Applesauce

With apples ready (and others almost ready, depending on your tree) here's a recipe for you to try.  I thought about it as I was writing a  new set of "ag related" nursery rhymes.. I recently picked lots of apples for my mom to take home to Dickinson and make applesauce.  She shared them with friends and relatives who are the masters of making apple pie.

Nursery Rhyme: Hush A Bye Baby

Hush a bye baby, on the tree top

Look at those apples

It’s quite a good crop
They’ll grow each day, like you
They’ll get red and round
The sauce, good and tasty
With apples all around.

Homemade Applesauce
Ingredients
4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
1.In a saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher.

We met some kids down the block when they stopped by to ask for some apples. I can tell they must be raised by good parents if they were willing to ring the door bell and ask.  Nice to meet you Gunnar and Benson.

A Trip To The Food Pantry

A trip to the food pantry was made on both August 4th and 5th.  As you can see in the newpaper above, beans, squash, and cucumbers were donated. (some big ones too).

Try this recipe for Cucumber Soup....  If you have cucumbers that have gotten a little too big (or a lot too big) for salads or slices to eat, this will be perfect for you to use up your cucumbers.
Cucumber Soup
Ingredients
5 cucumbers, peeled and seeded
4 scallions
1 cup fresh cilantro
8 ounces sour cream
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 12-ounce jar store-bought salsa verde
Directions
1.Roughly chop the cucumbers and scallions, then place in the bowl of a food processor.
2.Add the cilantro, sour cream, buttermilk, cayenne, and salt. Purée until smooth.
3.Serve the soup chilled, with a bowl of the salsa verde on the side to spoon on top.

Garden Tips

Gardening Tips...check out this site. This will be helpful for my students.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/firstgarden/index.cfm

Lettuce Picking: July 20

13 families were the lucky ones who will be eating fresh cut lettuce today from the Hunger Free North Dakota Garden.  The students had lots of fun, and got a little muddy. We also discussed different types of vegetables, including tubers and root vegetables.  A tuber is a potato and an example of a root vegetable is a carrot, radish, or beat.   The tomatillos are looking good too!

Check out our garden at the Northern Plains Botanic Garden Society...http://npbgs.tripod.com/        (they have a beautiful site they are developing which includes the A-B-C Garden within the 52 acres)...Check out Mrs. B.'s letter "V" also when you visit the garden.  http://npbgs.tripod.com/otherplaces.htm   Look for our class site here. Our site is to what most know as Yunker Farm, though it's in the NPBG Society area.

Food Land and People: Teachers Tour Garden

Area teachers listen to the students talk about planting their garden, what they planted, and what was the most fun!  The Hunger Free ND Garden is within the 52 acres at the Northern Plains Botanical Society, which is across the bike path from Yunker Farm. (I specify the Children's Museum to give you a landmark that you might be aware of so that you too can come out and enjoy the gardens.)
Don't forget http://www.freerice.com/ . This will help all students to polish up your vocabulary, math, etc... and donate rice to those who are hungry!

How Much of The Earth Is Water

http://www.farmland.org/Flash/appleEarth.html

...and other important facts about the earth and farming!

Good Job Weeding Team

I don't have the video ready to go yet, but I wanted to thank the weeding team, students and parents from Monday night. They did a great job preparing the garden for the people who will be viewing it at the Garden Show on Wednesday! The garden is really looking nice, and growing well.

A special Thank You to August and his family for supplying the Wonderful treats for the evening! Chocolate cookies (I will be posting the recipe), watermelon, and water and Poweraide for all! We did study where chocolate cookies come from in class this last year. Check out the student ag blog to see the students findings. http://www.agkids.blogspot.com/   There are 3 student entries about cookies in the "March" section.   Anyway....This was a special treat and very much appreciated by all the hard workers.

If you're interested in the Tour of Gardens:
You can buy tickets for either one or two days.

Tour includes 8 outstanding area gardens each day.  Wednesday: north Fargo, Thursday, south Fargo
For years now, the local Soroptimists Club has staged an annual garden tour of Fargo's best and brightest gardens.

http://www.areavoices.com/relucgarden/?page=listing&tag=Soroptimist%20Garden%20Tour