Alice Waters was signing her new book In the Green Kitchen on Saturday and I couldn’t miss the opportunity of seeing her again. She has always been such a huge supporter and I’m a huge fan of all she does – anything to get kiddies from all backgrounds to grow veggies and learn how to cook.
She was keen to learn about my work at the 24th St Schoolyard Garden and was especially interested in the Garden School Foundation video I made with Todd and Diane (AKA White on Rice Couple) at edible LA that shows the children learning how to cook pasta with Chef Gino (who I happened to run in to at the book signing).
24th St. Garden School from Lucy Lean on Vimeo.
Alice signed my book:
4 24 10
For Lucy,
with Admiration
and hopefulness!
Alice Waters
I came straight home and dragged the kids off to the garden center. The raised beds from last year had remained empty for too long. This is in part because the squirrels got the better of me last year. Just as the giant 2 – 3 lb Mortgage Lifter Heirloom tomato was beginning to turn from yellow to red a bloody rodent came in over the top of the chicken wire and detached the fruit from the vine.
This year hubby has engineered more chicken wire over the top of the raised bed enclosure – time will tell if it works.
I decided to take Alice’s lead and plant a salad garden – keeping it simple with a selection of mesclun lettuces, three heirloom tomato plants (one yellow, one green Zebra and one red cherry) and lots of Italian basil (basil disappears from my herb pots by the kitchen door instantly – I presume the deer like it – so hopefully this year it will flourish within the wire cell).
Minty and Rémy weren’t that interested in gardening after the initial thrill of digging in the new compost had worn off – about 10 minutes. I felt like the Little Red Hen – I was doing all the work and I would reap the benefits. However, this isn’t really what I had hoped for, the salad garden was supposed to get them excited about eating the lettuces and tomatoes they had planted.
