Dirt Made My Lunch

How to plant, cultivate, harvest and prepare a hot lunch for the whole school, with the whole school, on your own school grounds

By Jenny Groves & Simon Hocking

Davis Bay Greenhouse in action (Hocking, 2019)

Where we come from:

“Due to our rich natural surroundings, Davis Bay Elementary has environmental education, place-based learning, and related literature, numeracy and science learning opportunities at the centre of our programming and learning.” (DBES, 2020)

Davis Bay Elementary School (DBES) is a Kindergarten through Grade 7 school on the Sunshine Coast of BC, Canada. With over 200 students and about 25 staff members, we are comprised of two distinct programs: DEN, with five mainstream academic classrooms, and NEST, with four alternative, nature-based classrooms. Our campus sits on the unceded land of the shishalh nation near a forested, salmon-bearing creek that empties through a large estuary into the Salish Sea. We love to grow plants at DBES, in outdoor raised beds as well as within a 2000 square foot greenhouse. Planting, harvesting and care of food production is supported by teachers, students and community volunteers.

Where we’re going:

“The future of industry is a world of abundance that celebrates the use and consumption of products and materials that are, in effect, nutritious - as safe, effective, and delightful as a cherry tree.” (Braungart & McDonough, 2002)

We want to involve the students at DBES in planning, planting, caring for, harvesting, preparing, and eating their own scrumptious hot lunch. In addition, we want the students to research, innovate and create packaging for the meal that is 100% locally derived and compostable. We will know our project is successful if all students at school are fed, if they enjoy the meal, and if there is zero garbage. We will document and celebrate each step along the way.

Growing and knowing our food (Davis Bay Elementary School, 2019)

Why we’re doing it:

“Our current food supply is brimming with foods that are highly processed, unhealthful, high carbon-footprint, and heavily advertised.” (Koch, 2016)

At DBES, the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) works incredibly hard to organize and deliver hot lunches to students throughout the year. This is on a volunteer basis, and the proceeds go directly to the school. Hot lunches are one of the biggest fundraisers the PAC facilitates, which results in books, supplies, equipment and field trips for the students at our school. Unfortunately, the food that is served can be unhealthy and create garbage. The resulting lessons learned by students as they order, receive and consume their hot lunches can be incongruous with the broader environmental goals of the school. There exists an opportunity to increase the ecological values associated with hot lunches, in order to present students with lived experiences that promote well-being for self, others and nature.

Who will mentor us:

As teachers and amateur gardeners, we decided that we needed some help making this vision a reality. We contacted two experts in the field, and sat down with each of them to map out some logistics for the project.

Meet Ann Allen: Train in Trades and Foods Teacher, Elphinstone Secondary School, Gibsons, BC.

Ann Allen has been the Foods teacher at Elphinstone Secondary in Gibsons, BC. for the past eighteen years. She is an expert at teaching and preparing foods with youth. Elphinstone is notorious for its excellent cafeteria food. The cafeteria offers delicious homemade meals for a low price every day. All meals are cooked by students who are given credit for their work. Ann plays an important role in students learning about healthy cooking and eating.

J&S: Thanks so much for your time, Ann. Basically, we want to cook one small meal for our school. This would be for about 225 people. We are thinking of preparing roasted potatoes and mixed greens. With that in mind:

How many potatoes would we need? Per person? Ages are K-7 plus staff so some smaller bellies.

AA: If you did new potato (nuggets) three potatoes per person would be good. This rounds out to about ½ a pound per person.

J&S: Amazing, thanks. How many greens would we need? Do you measure by weight as a serving size or something else?

AA: I measure by weight. Two ounces of lettuce greens is a healthy amount for one person.

J&S: Perfect. Do you have any recipes you would suggest?

AA: We find that the biggest hit in our kitchen is roasted potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. I recommend keeping a lot of ketchup on hand.

J&S: Noted. Does the Elphinstone kitchen use anything grown on the property to cook with? If so, what?

AA: There is currently not a garden program at Elphinstone however we do grow some herbs in the courtyard just outside the cafeteria, including Rosemary.

J&S: How long have you been cooking with kids?

AA: I have been cooking in schools for the past eighteen years! It is always an adventure.

J&S: Wow! Any pro tips for cooking for large crowds?

AA: My strongest recommendation is to OVER PLAN your supplies. Always over plan so you aren’t stressed when the time comes to feed two hundred people.

J&S: Excellent tip. This will be our first time attempting such a feat. Currently our school kitchen is small and under equipped. We are looking for grants to make our kitchen a more effective place to cook with students. Any supplies you recommend for a school kitchen, i.e. things you find you can’t live without?

AA: Stove, oven, mixer, industrial dishwasher, freezer, walk-in cooler, hand washing stations (2), whisks, spatulas, baby mixer (Vitamix is my go-to) stainless steel tables, meat slicers. I also love a roll-in baking tray rack and industrial cookie sheets.

J&S: Wow. Looks like we’ll need to prioritize our list and start small. Thanks so much for your time and support, Ann. Any parting words?

AA: My pleasure. I’m happy to help anytime you need it. Just let me know.

J&S: Hooray! We will definitely need our mentors support. We promise to keep you posted on how everything goes.

Meet Grace Lewis: Gardening Expert and Davis Bay resident

Grace in her element (Groves, 2020)

Grace Lewis is a neighbour to Davis Bay Elementary and has been instrumental in the planting, cultivating and harvesting of food plants in our greenhouse over the past year. We could not be doing what we are doing without her! Grace is a master gardener, seed saver and community food activist. She has become our self-appointed lead gardener: a role we did not know we needed fulfilled, yet without her our greenhouse would be far less productive and rich in diversity than it is. We were so grateful when Grace agreed to be interviewed and help guide us in this undertaking.

Grace grew up in the garden. Her mother grew food to feed her family and Grace in turn grew food to feed her children. Throughout her life, she has always had a little patch to grow in. Grace has cultivated her own food growing expertise through trial and error and years of experience. We interviewed Grace to help us make a concise food growing plan throughout the 2020-2021 school year that would result in a bounty for our hot lunch program.

With Grace’s help, we made minor alterations to the menu agreed upon with Ann Allen including not only roasted potatoes and salad but also pickles! Grace has fantastic recipes for refrigerator pickles that are quick, easy and delicious. We agreed that pickling beets and cucamelons (a greenhouse favourite) would really round out the menu and the hot lunch experience for students and staff.

Grace’s recommendation for the hot lunch celebration date is sometime in June as it will be warmer then and there will be more guarantee that we have a bounty ready to serve. In order to have a robust selection, Grace recommended commencing planting some bulbs in September, root plants in January and the bulk of the greens in February/March. Here is our charted plan:

(all plant photos taken from Google stock images, 2020)

Other things to note:

Our school already grows Chives and Rosemary year-round outside classrooms and these will be used to season Potatoes.

While there is precision in the recipes we are using, it is difficult to know what our vegetables will produce at harvest time. Grace suggests overplanting and the excess will be sent home with families in need and given to the local food bank. We will also welcome all classes to use any other food plants to cook with in class.

What we’ll eat:

Where we’ll grow it:

Greenhouse layout sketch (Painter, 2017)

Front gardens layout sketch (Painter, 2017)

How we’ll make it:

Recipe # 1: Cucamelon Pickles

Yield: 1 half-pint jar

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 24 hours

This recipe makes one 8oz/half-pint jar full of pickles; feel free to scale up the brine depending on how many jar-fulls of cucuamelons you have.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces (115g) cucamelons

• 1/3 cup cider vinegar

• 2 tablespoons filtered water

• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 5 allspice berries

• 5 whole black peppercorns

• ½ star anise pod

• 2 1-inch strips of fresh ginger (use a vegetable peeler to take off strips)

Directions:

1. Rinse cucamelons and cut off the blossom ends. You can half them if desired, but it’s not necessary. Pack into a washed and sterilized half-pint canning jar along with pepper flakes, allspice berries, peppercorns, anise and ginger.

2. In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, water, sugar and salt and bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved.

3. Pour over cucamelons in jars, filling the jar to within ¼-inch of the top (if necessary you can top it off with a bit more water). Secure lids and place in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.

4. Pickles will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Cucamelon pickles (Landis, 2019)

Recipe # 2: Pickled Beets

Yield: 3 quarts

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 24 hours

Ingredients:

• 1-pound beets, about 2 bunches, greens removed and trimmed

• 1 large clove garlic, crushed and peeled

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• ¾ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Place beets in a 3-quart saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the beets are tender and a fork inserted into the beets comes out easily, 40 to 55 minutes, depending on the size of the beets. Drain and cool beets until cool enough to handle.

2. Whisk garlic, oil, vinegar and salt in a medium bowl. Peel and slice beets. Add to the dressing, and toss to coat. Cool beets completely in the dressing. Refrigerate or serve immediately.

Pickled beets (Webster, 2017)

Recipe# 3: Roasted Potatoes

Yield: 20 servings

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

· 10 lbs potatoes

· 10-20 tbsp oil (olive or avocado)

· 5 tsp sea salt

· 2.5 tsp black pepper

· 10 tbsp freshly chopped rosemary, chives, parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (218 C) and line 1 large baking sheet with parchment paper. NOTE: If doubling/multiplying the recipe, be sure not to crowd the baking sheet or add too many potatoes to the oven at once or they will have a hard time roasting and will steam instead, producing mushier, less browned / crispy potatoes.

2. Add potatoes to the baking sheet and drizzle with avocado oil. The potatoes should be coated but not soaking in oil. Then add salt, pepper, and rosemary (optional) and toss well to combine.

3. Roast until golden brown and crispy, or about 20-25 minutes. You'll know they're done when golden brown on the bottom and edges and tender in the center.

4. Enjoy immediately with sides and sauces of choice. We prefer ketchup or hot sauce.

5. Store cooled leftovers in the refrigerator up to 3-4 days (not freezer friendly). Reheat in the microwave or — our preference — on a cast iron skillet over medium heat.

Perfect roasted potatoes (Minimalist Baker, 2020)

Recipe #4: Mixed Green Salad

Yield: 8 servings

Cook Time: n/a

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

· 5 cups mixed greens, washed and chopped

· 1 cup swiss chard, washed and chopped

· 1 cup carrots, chopped

· 1 cup peas and pea shoots, chopped

· ½ cup calendula flowers

· ½ cup marigold flowers

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.

2. Drizzle with vinaigrette and serve.

Easy green salad (Lichty, 2020)

Recipe #5: Big Leaf Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

Yield: 6 servings

Cook time: n/a

Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

· ¼ cup olive oil

· 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

· 1 tsp Dijon mustard

· 1 tsp Big Leaf Maple Syrup

· 1 clove garlic, minced

· Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, syrup, garlic, salt, and black pepper. Store in a jar or airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Balsamic Vinaigrette (Lichty, 2020)

How we’ll teach it:

“If you don’t have an end game of something delightful, you’re just moving chess pieces around.” (Braungart & McDonough, 2002)

As a part of the project, we have planned a few lessons to help frame the work ahead of us. The lessons will be multi-aged; some lessons will be taught to the K-1’s (the Hive) by the 6-7’s (the Rookery), and others, vise-versa.

The first lesson involves The Rookery (6/7’s) learning how to plant and care for potatoes, and then teaching The Hive (K/1’s). We will be seeking support from the BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation through their Spuds in Tubs program. On behalf of the teachers at DBES, we will apply for enough tubs so that each classroom in the school will have them. The lesson will be adapted from the Spuds in Tubs Lesson #7: Planting and Experimenting with your Potatoes, below:

The Rookery teaches The Hive-SPUDS IN TUBS:

(adapted from the Spuds in Tubs Program’s online lessons)

Spuds in tubs (BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation, 2020)

Essential/Driving Question: What do all plants need to live and grow?

Subjects Covered: Science (Questioning, Predicting, Planning, Conducting, Evaluating)

Materials/Preparation: Computer, Projector, Document Camera if needed, Experiment Handout and Answer Key (Appendix 5)

Introduction/Objectives: Students will understand the growing needs of plants.

- Ask students: what do humans need to grow well? Possible responses: water, food, air, and space.

- What do plants need to grow well? Possible responses: Water, Food: Soil and nutrients, Air and space, Sun (light). Brainstorm and record answers on board.

- Ask students: what would happen to humans if they no longer had air? Ask students to hold their breath. Discuss feelings and responses to having no air.

- Ask students: what would happen if our potato plants got air/water/soil? Record answers on the board.

- Soil Discussion: Water and minerals are taken from the soil through roots. Soil provides support for the plant and an anchor for the roots. Decaying plants leave minerals in the soil (good for future plant growth). Soil is important to farmers; without it we cannot grow crops to eat! We need to protect our soils from erosion and degradation for future farming.

- Explain how our Spuds in Tubs kits come with a container of plant food. So, our potato plants will have both soil and additional plant food/fertilizer. The additional plant food will also help our plants get more nutrients above and beyond what the soil provides. Farmers around the world also use additional food for their crops besides from the natural nutrients found in the soil.

- Ask students: what would happen if our potato plants got no additional nutrients from the organic food/fertilizer? Is this extra food necessary for plant survival?

Application/Activity: Discuss how to conduct Experiments.

- To design our experiment we need to have a control (all the tubs that will be given the plant food), and a variable that will be changing (no additional plant food for 1 tub), while keeping all other variables consistent (water, sunlight, temperature, location).

- Continue with Stages 1 – Stages 3 in the Spuds in Tubs Handbook for planting, watering, and hilling the spuds.

- Teacher will help students complete the experiment handout (Appendix 5, available online). In the experiment, we will observe our spuds regularly, measuring and recording height and width, observing colour, and when we harvest, the number and size of our potatoes. We will perform an analysis of our data, make conclusions and present our findings.

The Hive teaches The Rookery-POCKET SEEDS :

(adapted from Stacy Friedman’s video lesson on Pocket Seeds available on DASH BC YouTube)

“Seed is not just the source of life. It is the very foundation of our being.” (Shiva, 2014)

Pocket seeds (We Know Stuff, 2014)

For the second lesson, we will have The Hive (K/1’s) learning how to make Pocket Seeds and in turn teaching The Rookery (6/7’s) how to do so. All viable seeds from the Pocket Seeds will be planted in the greenhouse to aid in growing our garden lunch.

Essential Driving Question: What do seeds need to grow?

Subjects Covered: Science (Living Things), Math (Counting, Percentages, Averaging)

Materials/Preparation: Ziploc Bags, Seeds, Paper towel, Spray bottles filled with water, permanent markers.

Introduction/Objectives:

- Ask Students: What do seeds need to grow? Possible responses: soil, water, sunlight, heat

- Ask Students: What if seeds did not get everything they needed, but most things? Introduce the idea of giving the plants water and heat and ask students if they think the seeds would still germinate or not.

Application/Activity:

- Gently sprinkle water on a paper towel using a spray bottle. You want the paper towel to be damp but not soaked.

- Space some clean seeds on the centre of the paper towel. For the mathematical purposes of this lesson, each student will get 10 seeds and need to evenly space them so that we can collect data afterward on what percentage grew.

- Fold up the paper towel to cover and protect the seeds.

- Lightly add more water so that the entire paper towel is covered.

- Put the paper towel in a sandwich bag and close the bag.

- Label the bag with the kind of seed and the date.

- Encourage students to put the pocket seeds on their body in a place where they will benefit from their body heat. Our bodies are a good temperature to help seeds sprout.

- When students cannot be carrying seeds, leaving them near a heater (but not directly on top) is a good spot.

- Check paper towel daily for moisture. Do not open to look at the seeds for the first five days, but add some water if needed.

- After about five days, you can start to open the bag daily to see if any of the seeds have started to germinate.

- Germination can take up to two weeks! Let children know they will need to be patient.

- Graphing extensions can be done in class to determine seed viability.

- Successful seedlings can be transplanted into pots or directly into the greenhouse.

Our growing greenhouse (Davis Bay Elementary, 2019)

How we will package it:

No more plastic takeout containers (MSLK 2010)

“There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away, it must go somewhere.” (Leonard, 2010)

Plastic packaging is an enormous problem in Canada and around the world. Single use plastic pollution (in the forms of CO2 emissions, microplastics, and entanglements) contributes to long-lasting environmental contamination leading to human and non-human illness, degradation and death all over the globe. The average Canadian student’s lunch generates a total of 30 kilograms of waste per school year (about the weight of a large dog). An average school generates 8500 kilograms of waste per school per year (about the weight of four rhinoceroses (Zero Waste Canada, 2016). Although we encourage reusable lunch containers, as well as composting and recycling at DBES, we are still responsible for far too much garbage. The hot lunches at DBES can be a major garbage can-filler, as single-use Styrofoam clam-shell containers, plastic bags, paper plates, plastic cutlery, disposable napkins are provided by meal suppliers and are used and then promptly sent to the landfill.

This is not a lesson we want to be teaching any longer. We are seeking to provide a lunch that is not only grown on site and full of nutritious deliciousness, but that comes packaged in a zero-waste container. There are a variety of alternatives on the market for compostable plates, cutlery, clamshell containers, and more (Earth Pak Canada, 2020). While many of these options provide a superior product to plastics when disposal is taken into account, the cost can be significant and most are manufactured in distant locations, which still carries a carbon footprint. We want to provide students with a radically different packaging experience that is truly local, renewable and compostable.

We began by looking back on our travel experiences, having been served food on leaves, both fresh and dried and pressed. In both Thailand and India, we found food served on banana leaves. If harvested properly, leaves are a perfect solution for food packaging. In populated areas in the fall, they end up as a waste product, often raked or leaf-blown into piles and carted off to landfills (or ideally, to composting facilities) by maintenance workers. Giving students a design challenge to collect leaves in order to create plates or bowls will be a great way to get them involved in the project and innovating long-term sustainable solutions for our school. There are instructional videos online that could serve as inspiration for this project, and plenty of leaves to choose from in our area.

We experimented with a fresh big-leaf maple leaf, placing the food in the centre, folding and tying with the stem and a piece of grass. This would work well with a group of students to deliver food to the school on a one-time basis. Having dried plates or bowls that were uniform in shape and stored for any food event would allow for greater ecological outcomes overall. Offering students and staff the experience of eating food off of such different materials would drastically increase their awareness of the possibility of a circular economy, where waste = food for the natural world.

Big-leaf maple leaves as food packaging (Hocking, 2020)

Next Steps:

“Odd as I am sure it will appear to some, I can think of no better form of personal involvement in the cure of the environment than that of gardening. A person who is growing a garden, if [s]he is growing it organically, is improving a piece of the world. [S]he is producing something to eat, which makes him[her] somewhat independent of the grocery business, but [s]he is also enlarging, for him[her]self, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating.” (Berry, 2003)

Now that we have brainstormed, researched, interviewed experts, tested recipes and zero waste packaging options and written all this down, we’ll just need to pull it all off! We’ll present our plan to the staff and students at staff meetings, at assemblies and in our classrooms, and work together to plan, plant, cultivate, harvest and prepare the best all-local, zero-waste hot lunch in the history of Davis Bay Elementary School.

References:

Allen, A. (2020, June 10). Personal Interview.

Banana Slug String Band (1989). Dirt Made My Lunch [Song]. On Dirt Made My Lunch. Slug Music (BMI).

BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation (2020). Spuds in Tubs. Retrieved from: https://www.bcaitc.ca/spuds-tubs

Berry, W. (Aug. 5, 2003). The art of the commonplace: The agrarian essays of Wendell Berry. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint Press.

Braungart, M & McDonough, W. (2002). Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. North Point Press

DASH BC. (2020, April 9). Pocket Plants [Video]. Youtube. URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d0Xqcsioh4

Davis Bay Elementary School (2020). We are a Family, Growing. Retrieved from: https://davis-bay.sd46.bc.ca/

Earth Pak Canada (2020). Eco-Packaging. Retrieved from: https://ecopackaging.ca/

Koch, P. (2016). Learning, food, and sustainability in the school curriculum. In J. Summer (Ed.). Learning, food, & sustainability. New York, NY: Palgrave.

Landis, L (Aug. 15, 2019). Cucamelon pickles. Retrieved from: https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2019/08/cucamelon-pickles.html

Lewis, G. (2020, June 15). Personal Interview.

(Loosely based on) Lichty, M. (2020). Easy green salad. Retrieved from: https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/easy-green-salad/

(Adapted from) Lichty, M. (2020). Balsamic Vinaigrette. Retrieved from: https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/balsamic-vinaigrette/

Leonard, A. (2010). The Story of Stuff. New York: Free Press.

Minimalist Baker (2020). Perfect roasted potatoes. Retrieved from: https://minimalistbaker.com/perfect-roasted-potatoes/

MSLK (2010). 2010 Resolution: No More Plastic Takeout Containers. Retrieved from: https://mslk.com/reactions/2010-resolution-no-more-plastic-takeout-containers/

Painter, L. (2017). Front Gardens Layout Sketch [Pencil and Coloured Pencils].

Painter, L. (2017). Greenhouse Layout Sketch [Pencil and Coloured Pencils].

Shiva, V. (2014). The Vandana Shiva Reader. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky

We Know Stuff. (April 17, 2014). What you need to know about growing seeds in a plastic bag. Retrieved from: https://www.weknowstuff.us.com/2014/04/kids-craft-make-seed-starting-window-garden.html

Webster, K. (July, 2017) Pickled beets. Retrieved from: https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/pickled-beets/

Zero Waste Canada (Sept. 4, 2016) Waste-less school lunches. Retrieved from: https://zerowastecanada.ca/waste-less-school-lunches/