Ms. Marty, beans is nasty.
Why do you say that?
Cuz they is.
What is nasty about them?
Everything.
What do the rest of you think about the rice and beans for Meatless Monday?
Too salty.
Now, that I can work with. Too salty tells me something we can change.
Most agree the dish is too salty, but okay.
How about the spaghetti?
Too sweet.
Red sauce makes me sick.
Why are there beans in spaghetti?
Ah, that’s a good question. In Tuscany, a part of Italy, they are called the bean people because they eat beans with their meals. In fact, beans and grains are a large part of Italian cooking. We have beans in here– Can you guys tell me why we have Meatless Mondays?
No.
- We have a high number of residents with problems with their cholesterol. That’s a fat in your body. Anything with a liver will help raise you cholesterol and that is not good for these people.
- You need more fiber in your diet. There are going to be some changes in the school lunch and we need to serve you more fiber. Beans are high in fiber and really help your whole body. Plus they have protein.
- My job is to educate you in different tastes. You will leave here and get jobs. Your boss might take you to some place with food you don’t know. Could you imagine telling your boss the food they eat is “nasty”? Forget your paycheck.
Again, the guys were much easier, made more sense than the girls. Oy. But these are inner city kids who don’t have a lot of meal choices and are shuffled from facility to facility.
I leave that happy meeting to face the older girls in the garden. It is much cooler than when the guys were out, but the qveching continues. They all knew they were going to get dirty, but I guess they didn’t really believe it.
Ms. Lawyer Head kept missing weeds she was to pull.
“My hands hurt.”
“That’s okay. I need it done quickly. I’ll do it.”
I did get each of them to pick cukes or basil or something. They liked that.
Cucumbers
I had one start watering the lettuce and one had to go to the bathroom. I escorted one down the hall while watching the others through the windows. I had explained about the chain on the watering can and making sure not to cut off the plants on the edge of the beds. One lettuce was about to be Marie Antoinette.
Lettuces and Cosmos
I came flying in the courtyard.
“Stop! Stop. Wait. You have to look at the chain.”
That led to murmurs about me being anal and weird about plants. True.
“Look, a lot of people planted these seeds. If this was your plant and I let someone kill it you would be very upset. You would probably meet me in the hallway. I have to care about everyone and what they have done here.
It actually worked. And Ms. bathroom didn’t come out before I got back. Scary.
And the zucchini plants came back.
Zuke returning from the center
The soap we put on them last week worked.
Zuke flower opening
Zucchini with flower
I’ll see how long it lasts. Maybe we will even get a zuke.
The swiss chard is trying to come back.
Swiss Chard returning
Since we had so many large leaves last week, the harvest was a little small. However, we did include the broc and cauli leaves with the greens. And, of course, some purslane.
I was explaining about labeling and dating foods in a commercial kitchen. Ms. Lawyer Head said she didn’t need to know that because she was going to be a lawyer.
“Lawyers I know had a lot of jobs getting through school. How many lawyers do you know?”
“None.” Beat, beat, beat.
“Well, if you ever want to talk with one to figure out what it takes to be one tell me. I know lots of them.”
Here are some other photos from our current garden.
Butternut Squash flower
Orange cherry tomato
West to east view squash, kale, beans, cruciferous, cukes
Cosmos
