School is Winter Work

Science is about surprise. Helping Brett pass bits of mystery veg for Sullivant Elementary students to guess at was the most fun I’ve had on a gray day in February.

First each kid would pick one up between two fingers and eye it. The ultra cautious might sniff suspiciously, and the very brave would pop it whole into their mouths, but most took teeny-tiny nibbles.  All made funny faces while they chewed. One expected an apple slice, but got a radish; another thought the lemons were unripe, but learned of limes.

The biggest surprise for me was the children’s unsurprise at dragonfruit. When did second-graders get so cosmopolitan? 

To explore our food in preschool, we 

Smell like a racoon

Look like an owl

Touch like a bear

Eat like a person. 

Persons have lovely manners, darling.

Second grade growers organized veg by climate zone, choosing what to put in their own raised beds outside. They accepted responsibility for future peppers with cool nods and secretly shining eyes. They’ve got this.

Soon fifth grade guardians trooped out to rescue displaced garlic scapes from the smaller growers’ eagerness.

I learned from them to tuck in yellow scapes with fallen leaves, and keep the corner-growing ground ivy alone. Even gardens need a blanket in the cold.

Brett found a surprise sprout he hadn’t planted: a little like an onion but also a little like a lily. Green leaves with purple hints, and a thick ridge along each underside. It must have moved in compost from the Farms. 

We can’t wait to watch it grow.