Spring Has Sprung in the Brainfood Youth Garden!

Written by Intern Michele Holzhauser

With Spring upon us, the Brainfood Youth Garden is getting a spring makeover with fresh soil and new fruits and vegetables!  Considering the harsh winter the DC area experienced, I was expecting to pull back the covers over the vegetables and find all of the remaining crops to be wilted.  However, to my surprise, I was able to harvest turnips, turnip greens, and a half pound of baby carrots!  Brainfood staffers were excited to learn that we had fresh vegetables for students to use in their recipes.  It was refreshing to see that after the long cold winter, crops were still able to grow. This showed me that if a garden is maintained properly, it really can produce all year round!

              A couple of months ago I had started seedlings for green onions and leeks indoors. After having received plenty of sunlight, water, and a lot of love, they are now growing like crazy and ready to be transplanted outside.  In addition to leeks and green onions, the Brainfood Youth Garden will soon be home to edamame, tri-colored beans, jalapeno peppers, habanero peppers, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, just to name a few.  The Brainfood staffers and I had an amazing time planting the spring crop selection and I cannot wait to see what our efforts will produce in the next few weeks.  Prior to this season, I had never planned crop placement or organized a planting day, so the fact that everything went smoothly and crops are beginning to sprout is a huge accomplishment for me!  I cannot wait until crops are ready for class to use.

            As I’ve been tending to the garden this year, I began noticing that community members were very interested in what we’re doing. A lot of the time when I’m out digging in the garden, people will look and see what is going on. Sometimes, someone will stop and ask me questions about the garden. This trend of interested neighbors got Brainfood staffers thinking, and I am excited to announce that we will be hosting a Youth Garden Event in June.  This will give members of the local community a chance to see what we do here at Brainfood and learn about the purpose of having a garden on the corner of a busy city street.  Guests will have the opportunity to try berries and vegetables that are in the garden, win prizes, and sample some of our favorite Brainfood recipes.  More details on the exact date will be posted soon, but I encourage everyone to come out and see the “behind- the scenes” look at our Brainfood Youth Garden this summer!

 

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