Highfield Hall Cooks!: WOW!

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in because I've got a lot to tell you!

Let's begin with the garden. I have to admit, that somewhere in, oh, maybe May, the garden became something of a Sisyphean challenge. I had a plan in my head of what I wanted out there on our patch of dirt and I just couldn't get the thing going in the right direction. I could see other vegetable gardens popping up in back yards all around us, but all we had was this,

which was certainly usable as a practical garden space—there was amended soil and the beds had been raised and I have no doubt that things would have grown there. But, I wanted something more for the kids. I wanted a space where they could use their imagination, where the pathways would flow around the beds in a way that would be inviting and freeing, and where they would stand, arms outstretched, soak it all in, and then run around and around without sharp corners to slow or stop their movement.

The thing is, I'm no artist of the garden. I mean, I've grown things. Lots of things. Peppers, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, chard, spinach, even a few melons here and there, and one summer I pulled weeds out of the sun-baked earth at a CSA in New York where I worked for my produce, but I never sat down and made a plan or considered where things should be planted for aesthetics. My method has always been to look around for a sunny spot, plop some things in the dirt, and hope for the best.

It was clear to me, right from the beginning that I needed some help figuring out whether what I wanted could be pulled off in that space. We're a little sun-challenged in certain parts and a large part of the garden is in shade after 1pm. I was still teaching classes on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, and time was running out.

That's where Paul Marini and Nellie Emigh came in. They knew immediately what I wanted. Nellie has worked with children outdoors before and Paul is a crack landscape designer. The two of them put their heads together and came up with a plan that is, for the most part, what you will see if you go out there and have a look today. It is truly wonderful. The kids love it, adults love it, I love it, and we are all so grateful for the work they did. Not only did they design the space, but they managed to get us the extra loam we needed (dirt to you and me), found someone to donate 6 yards of mulch for the pathways (a HUGE thank you to All Cape Recycling!!) and brought someone in to help us move the mulch around (many thanks to Dave!), plant shopped with me on the rainiest of late-spring days, gave us a fig and a plum tree among other things, and even recently dropped off some drip hoses to help with irrigation. They are, without a doubt, the reason this garden exists, and they are two of the most fantastic people I have ever had the pleasure to know.

Paul and Nellie and I couldn't have done all that work by ourselves—we owe a huge thank you to the Ostroff and Marzot families, as well as to my seemingly indefatigable parents who both worked in the garden and donated plants, Jane and Mike Cahoon for donating plants, my husband for getting the sprinklers going, and the very lovely (and strong!) Sandy Richardson who spent quite a few hours up there planting and cutting down saplings for the bean teepee.

Here's what it looked like before we put any plants in the ground.

There's no photo that could do the change any real justice, but here you can begin to get the idea. Free form shapes, flowing pathways, and a larger area in which to roam. After the beds were moved and amended with a full pallet of manure donated by an anonymous person (hint: I've already thanked that person above!) I was given some baby praying mantises by Jenna and her mom, Julie Arruda.

I know, I'm not the best bug photographer in the world, but these things were TINY—like large mosquitoes. You could see the general shape of praying mantis-ness in them, but they could easily have been mistaken for something else entirely.

My daughter, and her friend, Amalia (a great lover of bugs), released them one sunny morning:

There's one on Amalia's tiny hand!

Not long after the praying mantises took up residence we got the plants in the ground.

Just a few short weeks later almost everything has tripled or quadrupled in size. Our bean plants, in spite of the fact that they're still quite small, are producing beans—yellow wax beans, bush beans, green stringless beans, and royal burgundy beans have all shown themselves already. We have about 80 different things growing out there. Everything from blueberries and figs to hollyhocks and sunflowers. Four kinds of mint and thyme, at least eight different varieties of tomatoes (including some heirloom varieties like purple Cherokee, Mr. Stripey, and Lemon Boy), an interesting purple tomatillo, yellow, red, green, chocolate beauty, and purple peppers. Strawberries, watermelons (yellow doll and sugar baby), pumpkins, cantaloupe, zucchini (of course), bright lights swiss chard, mustard greens, lettuces, you name it and we've either got one or have plans to get one.

And the best part is that we've already made use of some of our plants in the kitchen!

Speaking of which, the summer program started last week and we are off to a great start with the first week of Rake and Bake coming to a successful end. Because this is already crazy long I'll just give you a brief synopsis of what we did—with pictures, of course!

Monday we started with an introduction to the garden, during which the children exclaimed loudly over the scented geraniums, different varieties of herbs, and ran around excitedly pointing out the plants they already knew. Even though I'd hoped for some great garden involvement I never could have imagined how much they would enjoy being out there. After we spent some time making herb biscuits in the kitchen that day (using fresh herbs from the garden!)

we went back out and weeded because the weeds loved the manure and have taken off in much the same manner as the rest of the plants.

Tuesday we decided to make little berry pies

And birdhouses decorated with things we found on a quick morning nature walk

And then the children BEGGED to go out and weed some more. I swear, it's true!

Wednesday was bread and scarecrow day, which started with mixing dough in saucepans

and carrying a bale of straw down the hill.

We stuffed the legs, body, and head and everyone added something to the face

Now he stands proudly in the garden doing his job near the blueberry bushes (now maybe we'll be able to get to the berries before the birds do!).

Everyone went home with a fresh, hot loaf (or two) of whole wheat bread.

Thursday we made more bread and chicken salad for sandwiches, using a variety of thyme picked from the garden. Fiona chose lemon thyme and silver thyme, and Allison picked English thyme. Malcolm (who is only 6) has already acquired some terrific knife skills, as you can see here:

So has Henry:

Malcolm's sister, Fiona, added fresh thyme to her bread this time around and was particularly enamored of the result:

I think I even caught her hugging it at one point.

Friday I was coerced to make it cake day—the girls made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and the boys opted for chocolate.

(Someone got a little carried away with the sprinkles—I won't say who….) Afterwards we made small birdbaths out of terra cotta pots. They all did a fantastic job!

One final thing we did this week was create individual recipe and photo books to take home. We'll do the same every week. Allison was kind enough to let me photograph hers to share with you: