School Food Matters

School Food Matters teamed up with Waitrose to encourage local schools to grow their own veg. They supplied Belleville with plug plants for growing on in the raised beds, and even supplied the paper bags for selling the produce in. Miss Hedley took five of her class to Waitrose today to sell the produce which sold out in just over an hour. She also asked the children to decorate the paper bags and make posters which added a splash of colour to the display!













We even had a visit from BBC London News who were covering the initiative.

RUNNER BEANS - A FRENCH MUMMY'S GUIDE

Speaking to a charming group of French mums at the school gates I realised not everyone knows the traditional way to prepare and cook that old English classic, the Runner Bean.





























There you go - easy!
Steam for 5-6 minutes, max.
Bean strippers will be available at La Cuisiniere I expect.

Garlic Garlic Garlic Garlic!

This year's garlic crop was easily the best yet. We sold all of the crop (about fifty bulbs) at the summer fair.

Disappearing Potatoes Shock

I'm not sure what happened but the potatoes have vanished. Until quite recently there were huge plants emerging from the bed closest to the artroom, but now all that is left is an empty, raked-over bed.









These photos were sent to me anonymously and show a gang of suspected desperados -possibly starving outlaws forced to forage for food wherever they can find it.






Good luck to them I say!

Tomato action!

Yes, we have no bananas, but we've got these tomato plants, last few remaining.




Tiny flowers about to appear! Treat 'em well and they turn into tomatoes. How do they do that! Have planted four plants in the school garden so far.

Strawberry cage

Fed up as I am with foxes and pigeons messing with me plants I´ve built a little cage - or at least some sticks with netting attached - to protect these stawberry plants. Fingers crossed!

Spring harvesting

In the foreground you can see the nasturtiums which we planted in order to attract blackfly and greenfly away from the runner beans. The beans themselves were grown by year one students.




I salvaged strawberry plants from the bed that was removed to make way for the new quiet area entrance. Most have been sold but the last few will be for sale on Friday at drop off, in the upper playground. The pots have been placed amongst the garlic plants.





The cabbages are fairly small then!






















Broad beans are almost ready for harvesting.














The potatoes are the ´first early´ type, so we should see the plants flowering soon.








These lettuces were sold yesterday. Mine had a few tiny slugs in amongst the leaves. Very nutritious!







Onions in the foreground. The leaves are delicious!