New Community Learning Garden Yields First Fall Harvest

New Community Learning Garden Yields First Fall Harvest

This month, students participated in the first harvest of Pingree School's Community Learning Garden, the most recent campus addition. Among the vegetables students harvested were radishes grown from petri dish seedlings planted by ninth grade science classes.

The Learning Garden was built last summer with the ambitious mission of building community by connecting students to each other and the natural world as well as promoting sustainability, academic inquiry, civic engagement, environmental stewardship, and social justice through experiential learning. Among the many ways that students have engaged with the space since the start of the school year, students in environmental science tested the garden's soil samples, science classes have planted seedlings within the beds and greenhouse, pottery classes used the garden as a source for a project creating decorative pieces, advisory groups have visited the space, and a writing class used the garden for inspiration while working on individual projects. 

To enjoy your own taste of the Pingree Community Garden, please enjoy this recipe for Garden Pesto, provided by environmental science teacher Skylar McAlpin.


Recipe for Garden Pesto

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups radish greens (packed, washed, and dried)
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
  • 1 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1–2 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions:

Combine radish greens, walnuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic into a food processor or blend. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Stir with additional olive oil if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!