Late Summer Harvest

The garden is still going strong as we head into the middle of September and BUGS teachers prepare for students to return at the end of the month. Above are several varieties of tomatoes, beans, eggplants, and jalepeno peppers from a recent harvest. In addition the garden is brimming with bell peppers, celery, fall greens like kale and chard and big sunflowers looming at the back watching over the other plants. We are waiting patiently for the fall harvests to bring us carrots, cabbage, broccoli, beets, spinach, arugula and salad greens. 

The BUGS program will be taking produce from the garden and products like the famous BUGS sage dip, pickles and salad dressing to the Back-To-School Bash at the Highlandtown Farmers Market this Saturday, September 12th, from 8am-12pm at Bank Street and Conkling Street. Come out and join us for demonstrations from the students and delicious local food. 

The BUGS see the Birds.

As the BUGS summer session wound down we took the opportunity to spend a wonderful evening at Camden Yards, courtesy of Orioles outfielder Adam Jones. Big thanks to Adam! BUGS students and their families combined for a crowd of over a hundred and we took a bus from the Johnston Square neighborhood. We got to watch the entire game as the Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics. There were hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, and (as you'll see from the photos) a whole lot of smiles. We can't wait to go again next summer. 

Middle Schoolers Make Smoothies!

I must apologize... posts about the BUGS middles schoolers are something I've been wanting to post all summer and these posts are certainly belated. Better late than never, though. The BUGS students, along with myself and our summer intern Ms. Zoe, went to Larriland Farms in Carroll County to pick fresh peaches. We then made a salad with fresh veggies from our garden, goat cheese, and peaches. We had a ton of peaches left over, so we decided to learn a fun, nutritious way to start our day. We made peach smoothies. The students took the left over peaches, some low fat organic milk and yogurt, and any other fruit we had left over from lunch and blended it all up. The smoothies were a hit, and in this picture you can see (from left) Sohari, Taleyah, Taylor, and Arnesha sporting the newest fashion: The smoothie mustache.