Fertilizing and the downtown trip

Today, we watered all the plants in the garden, then we went inside to water all the plants. After, we fertilized all the plants which kind of turned out to be a success with just a couple rows to fertilize, but we ran out of fertilizer. We really didnt have a chance to water the fertilizer, but its okay because we will do it. After an hour or so in the garden we went downtown to the chicago public school building to fill out an application for the cte internship, so that we can earn money for all the hardwork we have done in the garden. After Mr. Mukulski took us out to eat at a place called Ducks which is located downtown. We had a cheeseburger with fries and a small pop, the food was good and i really appreciated it. When everything was over we took the green line home from downtown, and i thought that was a very good first experience for me because i never did it before.( Sorry there were no pictures).

The Chicago Cares Organization

On monday, June 18th, 2012 there were different organizations that came out to help us with our vegetable garden. There were organizations like Chase, Toyota, and other companies. When i first arrived there, there were many people i saw that were from the chicago cares organization. I was surprised to see that many people. There were alot of tools there that i never saw before and i was so amazed. I met new people and showed them a tour around the garden. I named all the vegetables we grew, and i also showed them how we planted it. They were so kind to leave us vegetables to grow in our garden.




They provided us snacks and water. We grew more vegetables and put mulch around the plants to help it stay healthy, and watered it. Some of the people in the chicago cares organization built picnic tables and tables so that we can keep our food on it, so that it wont have to stay on the ground. We built a sign for the garden. We used wheel burrows to collect all the mulch and soil for the plants. We planted 6 fruit trees.
 I had a chance to take one person from the organization, Courtney, on a tour in our school and i showed her all the classes in the building and she was amazed. I had a chance to talk to alot of the people from the organization about myself and i answered alot of questions, but the good part about is that the questions were interesting.  After we planted and watered everything we started hoeing, to make sure that there were no dead plants or big rocks that would prevent our vegetables from growing. It seemed like a big success.


 After all the hardwork we cleaned up the garden and we enjoyed lunch, we had subway. My very own principal Mr. Hordon came and talked to us about our school and how it was a turnaround school. He recognized the garden as a success and thanked the members and also the sponsor of the garden. It was very fun and we should do this again because i really learned something out of this and i appreciate coming out every week to keep our garden looking good.

First Harvest Day!!

Yesterday was Father's day and it was also harvest day for all the members of the Wendell Phillips Veggie Farm. We didnt do much at the garden club but harvested, we did a little hoeing and watering. For those of you who dont know what harvesting mean it means the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. Here at wendell phillips we harvest every sunday between the hours of 1-3 p.m. We give it away to the community, people who is in need, and also our very own members of the garden club. We set up 10 boxes and put vegetables that were grown and ready to be eaten inside the boxes. Each box contained Kohlrabi, broccoli, radishes, beets, baby onions, serrano peppers, anise, ans savory. With the exception of the radish greens, all the other greens can be eaten. In fact, you could make a batch of mixed greens with all of them (broccoli, kohlrabi, beets)

 The best way to use the peppers is about half a pepper at a time; slice them very thinly, and then fry them in a tiny bit of high-smoke point oil (like peanut or canola). Once you smell the pepper smell, that's enough to know the capsaicin has been released. Now you can turn the heat off the stove, let it cool for a minute, and then add a bit of a tastier, low-smoke point oil (like a cold-pressed olive oil). The liquid you've just made is a potent spice-sauce, enough to hotten up the whole pot of whatever you're making (pasta sauce, etc.).

First harvest... this Sunday!

Hi everyone... its time for some good news! Our first harvest is this weekend, and I thought I'd give you a preview of what will be in your boxes:

Kohlrabi...

   ...radishes...

      ...baby onions...

         ...and broccoli!

There might also be a few other additions, like beets/beet greens (the beets are small, though!), milkweed flowers (picked wild) and garlic mustard seeds (picked wild). I make no promises on those, though!

If you want to meet us in the field for harvest, we'll be there from 1-3 PM on Sunday, 3733 S Giles. Those of you receiving a box, I'll first bring it to Frisbee at Arrigo and then later it will be at our place.

Hooray for fresh, local organic food! Hooray for the start of the WP veggie tasting goodness!!!