Sprouting Chefs

As promised, here is our first educational video we've created for teachers and families about herbs! Featured in this video are Rosemary, Sage, Lemon Balm, Oregano and Thyme. Tips about how to manage the plants over winter, health benefits and cooking tips from our friend Rebecca Douglas Nutrition. Let us know what you think and what other videos you might be interested in seeing too!

We're creating an educational video on Herbs today focusing on 5 top herbs found in our school gardens including Rosemary, Sage, Lemon Balm (featured in photo), Oregano and Thyme. We'll be including ways to protect these plants over the winter so they can thrive in the Spring as well as ways to cook with them in your home. What else would you like to know about these awesome smelling and tasty herbs? Our holistic nutritionist, chef assistant extraordinaire, Rebecca Douglas Nutrition will also be on hand to answer any questions about the health benefits of each of these as well.

Peace. Begins. With. Me. This is a finger tapping technique we began to teach at the labyrinth and in the classrooms via our Seed to Table Program over the last few years. As you say out loud or in your mind each word when things are a bit crazy on the outside, you tap each finger, going through your hand. Peace. Begins. With. Me. The idea being that we cannot have Peace if we ourselves do not feel peaceful. We can only control ourselves in the end and we need to be responsib...le for our own actions before blaming others. As we tap each word, we also remember our breath, breathing in these words and breathing out what no longer serves. This is also another way to cultivate a sense of inner peace that we always have control over when the inside thoughts and feelings swirl like a glitter jar. Our breath. Breathing in deeply and breathing out slowly. May we all remember this inner gift we all have of peace today. May you take a pause and just breathe today. Breathe in Hope and Love. Breathe out anything no longer needed.

Me an Da Boyz at Edmonds! A great afternoon doing the final bedding down the garden beds with leaves after burying in some leftover pumpkins. We also added a cover crop despite it being a bit late in the season. Not quite as many, not quite as much to do each time but I value the fact with a small group, I really get the chance to connect with each of these precocious boys! Of course they loved smashing pumpkins to boot and digging holes in the soil as Gr.3/4 students but here's hoping they stick around till they're in Gr. 7 at least like some other older boys I now know And maybe one day the lil boys can learn a thing or two from some cool big boys I now know

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! One of the lessons I try teaching students about gratitude can be summed up in the following story of the Two Branches of Gratitude explained by Brother David Steindl-Rast:... What is the difference between ‘gratitude’ and ‘gratefulness’? He proceeded to tell her the story of the tree with two branches. There are two branches of Gratitude. One is Gratefulness, and the other is Thanksgiving. The Gratefulness branch is when the Bowl of Life is so full that it’s almost overflowing, but not quite. So full that it’s almost bowed at the top, but not quite dribbling over the edges. And, that is the experience of the Great Fullness of Life. And when you’re in the Great Fullness of Life, you’re one with God, you’re one with the Universe, there is no other. And that is so Full Filling, that the Bowl of Life gives way and to overflow at last, which flows you directly over to the second branch, that of Thanksgiving. When you’re in the space of Thanksgiving, the Bowl of Life is absolutely overflowing. You’re so grateful that there is an other because all you want to do is contribute and serve and share and give and make a difference. And that is so Full Filling, that it puts you right back onto the other branch where you experience the Great Fullness of Life, where you’re one with God and there is no other. And, so you see, you can live your whole life in the two branches of Gratitude I also love how this video sums up how to be grateful for the wonders and beauty of Nature, narrated by Brother David with the talented Louie Schwartzberg as a filmmaker who takes in so many beautiful images of nature and captures the essence of being in Gratitude. So today, remember to pause, give thanks for all the Great Things you have in your life as well as all the things that make YOU Great too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEjNNn9UHtk