Veggie Bytes
All the news that’s fit to eat!
February—April 2015 Volume 6 Issue 1
Elementary Garden Economics West Baton Rouge county agent Steve Borel and the Cohn Elementary school gardeners de‐
signed and implemented a simple economic lesson. Broccoli was harvested on Nov 10, 2014 from the Cohn Elem school garden. Three classes with about 20‐25 students per class par ci‐
pated in the growing and harves ng of the broccoli. In an cipa on of the broccoli harvest, Steve visited the local grocery store to pick up various vegetable dips so the students could enjoy the bounty of the garden. While at the store he no ced that broccoli was selling for $2.69/pound. What’s Inside What’s Growing 2 Book Review 2 Don’t Throw it Away 3 Cohn Elem Photos 3 Garden Games 4 Beet Heart Chips Recipe 5 Before the classes could taste their hard efforts, Steve had the student s weigh their broccoli and then determine what it would cost them to buy an equivalent amount at the store. The results were as follows: Grade Pounds harvested
Dollar amount
3rd
18.2
$48.95
4th
20.8
$55.95
5th
16.6
$44.65
Total
55.6
$149.55
The school garden grossed $149.55. A er a discussion of the input cost involved in con‐
struc ng the beds and looking at deprecia on based on the beds las ng 10 years, the stu‐
dents and Steve devised a simple formula to es mate input costs. "To make things simple we said the beds cost $100.00 to build and if they last 10 years the depreca on would be $10.00/ year. The students then added to that what the plants would have cost along with the fer lizer and water lines. For 20 plants we came up with the price of $15.00. We then subtracted the cost of the plants and the depreca on cost from the total, $149.55 ‐ $45 ($15 *3groups of students) ‐ 10 = $94.55. So by growing our own plants we saved around $94.00." Think about what is growing in your garden. Older students might be tasked with calling or visi ng plant nurseries and grocery stores for local pricing. Younger students may need help with this. Give it a try and see if your school garden is producing crops at an equal, greater or lesser value than what you can purchase them at the store! Veggie Bytes 6.1 Page 1 What’s Growing! February Vegetables March Vegetables April Vegetables Direct seed into the garden: Beets, turnips, mustard, pars‐
ley, radishes, le uce, snap beans, and Irish potatoes Transplant into the garden: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, le uce Start seed in the classroom: Tomatoes, peppers, and egg‐
plant Direct seed into the garden: Snap beans, Swiss chard, radish, le uce, collard greens, mustards, and turnips Transplant into the garden: Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants Start seed in the classroom: Start cucumber transplants, plant a er last frost Direct seed into the garden: Snap beans, bu er beans, radish, collards, cucumbers Transplant into the garden: Sweet potato slips, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant Book Review
Gardening Lab for Kids: 52 Fun Experiments to Learn, Grow, Harvest, Make, Play, and Enjoy Your Garden By: Renata Fossen Brown · Quarry Books · ISBN 1592539041 As educators we are always looking for new and exci ng ways to teach our students about nature while interac ng with nature. Use this wonderful resource to guide you through 52 plant‐related ac vi es set into weekly lessons, beginning with learning to read maps to find your heat zone, moving through seeds, soil, compos ng, and then crea ng garden art and apprecia ng your natural surroundings. The ac vi es are sure to inspire your students and engage them in meaningful learning experiences in the garden. Veggie Bytes 6.1 Page 2 Don’t Throw it Away!!! Does your school have a compost bin? If so, use it for all of your vegetable scraps that you do not eat. If
you don’t have a compost bin, here is another idea to salvage those uneaten parts!
The beet chip recipe (page 5) looks really good doesn’t it? Take all the beet tops that you did not use for the
chips. You’ll need at least a ½ inch slice including the top portion of the beet where the foliage grows out.
Rinse it with water and place the beet top right side up in a shallow pan of water. Change the water every 34 days. In about a week to week and a half see how many leaves start to regrow from the top! Growing tops
can be a fun competition among students groups to see who can produce the most foliage from their vegetable scraps in a set time period. Have students graph the height of the beet tops and the weight of the beet
tops (foliage only) for an accurate measurement of the winner.
Another great plant to try this with is celery. Only this time, save the bottom 3 inches of the stalks or the
base of the plant. Place the base of the celery plant in a shallow pan of water. Again change the water every
3-4 days. Also remove any stalks that begin to rot. In about a week or two you’ll see nice new foliage
sprouting right from the base of the celery stalk!
If you don’t have shallow pans use old cups, bottles or another recycled object that can substitute for a shallow pan. Recycling is a great activity to do with students. Try all kinds of neat ways to reuse garden products and unused plant parts!
Veggie Bytes 6.1 Page 3 Garden Games
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 
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     
Use the code to decipher the mystery words to the le . Unscramble the le er in light green squares to revel the final an‐
swer below.      
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     
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     
   
Unscramble the le ers in the squares to reveal a secret word. Clue: This one word describes all of these vegetables Veggie Bytes 6.1 Page 4 Skip the Traditional Valentines Gifts and Give from the Garden
Mothers love to receive little tokens of appreciation from their children on Valentine’s Day. Normal
gifts of candy, homemade cards and chocolate are wonderful, but this year we at Veggie Bytes challenge your students to give from both their heart and the garden. Beets are ready to harvest now if
you planted them earlier in the season and if not, can be planted today! Harvest fresh beets with
your students and follow the directions below for a tasty healthy treat for the entire family.
Heart Shaped Baked Beet Chips!
What you will need!
 2 pounds of freshly harvested beets from the garden
 2 TBL olive oil
 Sea salt and black pepper (season to taste)
 Spray oil or Spray Butter
 Permission from Cafeteria to use oven and baking sheets, vegetable peeler, cutting boards
and Knifes
 Heart shaped cookie cutters
 Paper towels
 Airtight Containers
 Markers or decorations for containers
Instructions
1.
2.
3.
4.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Remove skin from beets using a vegetable peeler.
Cut beets into 1/16in slices or as close as possible.
Using the heart shaped cookie cutters stamp out
1/16in thick heart shapes
5. In a large bowl, toss the hearts with the olive oil until
evenly coated
6. Use spray oil or spray butter to coat baking sheets so
chips don’t stick while cooking.
7. Place hearts in a single layer on the baking sheets.
8. Bake until the chips are crisp, about 30 minutes for thin
slices, if your students sliced thicker hearts, be patient it
may take up to 40-45 minutes to crisp.
9. Cool chips on paper towels
10. Lightly season chips with seas salt and pepper.
11. Store in air tight containers
12. Decorate containers for Valentine’s Day gifts!
Growing Gardens!
Kathryn “Kiki” Fontenot, PhD
155 JC Miller Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
William B. Richardson,
LSU Vice President for
Agriculture
Louisiana State University
Agricultural Center
Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station
Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service
LSU College of Agriculture
*** We tried a couple of batches and
forgot to set a timer. Beet chips
burn as soon as you forget about
them and will turn from a purplish
red to black instantly!
Veggie Bytes 6.1 The LSU AgCenter is a statewide campus of the
LSU System and provides equal opportunities
in programs and employment.
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