GROWING SAGE: Vast Gardens and Opportunities at St. Andrew’s, DE
Growing SAGEAt SAGE, we make a point of featuring locally-grown food in our dining halls, so we’re thrilled that 60% of our schools have on-campus gardens producing crops that can be incorporated into school meals—the ultimate in local sourcing. The gardens at St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, Delaware are an impressive sight. Our SAGE staff are always looking for new recipes that incorporate their fresh produce! The St. Andrew’s garden started as a 5,000 ft2 field plot in 2006. Ten...
Growing SAGE: The Great Gardens at Greater Atlanta Christian School
Growing SAGEThe Environmental Learning Center (ELC) at Greater Atlanta Christian School (GACS) in Norcross, GA, is remarkable for the breadth and variety of its holdings. The 10,000-square-foot landscape center has a 2,300-square-foot greenhouse, a 3,000-gallon hand-pumped rain barrel, edible gardens, planting beds, a green-roof shed, a vermicomposting station, a bee hive, a chicken coop, a turtle pond, and a fish hatchery. Self-described “resident plant guy” James Lee asserts that one goal of the ELC is to facilitate “the...
Eat What You Can, Can What You Can't
Nutrition, Sustainability, From Our Kitchen, GardensCanning fruits and vegetables has made a big comeback. Sales of home canning equipment have surged since 2008, in large part due to a growing interest in eating more healthfully and reviving traditions from a simpler time. Late summer is a great time to take advantage of the bounty of your home garden or your local farmer's market and create some treats that will last through the winter. Canning has become so popular Ball canning jars has partnered with Canning...
5 Rules for Picking Summer Produce
Nutrition, Sustainability, From Our Kitchen, GardensHave you ever bought produce only to find it's too ripe, or not ripe enough? It can be challenging to choose perfect produce every time. We've put together five simple rules to guide your purchases this summer: Trust your sense of smell. The scent of some produce can help determine whether it's ripe. Fruit should smell fragrant, particularly melons, berries and stone fruits like plums, peaches and nectarines. Handle with care. Ripe fruits like plums should yield to gentle pressure...
Celebrating Mother Earth
Sustainability, From Our Kitchen, GardensToday is the perfect time to go outside and marvel at nature and the beauty that surrounds us. It's Earth Day! Earth Day may be a relatively new holiday, but it has a lot of influence. The first Earth Day was celebrated in the U.S. in 1970; later that year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was founded as a direct consequence. Today, Earth Day is a global initiative, bringing together millions of people worldwide. So as you step outside...
Green With Envy - Creating A Great Garden
Sustainability, From Our Kitchen, GardensSpring has sprung! Now is the perfect time to start planning your garden. Whether you have a large yard or a small space on your deck or windowsill, here's our advice for creating a green space this season. Getting started Pick a location. No matter if it's inside or out, it should have access to at least six-hours of sunlight per day. If you are planting your garden outside, have your soil tested for acidity and nutrient content. This is...
Discover Your Green Thumb
Nutrition, From Our Kitchen, GardensSpring is quickly turning into summer across the country. As the warm temperatures grow, now is the time for parents to get their children excited about eating fresh fruits and vegetables. A great way to do get them excited is to pique their interest before sitting down at the dinner table. Try this green thumb challenge: plant a garden with your kids and grow some of your own food! Get started with these tips: Decide on a container garden or...
From Here, From Near
From Our Kitchen[caption id="attachment_22870" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Thayer Academy Window Garden"][/caption] From day one, SAGE has been committed to serving great tasting, made-from-scratch food that uses locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. In many instances, these locally grown ingredients come from our own gardens! From simple herb gardens, to full-size student-assisted vegetable gardens, we are using the freshest ingredients available and no space has proven too small. At Thayer Academy near Boston, where space is limited, our Food Service Director got creative and planted...