Tasting Tuesday at SPE!

Halloween at SPE was not all about candy! 

All students were treated with with a super fun tasting of fresh local fruit organized by our Wellness Committee led by Coach Gary Bond.

Parents and faculty chopped and prepped the morning way as students came through the lunch line to learn the taste, smell and touch of two very exotic fruits from overseas that also grow locally in South Florida: Jackfruit and Guava. 

The kids loved passing the spiky green jackfruit around and the sweet smell of ripe guavas. 

"I like like the taste of the jackfruit," said a 1st grader, "it tastes like bubble gum." 

The Wellness Committee would like to thank Aria Seder for organizing the fruit donation, our resident photographer Ely Bistrong for photographing the event and to all of the parents who helped chop and prep the fruit all morning! 

Way to go SPE!

Back To The Garden

Welcome back SPE parents, students and teachers!

As you may already know, South Pointe Elementary school has been reaping the benefits (no pun intended!) of our very own Organic Edible and Smoothie Garden! The mission of the gardens is to foster invaluable lessons about growing healthy fruits and vegetables and about cultivating respect for the environment to our children.

Last year, under the dedicated leadership and green thumb of SPE parent, Catherine Prescott, and troops of students, administrators, teachers and parents; we achieved the following:

1. Added a new Butterfly Garden using Florida Native, drought-tolerant plants and flowering vines (donated by Silver Palm Nursery and designed by Morel Landscape).

2. Planted a Carambola tree (star fruit) at the southern edge of the garden in memory of Mr. Philips' father (feel free to put this earlier in the list).

3. With the Wellness Committee led by SPE Phys-Ed teacher, Coach Gary Bond, offered food tastings for all students showcasing in-season fruit and produce.

4. Hosted FREE Healthy Eating Workshops for the SPE community with Once Upon a Carrot founder Cindy Hill.

5. Added colorful stepping stones throughout the garden painted by the After School Care Garden Club led by SPE parents, Miss Jacqui and Annhy Shim.

6. Harvested bell peppers, spinach, lettuce and herbs which were all used in the food tastings. 

7. Hosted the Annual Green Market which raised over $3000 in funds to buy mulch, soil, seeds, supplies for the garden.

8. Hosted Family Friday, where families and kids came out after school to help weed, mulch and harvest the gardens. Organic cookie treats were donated by Ginnybakes. Getting dirty never tasted so good!

9. Raised over $200 for the garden, by selling Peace Lily plants during the holidays. This year, we hope to do this again and double the sales! Peace Lily plants are rated as one of the top indoor air cleaning plants and are perfect for shady areas in your home or office! Read this article from the New York Times and learn more- then make sure to stock up this December! No pressure... :)

This year, we welcome in the skills of SPE parents Eve Scheinblum and Jessica Burns who will be growing the gardens to the next level and keeping their hands dirty! We also have the generous help of Roger Horne of UrbanGreenWorks and Native Splendor in Miami. His efforts and expertise are incredibly valuable and his tireless work in the community is absolutely inspiring. 

So- we now welcome YOU to join us and help us accomplish fantastic green-minded things this year!

Our first meeting will be held on Friday September 21 at 8:40am in the SPE Media Center.

Please feel free to send an email to Jessica at spegarden@gmail.com! 

Subject: Garden. 

Hope to see you in the garden this year!!

SPE and USDA Chefs Move to School!

  

On February 16th- Cindy Hill, as part of the USDA Chef Moves to School Program, created a tasting station in the school cafeteria, making fresh vegetables and herbs available during the children's lunch time.

The program, spearheaded by Coach Gary Bond and the help of volunteer parents and the cafeteria staff, was a big hit with the elementary school children.

We began at 8:45 am by preparing two recipes for lunchtime tastings for the 500 students.  We harvested herbs and vegetables from the garden and incorporated it into our recipes.  Tomato Bruschetta and Green Beans with an Herbed 'Green Goddess' Dressing. We used fresh, local and sustainably grown tomatoes and green beans,  All of the herbs were incorporated into the tomato topping for the bruschetta, as well as the herbed dressing.  We lowered the fat content by using Greek yogurt. We also served less than a tsp. per plate. The dressing was to entice and enhance the green beans. The bread was toasted with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt. The post-sampling student survey said 75% enjoyed the tastings and many students were asking for seconds!

Thank you to all the parents and Dubis and her amazing cafeteria staff, who helped chop, slice and dice all morning long and who tirelessly served over 500 students during lunch time. Gooo team!

Don't miss our next FREE lecture: March 21st at 2:15 "Redesigning Your Plate: Create, Easy and Nutritionally Balanced Meals". Click here to learn more about the upcoming FREE nutrition lectures.

In the meantime, here are Cindy's delicious and easy recipes!

Tomato Bruschetta (pronounced BrusKetta)

INGREDIENTS FOR CLASS SIZE RECIPE

6 vine-ripe tomatoes, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

6-8 leaves fresh basil, chopped*

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley*

1 pinch dried oregano*

1 pinch salt

1 pinch pepper

1 pinch crushed red pepper (optional)*

1 tsp minced tarragon (optional)*

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, basil, oregano,parsley, tarragon(optional)

olive oil and garlic. Mix thoroughly and add the salt, black pepper and optional

red pepper. Add the balsamic vinegar. Refrigerate the mixture (if possible) for

about 15 minutes.

The Bread (to be made in advance)

1 loaf baguette (makes about 20-24 slices) OR FLATBREAD will do fine.

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp kosher or sea salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

On a cutting board, slice the Italian bread on an angle in very thin pieces. Preheat

your broiler. On a baking sheet, line up your bread and brush top side with

mixture. Brown the slices on each side. Spread the tomato relish on your toasted

bread and prepare on a platter. Serve immediately to guests.

* Use freshly harvested herbs from your garden whenever possible.

Green Beans with Dipping Dressing

INGREDIENTS FOR CLASS SIZE RECIPE

5 lbs. of local and organically grown green beans, cleaned and trimmed

1 cup water

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup plain organic yogurt (or sour cream)

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Juice of 2 lemons

1 cup of assorted herbs from the garden-freshly harvested

salt & pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Place the green beans in a skillet (or hotel pan). add the water. 

2. Heat over high heat until the water begins to boil. Reduce heat to low and steam, until

beans are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand at room

temperature.

3. For dressing, place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth Serve on

the side of your green beans or any vegetable, chicken or fish.

The Butterflies Need Your Help!

Happy new year to our happy garden-loving readers!

We apologize for our brief hiatus, but we were busy hawking Peace Lilies for the holidays and making our big plans for the South Pointe Elementary Butterfly Garden!

That's right- we have been teaming up with some green-thumbed SPE parents to design and develop a fabulous butterfly garden that will be filled with beautiful, low-maintenance, Florida native plants- that will also act as a buffer around our organic edible garden- which by the way, is doing quite amazingly! We encourage you to have a gander at the next drop-off, or pick-up. It's really quite a bounty that we are so so proud of.

As you all know, "it takes a village", so on that note- we want to thank everyone who have made our garden what it is today. All the time, love (and weeding!) is what truly makes our garden grow. Following suit, we would like to put an open call to anyone interested in helping us get the new butterfly garden installed.

Here is our open call:

Come all gardeners - tall and short, large and small, green-thumbed and all thumbs!  We're installing the butterfly garden this Wednesday January 11th, and we need your help!  Join us to raise arbors and plant butterfly-attracting plants around the Organic Edible Garden.  

All children are welcome with their parents or caregivers.  See you at the garden!

See Catherine Prescott upon arrival and get digging!  Questions? Email us! Subject: Butterfly
southpointepta@gmail.com

Eat Your Greens!

Last year, the USDA finally replaced the good old Food Pyramid with a plate.  Yes, that's right- a simple plate.

MyPlate to be exact, is the branded term for the new federal goverment dietary guidelines. MyPlate advises Americans to enjoy their food, but less of it- based on a plate divided into quadrants. 1/4 fruit, 1/4 vegetables, 1/4 protein and 1/4 whole grains- and a serving of low fat dairy.

As parents of pre-school and elementary children, we all know that mealtimes can be challenging.  It's easy to get into the habit- especially with our time starved lives to whip up sureshot dinners  that we know our little ones will eat such as pasta or chicken strips- and forget about our much needed greens and reds!

Statistics show that only 22% of children aged 2-5; and only 16% of children aged 6 and up are getting the government recommended fresh fruit and vegetables- according to a recent study from Ohio State University.  We live in a nation with ever-increasing rates of Type 2 diabetes and obesity amongst adults and sadly, amongst our children as well.

Here are five easy tips, that we hope will help those of you who have picky little ones- to help introduce fruits and veggies into their diets and to help them become stronger and healthier eaters!

1. Re-Brand! Make up new names for vegetables. Create silly names like "Power Pellets" for things like brussel sprouts or green beans- to make them more kid-friendly and appealing.

2. The One Bite Rule. Try telling your child that they at least, need to take one full bite of something before vetoing it. At least it gets them trying something, and hopefully eventually getting comfortable with it.

3. Shop and Cook with your Kids. Let your kids pick one vegetable that looks appealing to them- then also let them help your prepare them. It's easy to let them (depending on age of course) to wash, snip, or pour a little dressing on a salad to steamed green beans. If they take part in preparing something to more apt they may be to wanting to eat it- even if it's a little bite!

4. Hide the Veggies. The simplest place to sneak in vegetables is your basic spaghetti sauce! Steam, boil and puree squash, spinach or sweet potatoes- and mix into your favorite tomato sauce. Add some parmesan cheese into the sauce as well- and we guarantee your little ones won't know the difference.

5. Hold Dessert Hostage. For those households out there that enjoy dessert after meals, this is a simple, and seemingly not-so-nice way to get them to try vegetables, but it usually works. Tell them that they have to eat their vegetables (set them up for success by starting with a small portion!) in order to get dessert. Show them that it applies to the grown ups as well. Soon enough it will become second nature and sometimes dessert will even go un-noticed.

Good luck and happy healthy eating!!!

Helping Hands and Green Thumbs!

September has come and gone quickly, but we are pleased to report the latest garden news.

To date all of the garden beds have been tilled and mulched thanks to our resident green thumb and garden advisor extraordinaire, Roger Horne! 

And although last weekend's rains delayed some planting, they didn't stop Ms. Jaqui and her Gardening Club from planting the first bed.  We plan to complete the planting for each grade level within the next week. Trust us, we'll keep you posted.

Last week we received a donation of herb plants from Morel Landscape including some fragrant Rosemary, which is delicious to eat and known to be a natural insect repellent properties. Thank you!

The mixed veggie and herb seedlings that we're putting into the ground have been donated by Teena's Pride. Teena's Pride, in Homested, Florida, has specialized in locally grown produce for over 35 years - and has been a strong supporter of the SPE Edible Garden from the outset. This year, Teena also gave us a Raspberry bush, which is a new addition to our garden.  Come October, we'll also receive some of her award-winning, to-die-for Heirloom Tomato plants to add to our garden. Can't wait! We encourage you to check out Teena's website and sign up to be a part of her CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Picking up your share of fresh produce from Teena's CSA from the Whole Foods on Alton Road makes the 'farm to table' concept a very simple reality for your family.

We truly thank everyone who continues to help our garden grow in so many ways, and we encourage everyone to take an interest - even if it's by simply taking the time to read our blog updates - because we promise you that every step along this year's growing season will be a journey worth sharing that will hopefully inspire parents, teachers and students to take pride in this special green initiative we've nurtured at South Pointe Elementary.

September's Here. Time to Grow!

As we bid farewell to a long, hot summer in Miami Beach and send our little ones back into a new school year - we also welcome one of our favorite times of the year - planting season!

Since 2009, South Pointe Elementary School has been fortunate to build, grow and sustain its very own Organic Edible Garden and Smoothie Garden.

The school garden's main goal is to educate and benefit our children. The commercialization of food in today's world has taken away a basic "farm to table" understanding amongst many  Americans. School gardens are a fantastic way for up and coming generations to witness where and how food grows.  School gardens also have a positive effect on children's vegetable intake.  Put simply, if they plant it they will try it.  And we can’t ask for more than that.

In the coming weeks, the children will plant a cornucopia of vegetables and herbs, and through this experience, they will understand and appreciate the value of harvesting something that started as a seed or a seedling.  We truly hope visions of broccoli and string beans will dance through your child's head...

In the meantime, we encourage you to read more about the benefits of school gardens here and also read up on this great article posted on CNN recently.

There are many ways we fund the garden: from grants to our annual Green Market.  This year we are taking part in the 2011-12 Fairchild Challenge. Last year we gained top honors (placing in the top 16 schools) and won $250 to use towards our garden.  We will also apply for a Foodcorps School Garden Grant, through Whole Foods- who has been a supporter and friend to our garden program. Wish us luck!

Thank you for your continued support.  Hope to see you in the garden this year- there's a lot growing on!