We had another great week of Kids in the Garden…even with a torrential downpour interrupting us…

When the class started we had 0.5-inches.  The sunflowers are growing tall!  Who’s excited to play in them?We took a walk up to the lookout deck and learned about monarch’s and milk weed.

On the walk back we checked on our gardens and picked some kale and chard for our snack.

The children helped me wash and rip up the leaves for baking. 

Baked Kale and Chard Chips

1 Bunch Kale or Swiss Chard

1 T olive oil

1 tsp seasoned salt

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and *thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
3. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

*it’s SUPER IMPORTANT to THOROUGHLY DRY your leaves!  It makes a HUGE difference!

While the chard and kale chips were baking – the rain came.  We had a very special visitor!  Cedi’s Kindergarten teacher and her new little guy, Mason.  And the rain continued…We improvised though and tried some fresh raw beans and tried out the photo props for the new ‘photo booth’ coming to the orchard this season.

We also gave the kids a ‘behind the scenes’ tour o four sorting table and coolers.

By the end of class we  added almost an entire inch to our rain total!

The rain did finally let up to the let the folks leave at the end of the class. 

Our last ‘Kids in the Garden’ is happening tomorrow from 2-3:30!  It’s not too late to join in the fun!