Squash, corn, beans growing in the 3 Sisters Garden
It’s been a busy fall in the Greenhouse. To support their study of Egypt, fourth graders have planted a crop of winter wheat–please admire the new green in our raised beds! Planting is part of an extensive Bread-Making Day organized by the fourth grade teachers. In addition to sowing seeds, the students also threshed wheat (from last year’s harvest), ground wheat berries into flour, and baked bread in one extended hands-on experience of how the Egyptians got food to their tables. Fourth graders also experimented inside the Greenhouse, planting several other kinds of "ancient grains," including corn, millet, rice, and spelt. They’ll observe these plants over the next several weeks, watching the germination process and looking for similarities and differences among the plants, all of which are in the grass family.
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Squash, corn, beans growing in the 3 Sisters Garden |
Kindergartners are having their introductory tours of the Greenhouse and considering how form follows function. (How does the design of the Greenhouse make it a good place to grow plants? Would it be a good place to watch movies?) They’ll plant mystery seeds and also get a chance to harvest carrots and cherry tomatoes from our thriving Vitamin A garden.
To support their study of Native American cultures, second graders have been out to visit the Three Sisters Garden, which they planted last year as first graders. Thank you to all the first-grade, now second-grade families who cared for the Three Sisters over the summer! (That group also kept the new yews well-watered.) The Three Sisters–corn, beans, and squash–had a challenging summer. We got lots of beans, but our squash yield was a bit disappointing. And those pesky raccoons got more corn from the garden than we did!
Speaking of which…some of you may notice that we left raccoon-ravaged corn on the stalk. Also we didn’t pick all the hornworms off the tomatoes, and we occasionally let the lettuce bolt and go to seed. We do this on purpose. It makes for a (sometimes) messy garden–but an instructive one! How often does a child get to see hornworms parasitized by braconid wasps or learn where lettuce seeds come from?
Interested in helping the Greenhouse grow this year? There are all kinds of opportunities available. You can volunteer to work with your child’s class or help in the Greenhouse before school or at the midday recess. We also need help with all kinds of special events. If you’ve got ideas, comments, questions–or would like to volunteer, please call Alex Dohan (863-5882), Mimi Watstein (781) 862-0502, or me, Gretchen Denison (781) 674-2935 . Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon.
For an update on what has been going on more recently see the November PTA News
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Click one of these links to look at the Estabrook Library's list of Gardening books.
Review September 02 and Spring-Summer 02 at the greenhouse.
Last update 11/18/03 by webmaster DLK