Microgreens as a Garnish

Cress is a very spicy microgreen, so I like it best as a garnish served on foods that need a little extra kick.  For dinner, I had couscous with chickpeas and veggies, topped with some fresh picked microgreens.  It was a great way to end the day.  I am looking forward to doing some taste tests with the new greens we planted, and coming up with some new recipes! More to come soon!

Cress for lunch

We harvested more microgreens on Monday and i decided to try them on my turkey sandwich this time, I noticed they are a lot spicier on their own than when they are with other foods, i could barely tell they were there.  I'm excited to try the other types of microgreens we planted on Monday.

Cress Microgreen Harvest: 7 and 14 days after sowing

Cress microgreens: Sown on Feb 11, then exactly 7 days later, Feb 18, we harvested from the greenhouse flat. 14 days after sowing, Feb 25 (above) we harvested the flat in the window and the flat in the closet under a 2 bulb shoplight. Quantity appeared similar. New time we need to weigh the harvest!

Second sowing of Microgreens

Second sowing of microgreens, trying amaranth and a form of lettuce, mizuna. No soil on top. Same locations: windowsill, under grow light in closet, and in greenhouse.

Presentation in London March 18, 2013

Our trip to London is fast approaching. We are excited! We are looking forward to presenting to others about Successful School Gardens in Minnesota, especially in urban areas. Our first presentation will be on Monday, March 18, 2013 at 9:30 AM at the FIE Study Center, 114 Cromwell Road, London. Do London school gardens face many of the same challenges we do in Minnesota?

Microgreens

Today was the second harvest for our first seeding of microgreens.  I went to dinner and had a salad that I was going to eat my cress with, but totally forgot.  When I got back to my room I noticed the microgreens in my coat pocket and decided to try something a little bit different from everyone else.  This weekend I went grocery shopping and bought lime and sea salt chips to go with spice and garlic hummus.  Using these, I put the water cress on my chips and dip.  Truthfully, I thought it was going to be really good, but it was only alright.  There was already so much flavor in the chips and hummus that the only thing I noticed was that it was a little spicier with the water cress. Here's what it looked like:

Eating Crest

I chose to put my crest microgreens on a turkey, swiss, and cheddar sandwich... it was pretty darn good and reminded me of the colors on Ireland's flag!... Proud to be Irish

It is as easy as 1-2-3:

1) Prepare it

2) Microwave it

3) Eat it

Microgreens With Dinner!

I washed up some microgreens tonight and used them to add a little zest to my dinner.  Mashed root vegetables, two eggs, avocado, and a little grated cheese topped with microgreens.  It was delicious!

Microgreens with Mashed Potatoes

I enjoyed some of our microgreens we harvested on mashed potatoes. They were an excellent addition and added a great flavor!

Microgreens On Our Greens

Check us out! Just one week after sowing the seeds for spicy water cress, we were able to harvest and enjoy them as microgreens. Putting these on a salad, sandwhich, or using as a garnish on a fancy meal makes for a wonderful addition. The flavor was potent, so a little goes a long way. And good thing, because they are little!

Abby and I used our share of the microgreens as an addition to our salads at dinner Monday night. They tasted garden fresh, and made us think of spring. (:

Microgreen lunch

Just ate my microgreens at lunch! Very fancy

Spciy Cress Microgreens

Just one week after sowing the seed, cress microgreens are ready to harvest. Top shows 3 trays, left was under growlight; center in greenhouse, right on windowsill. Students harvested with scissors. Cod fishcakes with microgreens; mixed green salad with microgreens. Cress is spicy, but very mild with other food. Great for kids to try!

On Feb 11 we planted cress microgreens. How soon will they be up?

What will they taste like?

The Evolution of Sibley East's School Garden

Hello all!

I have had the fortune of watching the Sibley East School Garden evolve over the years from its formation to where they are with about two acres of garden that provide vegetables to the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and the school lunch program. The success of the garden has been an amazing opportunity to watch move forward. I was even surprised to hear all the things that Mr. Uhlenkamp had to offer about the program and what is going on over at Sibley East.

The beginning of the garden was started through grants and the support of the wonderful superintendent, along with the work from the students within the agriculture classes. The first year was a great year for trial and an opportunity to learn more about the ability of the soil and the garden plot. Now it has evolved to a full blown operation and they are producing a vast amount of vegetables to provide to the students.

I can't wait to see where the garden goes from here and hopefully I will be able to incorporate some of the contents into a future agricultural education of my own.

If you have any questions, I'd love to hear them!

Vinz Karl

Microgreens

Over the last few class sessions, we have learned about microgreens.  Microgreens are seedlings that are harvested after their first true leaves appear.  They are known for their nutritional value and their intense flavor.  We have a couple students in class who are currently trying to grow them. They are very talented students and I know they will be successful!!

Teaching Aid

The 1.92 acre farm at Sibley East provides a great teaching aid.  Tim is able to teach a variety of horticulture type classes, then go out in the field with a class and look for what they learned.  I think this would be beneficial in any subject matter to be able to work with what you are learning about because it will reinforce the knowledge you already have.  Overall the farm land provides a great outside classroom for Sibley East students to enjoy rather than learning from a desk.

Sibley East School Garden

I was impressed by the variety of crops grown at Sibley East that are utilized by the school and the community, including sweet corn, onions, squash, potatoes, eggplant, celery, tomatoes, watermelon, etc.  It was interesting to hear that so many different classes are involved in the garden, from plant sciences to carpentry and mechanics.

Farm to School

Tim Uhlenkamp, an Agriculture Teacher from Sibley East High School, shared some of his wisdom with us in a Skype interview last Monday.  Among the topics that we discussed was Farm to School and their involvement in the program.  He shared that their school garden feeds up to 90% of the student population in the Fall months.  In addition, he reported that sweet corn was a student favorite. However, tomatoes and squash were popular with the foodservice employees because of their health value.  He is lucky to have such a positive relationship with his school's foodservice because without their support, Farm to School programs can be difficult, if not impossible, to implement.

High Tunnel vs Greenhouse

While speaking to Sibley East High School we found out they only use a high tunnel. They do not use a greenhouse of any kind to start their plants. The high tunnel is about 10 degrees warmer than outside and they are able to grow spinach year round. The high tunnel option costs much less than running lights and heating a greenhouse.

Riverway Learning Center

My nieces and nephews go to Riverway Learning Center in Winona, MN.  They successfully ran a school garden (with chickens!) for 3 years.  They received support from Americorp's Greencorp program.  This year, the school changed locations so the garden has to be rebuilt. They are actually tearing up an old parking lot and building raised beds to make this happen. I found an article about the school and Greencorp from a couple of years ago.
 A chance to ‘give back’ -- garden offers more than just produce

Sibley East High School, Minnesota

We learned that Sibley East High School has a1.92 acre school garden. Is this the largest school garden in Minnesota?