Gardening at the River School on West 4th Street

I met Josie Luciano and Lynnae Fischbach of "Urban Roots Garden Classrooms" at the Nevada Indian Agriculture Summit (sponsored by UNCE) at the end of May. They are  involved with teaching children about the science and fun behind growing food. What really struck me was their commitment and passion for local living. So I decided it would be safe to sign up as a volunteer. Last night was the first time they called upon me, and after a day in the office, getting my hands dirty was going to feel pretty darn good...

5:00 p.m. River School:

We begin by walking the area to determine which space would be best for the kids to plant and pick from. Next we added compost and turned the soil where it was needed. We then selected radishes, carrots, and lettuces to be sown into the soil so that the kids have something to pick on their first day of class. There were two ideas on how this should be done...the first was "sow the seeds in a row so we know what is growing where", and the second was "broadcast the seeds randomly so that the kids can determine what is growing and begin to identify types of vegetables and weeds"...Personally I preferred the second idea because it allows for hands on learning to occur. We ended up with two spaces...one with spiral rows around flowers and stepping stones, and another randomly dispersed area...After that we moved some paving stones into place around an area where the kids will be growing once they get to class. We also added some "humus" which as I understand is a type of compost, improving soil structure and moisture retention...

All in all, I had a good time, and got to meet some new people with similar interests while simultaneously doing something good for the community, I feel accomplished... : )





for more info...
River School: http://www.riverschool.info/River_School/Home.html
Urban Roots Garden Classrooms: http://www.urgc.org/

2010 National CoP Workshop for eXtension.org in Austin, TX

As the only representative from the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, I wanted to pass along some of the new things I learned at the 2010 eXtension CoP workshop in Austin. All of the sessions at the conference were recorded, allowing you to see which presentation styles work and which don't, but furthermore you may just learn something about new media that you can use on the local level...

This is a link that will connect you to all of the new technologies explored during this years conference:

http://about.extension.org/2010/06/17/2010-extension-cop-workshop-recordings/

I highly suggest checking out the links to the two keynote speakers, as they address some of the challenges that educators face in today's digital age...