Salad Day

The kids at Kimball Elementary planted lettuce seeds just before spring break, and now, just before summer break, enjoyed the results of their efforts. K through 6th-grade, all the kids seemed to be surprised at how well their garden grew. All enjoyed the salads our crew served: lettuce from the garden, and carrots, goldfish, and ranch dressing, all supplied by Lands and Waters (on hand Monday: Jeanette, Kris, Bill A., myself). Although seemingly not a large garden, there was far more than enough to feed the entire school--one classroom at a time. And reminders to all the students and teachers that there is still plenty of lettuce--and beets, radishes, and potatoes--in the garden--they should all feel free to get their own lettuce from the garden during the summer break.

In keeping with Lands and Waters' environmental focus, we informed the kids that all the plastic forks should not be thrown away, because we would wash them and re-use them for another function; and paper plates would be collected and deposited into a compost pile. In a few classes some kids were excited at being able to put knowledge into action:
"I know what composting is!"
"Okay, then tell your classmates about composting."
The student--whether a kindergartner or a 5th-grader--proudly turns to the classroom and in a public speaker mode, announces (in the words of a K student) that "composting is when you put stuff into a pile and the worms turn it into dirt."

As a side-note: In a school of more than 400 kids, only ONE student didn't want any salad. Many kids didn't want carrots, not a soul refused the ranch dressing (and usually all wanted more), and everybody wanted goldfish. Nobody believed me when I told them that the goldfish came from the stream nearby--but they did enjoy the joke.

Jeanette and Bill harvesting the lettuce. The garden was planted about 7 years ago, and is still going strong. Salad Day has become a tradition.

Kris delivering what might be the most popular part of the meal: the ranch dressing.

Jeanette tells the students about their harvest.