A Living Library = A. L. L.

At the OMI/Excelsior and Bernal Heights Branch Living Library & Think Parks, December meant many things for us; a celebration of plentiful resources, familial traditions, winter vacation, and the seasonal solstice; all came together through much hard work and enjoyment.  In some stories, the Winter Solstice signifies rebirth, where the shortening of daylight appeared to be the death of our sun; a natural resource that all life follows.  In many traditions, when the sun rises on the morning of the Solstice its presence is marked by celebration, and from this day forward the sun seems to grow in strength (truly growing only in hours of daylight/day).  

This past December,  A Living Library’s OMI/Excelsior Branch Student Stewards celebrated the end of their semester-long A.L.L. Mentorship Program with a Winter Solstice Party on December 21^st, the first official day of winter. The Solstice made it the darkest work day in our Gardens, but this would never keep our students away from a celebration of their hard work.

Our first Winter Solstice Party shared global practices of many, with a feast, music, and artwork.  Our students were encouraged to combine healthful garden cooking skills with their favorite family dishes, and they created a wide array of foods, such as: garden fresh kale chips, homemade pesto pasta, and even established, a learn-how-to-make sushi station ! Food and festivities were shared with everyone who had helped out in the A.L.L. Gardens throughout the fall semester. As a parting gift students created holiday art projects that taught the importance of reusing natural resources from the garden. From Seasonal Stars and Garden-Dye Tree Drawings to the Stewards’ tee-shirt printing of student-designed logos, that boasted “We ain’t no Couch Potato!” all students were able to create art work to take home for the holidays. Spirits were high and the laughter was tangible as the sun set into the darkness of the longest night of the year.

This celebration was just a small token of appreciation that we could give our Student Stewards after the countless hours they spent creating, beautifying, and teaching younger children about A.L.L. and the Gardens over the past four months. A reflection of our students’ work ethic can be seen, in that the group as a whole received $500 in stipends for their collective 470+ hours learning and loving the Gardens.

Many students were thrilled with the aid this would give them in family holiday shopping! The growing strength and vitality of our Student Stewards After School Mentorship Program will be seen in the commencement of the program again in January.

Thank you everyone for all of your   hard work this year, including our funder, DCYF.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a New Year of exploration and experience!

Submitted by Courtney Calkins, A.L.L. Instructor

                         Submitted by Courtney Calkins, A.L.L. Instructor

This November dreams of fall roots, turkeys, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pies were not the only fall felicities circling our heads. A Living Library was able to make a new friend with a shared desire for beautifying the Bernal Heights and OMI/Excelsior Branch Living Library & Think Park Gardens.  FlowerCraft Nursery became a much loved and appreciated part of the A.L.L. community this month when they donated over 200 plants to our Branch Living Library sites in San Francisco. From drought tolerant perennials to annual vegetables and flowers, their donation allowed us to add to a variety of Learning Zones in our gardens.  We even received arm-fulls of gorgeous ornamentals to adorn A.L.L. with bright spring colors. From honeysuckles to sweet peas, these treats were more mouth-watering than any Thanksgiving dessert !  And, if you have ever witnessed a holiday sugar high, just imagine how three A.L.L. Teachers and their hundreds of students bounced off the garden paths and walls in sheer joy and excitement, when planting these gorgeous plants into their new homes.  

With the help of our nursery donor and our students, we were able to add about 180 new plants to our Bernal Heights Living Library & Think Park at Junipero Serra Child Development Center and Junipero Serra Elementary School, and about 50 plants to our OMI/Excelsior Branch at James Denman Middle School and San Miguel CDC.  This November we gave thanks to FlowerCraft Nursery for their generous donation that will encourage hands-on learning for years to come.

November’s Meal of the Month  recipe joins together many of our fall harvest foods available at our Bernal Heights & OMI/Excelsior Branch Living Library & Think Parks.

Did you know ? Though considered root vegetables by many, potatoes, sunchokes, and yams are all enlarged stems rather than roots. Foods such as beets, carrots, and radishes are actually roots, Fleshy Roots to be exact.

This clever recipe is a delicious mix of fall foods created by our A.L.L. Student Stewards, our afterschool garden mentors at the OMI/Excelsior Branch .  

STUDENT STEWARD'S FALL ROOTS

10 Sun chokes, peeled and sliced

10 Purple Potatoes, sliced

½ white onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced

1 tsp olive oil to cook

Directions:  Thoroughly wash and scrub all underground foods before preparing to cook and eat, “dirt doesn’t hurt” but it doesn’t taste great either. Remove the sun chokes’ thick skin with a knife or peeler.  Slice chokes, potatoes, onion, and peeled garlic. Heat oil of your choice in a pan, heat, add your vegetables and stand by until they show signs of golden brown roasting.  Slide your serving into a bowl, take a deep fragrant breath, and enjoy the fall! 

Along with the much needed first rains of the year, this October became a jam-packed month of learning how to care for our communities from the inside-out, through the Branch Living Library Gardens and lessons on culture and compost. Students gathered together during a holiday packed week to learn the commonalities between the histories and celebrations of All Hallows Eve’ (Halloween), Dia de los Muertos, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. Many of these Holidays celebrate the cycle of life by giving offerings of Fall’s plentiful harvest to those who have passed, and those who are in need. Even our Kindergarten children understood the symbolism of the colorfully adorned Calabeza, where death continually gives birth to new life. This is something our children are able to witness through every season of the year in our Excelsior and Bernal Heights Branch Living Library & Think Park Gardens.  And this season, we even got to taste the bounty of these life cycles through Fall delights such as: sweet crisp apples, smooth warming squash, playful pumpkin seeds, and the roughage of root vegetables. 

With full bellies and minds dancing with festive skeletons, costumes, and repeated “Trick or Treat”, our students big and small, uncovered some superhero-like strength, to completely redo our compost stations. Together, our students at our Bernal Heights and OMI/Excelsior Branch Living Libraries pulled out about 70 lbs. of weeds from our garden beds!  Students shared their decomposition knowledge by showing each other how to layer nitrogen packed greens and carbon loaded browns, to create an F.B.I. Sky-scraper (fungus, bacteria, and invertebrate). With all this hard work, our gardens are returning to wet-season splendor, with a fall rainbow palette of greens, golds, and browns.

For some extra holiday cheer, our older, Student Stewards at the OMI/Excelsior Branch were able to put together their own Halloween Harvest Party with pumpkin carving and cider making. Thanks to their donation letters, and help from The Giant Pumpkin Patch and Whole Foods, our students were able to decorate the OMI/Excelsior Living Library Lower Garden with real fall splendor. Some of our students have been a part of our A.L.L. Student Steward Afterschool Mentorship Program for more than two months now, participating in over 50 hours of hard garden work, plus cooking, teaching younger children, and learning about sustainability in our neighborhood and world.

To wrap up the month of October here is our Meal of the Month Recipe!

Fun Fall Fusion Tea:

1 Gal Water

2 cups Rose Petals (from any fragrant variety)

3 Lemons, juice

2 cups Mint, bruised or chopped

1 Tbs Rosemary

Honey to taste

A simple, fresh, and soul warming tea can be made by adding all ingredients into a large pot and bringing it to a boil. Turn the heat to low and let seep for 10-15 minutes. Add honey to taste, sip with a friends or family, and enjoy!

Submitted by Courtney Calkins,  A Living Library Instructor