A Picture can be worth a thousand words.

It is hard to describe the phenomenon we have experienced introducing children to gardening at Mountainside.  Phenomenon is a bold word but children are really into what we have been doing and Josh is a really good teacher.  Today was the last day of Bar-T Harvest Clubs for the Spring.  School is winding down, summer camp is gearing up and during the final days of the school we will be hosting 5th grade and Middle School end of the year parties at Mountainside.  The staff will be stretched to the maximum hosting these groups so the Harvest Clubs are shutting down.

So the last group of children came to Mountainside today to pick some lettuce, wash it, put it in a vegetable spinner, and bag the green goodness to take home.  The farmers markets to date have been a little disappointing.  Everyone is after our mushrooms which is great and we need to harvest a lot more in the future...but, as beautiful as our mixed greens, tennis ball lettuce and Nancy lettuce (that is actually a variety) are, we are not selling much.  Our hope is that our parents will see how beautiful and healthy the lettuce is and we hope to have our summer campers take it home with them on the bus.  The pictures below tell the story better than I can.

                                                                 edible pom poms

                                                       tennis ball lettuce great for wraps