Farm to School Newsletter

Thank you to the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive for hosting the 5th grade students on a tour of your incredible farm! This was an amazing experience for 5th graders to learn about preserving and caring for our natural world.

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders also enjoyed their last lessons and final tastings! Third and 4th grade enjoyed smoothies while 5th grade made veggie pizzas.

We hosted planting days where all 1-5th grade students were invited to the garden to help plant for the season. Each class had a hand in planting the cucumbers, peppers, beans, tomatoes, squash, potatoes and more! We are excited for a fruitful season at Buckley this year!

The 4th graders made banana "nice-cream" as a fun and healthy alternative base to banana splits!

Each class was invited out to the garden to assist in planting potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, beans, zucchini, and herbs!

We also planted pumpkins and some winter squash in the brand new Courtade Pumpkin Patch! Special thanks to Mr. Rasho next door who tilled, prepped, and helped to plant this grand new addition to Courtade Elementary!

We held our final taste test at Northport for this school year! The students tried ranch roasted chickpeas. Overall, the crunchy, salty snack was hit! Some students said they preferred them over potato chips! The incredible food service staff offered roasted chickpeas on the salad bar in tandem with our taste test.

With the help of our elementary students and teachers, we planted beans, kale, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumber, beets, the three sisters, and more! A special thank you to the Northport maintenance team for setting up a new irrigation system and repairing garden beds!

We had our last 4 nutrition lessons! During these 4 lessons, students learned about nutrition labels, how to make small changes to make your meals healthier, the importance of physical activity, sugar sweetened beverages, and the importance of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. With these lessons, students tasted berry chia jam, pasta with veggie marinara, a green smoothie, and rainbow fruit salad.

We also managed to squeeze in a final cafeteria taste test! The elementary and high school students got to taste the ranch roasted chickpeas.

We're excited to be hosting Garden Camp at Buckley again this summer! Students will help tend the garden, play games, do crafts, and help prepare healthy tastings.

Stay tuned for announcements about a trail-building day for the Buckley Bike Trail!

Come one, come all to our Courtade garden workdays! We will be in the garden from 9-11am every other Wednesday starting on June 12th. That time doesn't work for you? No worries! The garden is open to families and community members all summer. Feel free to stop by anytime to pull some weeds, and grab some veggies to take home! Any questions, email bjuday@northwested.org.

Registration is still open! Students will help tend the garden, play games, do crafts, and help prepare healthy tastings. If you'd like your student to attend, click the photo for a link to the registration form with more information. Sign-ups will be limited to 15 students.