Avery and her parents, Tom and Alie.

Avery’s mobile

Conversing with Jemima Puddleduck

I took a month away from our wonderful Vermont school garden so that I could help my daughter and her husband bring their first baby into the world. Avery Quinn Hopper, 7 lbs.2 oz. was born in Boulder, Co. just as school was starting in Westminster, Vt., on August 29, 2012.
While we were getting settled with our new arrival in Colorado, the weeds were settling in back in Vermont. I had left on August 23rd, thinking that the garden was is good shape for school to begin….apparently, NOT! The moist August/ September Vermont weather was just what weeds needed to have a ‘field day.’ I returned to a garden shrouded in a sea of waist high lacy vegetation. Where were the pristine mulched rows I had left? What had become of the new lettuce? It was buried beneath overachieving WEEDS. One of our teachers, Valerie, contacted me and gently suggested that she could help ‘uncover’ the garden on a Sunday when she was at school planning. Between her 2 hours and my 4, we unearthed half the garden, re-exposing the lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and marigolds to the waning rays of autumn sunlight. Many thanks, Valerie! We both went home looking like we’d spent an afternoon at a cruel spa, getting full-body cold mudpacks. It’s amazing how many heavy wet weeds can thrive in a garden in one short month!

Shade space in September. Watch out, Ben! The weeds are coming to getcha!

Yesterday a couple of Westminster Moms and their children helped to build a new addition to our garden. We now have an arched structure made of saplings, baling twine and garden love. Emily Lisai, parent and former teacher at our school brought saplings cut from home that she managed to cram into her car along with kids and car seats. Declan was back for more sawing. Andrea Carlson and her two children, Bayley and Maya Sbardellati joined to measure and cut the saplings to the right size.

Bayley and Maya more saplings

horizontal pieces

We couldn’t have put our shade frame together without a generous donation of baling twine from Jason Goodell at the Goodell Dairy Farm. What a great community of helpful parents! Jason also gave us a tarp that lets air through while blocking the sun’s rays.

Declan, Maya, Bayley and me done!

Bayley found a clever way to measure the length of our structure and he thinks the picnic table and benches will fit underneath! Now I have to sew two lengths of the material the Sherrods gave us for the final touch. It’s easy to imagine students using this shade space for writing, reading or painting their impressions of the garden this fall. There is nothing so wonderful as an outdoor classroom.

Now that the summer campers have all left, what to do about harvesting the abundant zukes, cukes, beans and tomatoes?? Hire a few two, three and four year olds! Their enthusiasm is a terrific antidote for the midsummer blues…and they can spot tomatoes  hiding lower than most adults can bend down to see. Declan and Cole Lisai and their friends, Livie and Kate Clough, future Westminster students all, had fun filling their basket together. Afterwards, they grazed on the new crop of raspberries just coming in.

If you have a reluctant veggie eater at home, you might want to try this dip that my grandmother used to make:

Skordalia (Garlic/Potato Sauce)

You’ll need:

a blender

juice of one lemon

2 medium potatoes

1/4- 1/2 c. olive oil

1-2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes (cut in half) in water (to cover) until fork tender. Reserve 1/2 c. of the water. Then run cold water over the potatoes and peel off and discard the skins. Place potatoes into blender with peeled garlic cloves, lemon juice, olive oil and reserved water. Blend on high until mixture is creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste. If necessary add more water to achieve the consistency of sour cream.

This dip is wonderful for carrots, tomatoes, peppers, beans even pasta. It keeps well refrigerated but it may need to be reconstituted with water at room temperature before being used a second day.