Reevesland Learning Center

What an extraordinary celebration we had with our RLC Fiesta Salad-bration! We were thrilled to serve our freshly harvested lettuce salad to nearly 700 Ashlawn Elementary students and staff, spreading joy and nourishment to young minds and bodies. The staff raved about it being the 'Best Day of the Year!!!', while students proudly devoured 5, 9, or even 12 servings! We're deeply grateful to the amazing community members who lent a helping hand in the Church kitchen, tirelessly sorting, washing, spinning, packing, and serving the FIESTA SALAD at Ashlawn. Your selflessness and dedication made this remarkable event possible. Thank you for contributing to another resounding success! 🎉

Our Fiesta Salad-bration will be Wednesday, May 20th, in the Ashlawn Cafeteria during lunch! 🥗

If you grew some lettuce to add to our Fiesta Salad, please deliver it on Sunday, May 17th, to the front of Ashlawn Elementary School between noon and 2:00pm. Thank you! 😊

This week at Ashlawn Elementary there were vinaigrette salad dressing demonstrations in seven classes and a vote in each class after the students watched Ron Battocchi make a “simple” and a “fancy” vinaigrette! While there were fans of both versions, the fancy won pretty decisively. Ron will make the fancy version for our “Fiesta Salad-bration” on May 20th during school lunch, and we can’t wait! 😋 🥗

In advance of the Ashlawn Elementary Second Graders planting the “Three Sisters Garden” at Reevesland, Reevesland Volunteer Educator, Doug Warnecke made four holes under each of our CORN mounds, and we placed a fish at the bottom to provide extra nutrients during the growing season. (see photo below)

On April 28th and 29th four Second Grade classes planted Cherokee white flour CORN, black and white "Skunk" BEANS traditionally used by the Abenaki and Haudenosaunee peoples, and a variety of winter SQUASHes: orange Cinnamon Girl Pumpkins, dark green Cha-cha kabocha, banana-shaped North Georgia Candy Roaster, and Butternut.

To plant the CORN, we used the four cardinal points: North, South, East, and West to "double plant" four corn seeds. We will keep the strongest seedling at each direction on the compass. 🧭

We will have double the “Three Sisters” this year with Ashlawn Fourth Graders planting in the Ashlawn Courtyard last week and Second Graders planting at Reevesland Learning Garden this week. We are using the Cherokee white flour corn with a fish buried under each mound for fertilizer for CORN, a heavy feeding crop!🐟

Students rotated between preparing the planting bed, shelling drying beans from the fall, and thinning the multitude of maple seedlings in this "mast" year. Afterwards, the students put their hundreds of seedlings and the dried bean shells in the compost along with dried leaves and some kitchen scraps.

Last week we worked in the Ashlawn Elementary Courtyard to clean out the shed - washing out and realigning the floor and removing some of the screws. There were lots of maple seedlings to remove as well!

We harvested about two pounds of overwintered lettuce, sorrel, and cilantro from the barrels. The "Deer Tongue" lettuce is one of our VA 250 varieties, the pink radishes have sprouted, and the "lemon lettuce" (sorrel) is thriving. The overwintered lettuce pictured is "speckled bibb" - one of the hardiest varieties we grow!

Attention RLC Neighbors! We invite you to be a part of our LAWNS 2 LETTUCE 4 LUNCH project -- a collaboration between the Ashlawn Elementary PTA, The Reevesland Learning Center, and the three neighborhoods that make up the Ashlawn community.

We provide the FREE organic seeds and planting instructions. You find a place in your garden or in containers to plant the lettuce seeds. When we send you a harvest date in late May or early June, you will be invited to share part of your crop with Ashlawn, so we can serve a FIESTA SALAD at lunch to the whole school!🥗

There is still time to plant lettuce! Our FREE organic lettuce seeds are still available! Join other neighbors in support of healthy eating and plant some seeds for our LAWNS 2 LETTUCE 4 LUNCH project! Plant before April 15th. Lettuce is a cool weather crop. 🥬

Your support is greatly appreciated! The time to plant is NOW! If you’re in the neighborhood and interested, “Comment” below and we can reach out and deliver the organic seeds and growing instructions.

If you already have seeds, hopefully they have been planted, and you are seeing the baby sprouts growing into seedlings in your garden or in containers. Remember to keep them watered!💧

Garden Fun Facts! ….

When daffodils and forsythia bloom it's time to plant lettuce, radishes, peas, beets, potatoes, onions, and carrots and other early spring crops. 🌼

As the daffodils and forsythia fade and lilacs bloom it's time to plant snap beans, cucumbers, sunflowers, and sesame. 🪻

Earlier this week we gathered at The Reevesland Learning Garden to begin our celebration of 15 years of ‘Growing Food, Knowledge & Community!’ We shared refreshments (including Marcia Reeves 4-H Coffee Cake!) and had a Composting at Home demonstration. 🎂

We had a great SOUPER BOWL celebration with the four Third Grade classes at Ashlawn Elementary this February! 🥣

The students had excellent questions and comments. All of the ingredients in the soup we have grown in The Reevesland Learning Garden, except for the olive oil. So we discussed where olives are grown. We mentioned Thomas Jefferson who grew sesame (as we have done in the past and will do again this year) to make sesame oil for cooking because the only olive oil available then came from Europe by boat and was often rancid by the time it arrived.

For our vegetarian soup version this year, the actual organic squash, garlic, and two kinds of drying beans came from The Reevesland Learning Garden. The other ingredients, while grown in one of our gardens, had been shared with the food pantry when they were harvested: tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, kale/spinach. 💛

Many thanks to our amazing RLC volunteers and educators!

Our mental escape from the freezing snow and ice is to plan a FOOD GARDEN! Our Volunteer Educators manage four food gardens with eighteen beds at Reevesland, eight beds outside Ashlawn, ten beds inside the Ashlawn Elementary School Courtyard and two beds at the Church of the Brethren. And many of us have our own food gardens, too…

A few reasons to grow food:
🥬It's fun! (And we love working on lessons in the gardens with Ashlawn Elementary students and teachers!)
🥬Save money if you focus on herbs or usually buy organic produce.
🥬Avoid possible pesticides if you grow crops organically.
🥬”Know your farmer, know your food!"
Grow heirloom varieties not usually available commercially.
🥬Reduce carbon footprint and extra packaging from grocery store produce.
🥬Share your harvest with a local food pantry.
🥬Experience the physical and mental health benefits from outdoor exercise with an edible reward!