Harvest to Table Maybe??

  At the end of the school year in May the children planted tomato plants, mint, and basil.  They watered it through the summer months in hopes that we would be able to harvest some tomatoes and herbs. When we came back in September we noticed that the herbs were thriving. (especially the mint). We asked some children why they thought the tomato plant got yellow flowers but no tomatoes? Some children said they got "too much water" others thought "not enough water".  We have been searching for the perfect spot for our musical garden. The vegetable garden did not have any vegetables so it was the perfect spot.  Josh, Ben, and Jack got right to work and started to clear the land spot. All of the sudden Josh said "look what I found" and to our amazement there was a tomato on the ground. It was green but we nevertheless picked it up to ripen on the the window ledge. We found basil that was transplanted into pots and will now be growing in our classroom for harvesting at a later time. Josh very carefully secured the basil to a stick so that it would stand.  We put the dead plant into the recycling bin and discovered another very tiny tomato too. We are thrilled that our first garden produced two tomatoes!!! We will let you know how they taste. Our hope for the future months is to develop with the children an understanding of where their food comes from and what they can do to take care of the land and grow their own food. Hopefully we will be creating raised beds for our future gardeners.