Eager for Edibles

by Breanne Bartok

We were back up to our larger numbers for Farm Camp this week, with the older campers becoming Blossoms and our younger campers becoming Sprouts. With so many curious kiddoes, we ended up spending most of the first day exploring the garden and tasting the ripening blackberries finally juicy and dark enough to enjoy! 

Of course, we got to do more than just pop berries into our mouths and our snacks – though we had our fair share of fresh harvests, to be sure! Blossoms enjoyed making plant identification booklets, sealing together some of the herbs and flowers growing in the Forest Garden between construction paper and contact paper. From sword fern to chicory to fennel and mint, we certainly had plenty to learn and choose from. By the end of the week, the Blossoms were so familiar with edible plants in the Forest Garden that they could identify handfuls of plant species without any help. Some even pointed out some edible plants I hadn’t yet spotted hiding amongst the foliage! They had moved beyond the phase of sheer wonder that one can eat something growing straight out of the ground – and not just from a shelf in a grocery store – and were eagerly awaiting the next edible plant they could identify, seal in their booklets, and savor in their mouths. 

Speaking of savory: Wednesday’s snack, Fruit Spring Rolls, was such a hit that I had several campers begging me to write down the recipes so they could make them at home. (All of our recipes can be found online, by the way!)  By rolling up some of the freshly-harvested blackberries, minced pieces of mint and fennel we had tied together in herb bundles to take home, apple slices, peelings of cucumber, and a drizzle of honey inside rice paper, we had the sweetest, juiciest snack! For those trying to recreate this snack at home, know that handwashing will be required – but so will seconds!!