Pickle Making in the Children's House

Yesterday, one of the children was out watering the garden and came inside to excitedly report that the teachers HAD to come with him to see the cucumbers. They were very big! There was only one thing to do: plan a pickle-making day!

The first step was to wash and slice all of the cucumbers we could pick. We went to the garden twice to get more cucumbers, and then once more to cut some fresh chives from the herb bed to put in the pickling jar.

 Fudge got the cucumber ends as a treat.

The pickling spices smell so good! What is this piece?

With the cucumbers, chives, and spices added, all that remained was to add a little sugar, salt, and vinegar. The jar will sit out on our counter today, then go in the refrigerator for one week. Then our pickles will be ready to eat!

A Day in the Life: Gardening on the Emeryville Campus

We are getting our garden ready for Spring planting.

All this rain has produced a bumper crop of our least favorite weed, nettles.

We have to pull them all out before we can prepare the soil for our seedlings.

 The new growth of mint is beginning to poke up through the soil,

but all the old dry growth above it must be cut away. 

A Day in the Life: Emeryville Children's House

This morning, I asked my teacher if she would give me a lesson on how to weed the mint bed. Now I am practicing how to carefully follow the stem of the weed down to its base so I may pull it up by the roots!