I think once you get behind, it seems like it takes awhile to catch up.  Well – Week 7 of Kids in the Garden is just hours away and I’m finally getting to post the pictures/notes from Week 6.

That being said, all three of my girls were in a wedding this past weekend…so that’s my excuse.

Anyway – back to week 6.  We had a small group this week but we still had a lot of fun!

First – we checked the rain gauge and saw that we had 2.1-inches of rain since the last week.

Next – it was out to the sunflowers to measure their growth – 54”, 58” and 61”.

On the walk back the kids and moms were able to enjoy some delicious raspberries.  The patch is slowly starting to ripen.  It will definitely be ready for pick your own when we open the week of August 15th!

Then we headed to the back garden to see how the baby tomatoes were coming along.  We managed to find a few ripe ones that the kids were able to try during our snack.  2 liked them, 1 kind of liked them, and 2 did not like them.

We also checked out the cucumbers, summer squash, melons, potatoes, swiss chard, beets, carrots, lettuce and kale. 

The kids helped us pick some beets, carrots and onions to use in our recipe for the day.

After the kids washed their hands it was time to try the first snack –

Raw Beet and Carrot Salad

4 or 5 medium beets, peeled

1 small onion, peeled

2 medium carrots, peeled

Shred in food processor.

Toss with:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp dry mustard

salt

pepper

Add minced:

Parsley

Chives

Dill

It made a beautiful salad.  1 of the kids really liked it (I think he had at least 3 helpings), 4 kind of liked it and 1 did not like it.

Diane also brought some picked cauliflower that she had prepared ahead of time for the kids to try.

Refrigerator Cauliflower Pickles

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients

For the brine:

2 cups water

1 cup white vinegar

1 T plain salt

2 heads of fresh dill

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp mustard seed

Cauliflower – cut into bit size pieces.  You can also add other vegetables – cucumbers, carrots, onions, kohlrabi – use your imagination and have fun with it!

Place 1 head of dill in the bottom of a clean quart jar.  Fill with cauliflower and add another head of dill on top.

In a medium saucepan, bring water, vinegar and salt to a boil, stirring until the salt dissolves.  Remove from heat.  Pour into jar.  Brine should completely cover cauliflower.  Allow to cool, then refrigerate.  Read to eat in 3 days.

1 LOVED the pickled cauliflower (Cedi), 1 kind of liked it and 4 did not like it.

After our snack the kids fed the left leaves and skins from the veggies to the goats.

Then we had to check out our jungle gym beans and north gardens of pumpkins, raspberries, and blueberries (everyone loved the blueberries).