Gardening Thoughts in Midwinter

THIS SNOWY, JANUARY DAY has my mind turning towards our sustainable garden at Oak Lane. If you are not familiar with our garden activities, here’s an update: The rain barrel has been put away for the winter (so it doesn't freeze!); the compost pile is constantly being added to and is decomposing (Oak Lane has diverted over 300 pounds of food scraps from trash cans to the compost pile already this year – wow!); and finally, we are beginning to think warm thoughts about starting new seeds indoors!

Our garden guru and my husband, Phil Baumgarten, seems always to be on the ready to help with Oak Lane’s sustainable efforts. He is the guru of seed starting and is an instinctive and diligent gardener, both in food and in landscape. He tells me that we can start eggplant and pepper plants indoors soon. These seed starts will be the plants for both our home garden and our school garden. After that, the tomato and broccoli seeds can be started. I will follow his lead in all the indoor seedlings. I'll keep you posted on the progress, and I'll also let you know of any needs that we might have.

As part of my teaching about sustainability, I plan to offer food that has been grown, harvested and preserved from Oak Lane's "backyard" to each of our classrooms this winter. Some classes may choose to cook in class, but others might prefer making and bringing in dishes from home. Below are foods that have been preserved and are available, and suggestions for how to use them. Homeroom teachers are welcome to use these midwinter food treats between now and the end of March, so the time schedule for cooking would be different in each class. Even our Parent Association could use some of the preserved foods for various events!

1. Crab apple jelly – good baked in muffins, as centers for cookies, or even as a topping for brie.
2. Crab applesauce – I have two applesauce recipes above, thanks to the Mennonite Community Cookbook: Applesauce Cake and Applesauce Gingerbread. Try them out!
3. Sweet basil and thyme – I would make a simple spaghetti using these two herbs (and others), but feel free to use any recipe calling for these herbs.
4. Garden mint tea – hot, cold or with lemonade. The mix of tea and lemon is particularly tasty.

We want Oak Lane children to experience eating cared-for-food from our garden in the middle of the winter. Clearly, our message is: "We grew this ourselves, it was preserved by someone at Oak Lane, and we are eating local food.” Sustainability and sustainable practices – it is all taking place at Oak Lane Day School!

-- Dottie Baumgarten, Science Teacher --

Reflections on Martin Luther King Day Service Projects

THE SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE of this year's Martin Luther King Day resonated in many hearts, including mine. Forty-five years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and proclaimed, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." One day after that important holiday set aside to honor Dr. King's legacy, America inaugurated its first black president, Barack Obama, a man brought to office because of the content of his character and not judged by the color of his skin. As I participated in Oak Lane's service projects, I couldn't help thinking that this year, at long last, a part of Dr. King's dream was coming true.

I arrived at school early to set up for our sandwich making assembly line. Families started arriving at nine and we set out on our mission: to make as many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheese sandwiches that we could from the supplies that had been so generously donated by all of you. Teachers, parents, students, siblings and alumni worked together to produce 190 cheese sandwiches and 753 pb&j's for the Stenton Family Manor. There were many sticky fingers, lots of laughter and the bond of working together in service experienced by all. Teachers stayed behind to help clean up and pack the sandwiches into Judy Leigh's car for a pre-lunch delivery and everyone felt like it was a job well done.

I had to leave school before the clean up to rush on to Sunrise Assisted Living of Lafayette Hill for our orchestra and choral concert. By the time I arrived, the students were warming up, the residents were taking their seats, and excitement was in the air. The students performed pieces from their winter concert as well as our traditional Martin Luther King Day songs. Many eyes were a bit teary during our rendition of "We Shall Overcome." Although our audience was small, they were grateful to the students for sharing their time and talents with them.

In the afternoon, we arrived at the Evergreen Adult Day program with energy and good will that totally revitalized and transformed the room and the seniors in it. We got everyone talking and engaged, playing bingo and having fun. We had prizes for everyone and kept playing until each player had won a prize. Then we glued tissue paper on to jars to transform them into colorful vases and filled them with flowers provided by Nancy Opalka. The seniors truly enjoyed the craft and the beauty of the flowers. The children behaved beautifully and were so good at talking with the seniors and helping them to enjoy our activities. We all left feeling good about our interactions there and knowing that we had brightened up the day for those folks.

Community service can be a way of life and it certainly has its place here at Oak Lane. Every month we dedicate time to do some small thing to make our world a better place. On this day, our children got to experience the joy of serving others as they participated in a larger, national day of service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King. This was an eventful and historic week, and I was happy to take part in it and to share my enthusiasm for service with the students.

-- Sherry Shaeffer, Community Service Coordinator --