Harvest of the Month: Brassicas
- Aubrey Johnson
- Nov 17, 2024
- 9 min read
“Good morning, class!”
“Good morning, Farmer Aubrey!”
“Before our farm-to-school lesson, I want to check in and see how you are. Hold up a 5 if you’re amazing, 3 if you’re okay, 1 if you could be much better, and anything in between.” … “Thanks for sharing and letting me know. I’m sorry some of you aren’t having a good day, but I hope you enjoy the lesson! If so, maybe your number will go up by the end of it.”
“Today’s lesson is about our Harvest of the Month. The name may be a new word to you, so I want you to repeat after me - Brassicas” … “That was good!” … “Yeah, that is a hard word to say. Today we’re going to learn a little about brassicas and then make a salad dressing to sample with our brassicas.” … “Yes, as always you’ll get to taste what you make!”
“I brought some brassicas to show you and all of them were grown in our school gardens. But I want you to guess what they are before I pull them out of my bag. If you think you know, I’ll call on a quiet hand. The first one is green and looks like a tree.” … “Yes! It’s broccoli. Okay, the second one is white and looks like a brain!” … “You got it! Cauliflower! The third brassica is a farm-to-school favorite. It can be made into chips, but it can also be eaten straight from the garden.” … “Nope, not potatoes.” … “Yes, I know you would eat a potato straight from the ground, but that’s not it. This one is in salads and rhymes with ‘sale.’ That’s it, kale! And the last one may be new to you. It’s a mix between a potato and a cabbage.” … “No, that’s not it, but good try. It’s called kohlrabi. All of these vegetables, including a few more like Brussels sprouts, collards, and cabbages are in the same plant family called Brassica. Since they’re a family, they’re related to each other just like people are related to each other. Their original ancestor was the plant wild mustard, and mustard seeds are used to make the condiment mustard.” … “Yes, like what you put on hot dogs!”
“Brassicas do really well in Montana since they like the cold weather.
They can’t grow when it snows, but they can survive a frost and light snow. I harvested cabbages from Washington School that were covered in snow during my first year here! Then we used them to make coleslaw and soups at the high school for lunches. Brassicas are also really healthy for us. Kale has a lot of Vitamin K which is helpful for blood clotting, like if you get a cut, and broccoli and cauliflower are high in Vitamin C which is needed to keep you from getting sick.”
“Today we’re going to cut our broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi for you to sample with an apple cider vinaigrette that you can use for dipping. Then, after you all get to help make the recipe, we’ll vote, whether you ‘Loved it, Liked it, or Tried it,’ but it wasn’t for you. While you’re waiting to help me at our cooking cart, you will draw pictures of our brassicas in your farm-to-school journal. When I see you working, I’ll call you to wash your hands then come help. Remember you have ‘doctor hands’ and can’t scratch and itch while cooking.”
“What do you all think? Thumbs up if you loved it, thumb to the side if you liked it, and thumbs down if it wasn’t for you.”
“I give it a double thumbs up!” There was always one. :)
For the three years I was a farm-to-school educator in Montana, my Harvest of the Month lessons to kindergarteners through 5th graders were all a version of the one above. Once a month we would highlight a fruit or vegetable grown in Montana, and students would get to learn about that item - how it’s grown, why it’s beneficial nutritionally, and how to use it, then each K-5th grade class made a recipe featuring the item. The lessons and recipes were tailored to the ages of the students, but since a version of Farm to School of Park County (F2SPC), had been around since 2008, the students were used to the lessons and trying new things because they grew up with it. Even 1st graders knew what kale is! But, they all did like to interrupt in their excitement to let me know what they knew. Some things never change no matter where I am teaching. :)
Unlike Andy Bernard from The Office, I did know that I was in “the good ol’ days” when I was actually in them. Both FoodCorps, which I served under in Connecticut and then my first year in Montana, and Farm to School of Park County are nonprofits that rely on donations and stakeholders who fundraise. As such, service members and educators keep track of the numbers - lessons taught, taste tests given, and kids served.
We were able to see the impact we made on a daily and weekly basis. My favorite way of sharing stories was through the quotes from our students. It took more effort to remember them after the lesson or stop and jot one down, but direct quotations from the kids, in addition to pictures, painted a more compelling story of our impact. During lessons and cafeteria taste tests, students always liked to one-up each other in terms of hyperbole. “I love it times 100!” “I love it times 1,000!” “I love it infinity!” A few were a little more creative: "If I had 100 million thumbs, I'd give it that many [thumbs up!]" Then, "I like it so much that my heart is seeming to feel happy." (No exclamation point... she said this very solemnly.) Students enjoying the item when I was there as a witness was great, but what was better was when students told me they made the item at home or asked their parents to buy the fruit or vegetable featured that month. An interest in nutrition, as important as it is to my fellow educators and me, is hard to cultivate at a young age. Interest in cooking, growing, and eating, as exemplified by F2SPC’s motto of “Teach, Grow, Eat, Repeat,” was an easier sell to kids.
We also had bigger “wins” than others. Getting kids to try a new variety of apples was not much of a challenge. Getting kids to try and like beets, beet greens, lentils, or kale for the first time? Now that was an accomplishment! I hoped that students loved eating healthy foods at home as much as they did in front of their friends and me at farm-to-school lessons, but I know that wasn’t always the case. Since Livingston, MT is a small town, I often ran into students with their parents at the grocery store. One day after work I ran into a student and his mom. I taught the kindergartener the year before as a pre-K student in the two-year kindergarten class. His mom told me that I was the only one that could get him to eat vegetables! He is a 4th grader now, and I’m hopeful he progressed to eating vegetables for other people (and himself!). He may not be my student anymore, but I still remember how excited he was to see me coming down his street during the teacher parade in spring 2020.
Since schools were closed, and teachers missed their students, Livingston was one of countless districts in the country that planned a parade route through town, and teachers (and organizations that served students like Farm to School) drove around waving to all their families. Once we turned the corner in the Farm to School van, I spotted this student jumping up and down and pointing at me to his mom. Back in the grocery store, I also overheard him whisper to his mom, “Look, it's Farmer Aubrey! I bet she's getting farmer things.”
I wasn’t thrilled with the moniker “Farmer” that had to be attached to my name as a Farm to School employee. However, now I look back on it proudly. Those were some of my most fun days as an educator. I loved the variety of work I did in the classrooms, cafeterias, and school gardens, and I loved teaching kids about healthy food, knowledge and skills they will use throughout their lives. That first year in Montana, I was new to teaching kindergarten at the time and wanted to learn from the best. As such, I observed each of my six teachers with whom I partnered. When I was sitting on the carpet observing one of the kindergarten teachers work her magic, the girl next to me asked, "Are you going to be a farmer when you grow up or are you already a farmer?" I think I answered, “I’m already a farmer,” since I did have the title and helped grow food. In reality, I’m still learning and growing. I’m not an expert plant grower, but additionally, “gown-up” is relative. Five years later, I still have a lot to learn about teaching. I’m not sure if I’ll teach for the rest of my life, but I know I want to continue to make an impact in students’ and kids’ lives, even if it’s one vegetable at a time.
It’s true, brassicas do grow well in Montana, and in 2019, I cut about 10 cabbages off their thick stems from a school garden under a dusting of snow. I had multiple layers and gloves on, but the purple cabbages were fine! We also grew a LOT of kale for school lunches, cafeteria taste tests, and lessons. One fall while I was there every K-5th grade class got to make their own vinaigrette to sample with fresh kale. The lesson was originally done virtually through F2SPC’s first Harvest of the Month video. (We had to pivot like the rest of the country! Thankfully the videos got better with experience.) The school gardens and Lincoln School Farm (⅛ acre downtown farm run by F2SPC) also grew some collards, broccoli, and kohlrabi. Those were not a main crop, but it was fun to experiment.
Before I helped grow kohlrabi in 2020, I had only tasted it once. That year, two of our gardens produced 9 pounds of it! In previous years, Farm to School participated with the Community School Collaborative by leading quarterly in-person workshops for the middle school. During the fall of 2020, those workshops switched to a virtual format. I distributed bags of ingredients to the middle school for pick-up, and students joined me on Zoom to cook in their own homes. The kohlrabi was cut into julienne strips as a raw salad ingredient, but it could also be roasted or used in soups and stir-fries.
In The Harvest Baker, Ken has a few recipes that feature brassicas as well. While they’re not farm-to-school and kid-approved, I know a few adults who have enjoyed them! If you have any cabbage to dig out from under the snow (or not), I’d recommend the Cabbage and Sausage Shortbread or Double-crust Cabbage Pie Neither are recipes I could have invented myself, but they were both pleasantly surprising. Ken describes the Cabbage and Sausage Shortbread as “part tart and part gratin.” With the savory thyme and Parmesan crust and sauce made from cream and chicken stock, the description was spot on. The Double-crust Cabbage Pie is a meal on its own, especially accompanied by a nice kale salad.
The book also has a Brussels Sprouts Tart Au Gratin. I never grew Brussels sprouts, so I cannot comment on the plant, but the food is delicious. I’ve always been a fan of roasted Brussels sprouts, especially around the holidays with cranberries and pecans. This tart makes a beautiful presentation and is worthy repeating any time of year. The last savory brassica pie is Collard, Quinoa, and Sausage Dinner Pie with Sesame Seeded Crust. Admittedly, I forgot to roll sesame seeds into the crust, so I cannot comment on that aspect. I can say that collards are one of my favorite greens, both in terms of texture, flavor, and nutrition. The collards, turkey sausage, quinoa, and cottage and cheddar cheese in this pie made it a rich and flavorful complete meal.
Everyone has early food memories. Something they loved, something they hated, and something they wouldn’t even try no matter how many times their parents asked. I did get my fair share of kids not wanting to try something at all, but the ones who did, the ones who decided to be “adventurous eaters,” always made my day. I stepped away from farm-to-school work and am teaching middle school science. I still get to educate them about food through an elective course and an after-school garden club. I’m not sure how long that will last, but I know to look at it as the “good ol’ days.” I get to help introduce kids to new foods, growing practices, and cooking methods. My students may not always use the metric system, consider how thermal energy works, or give another thought to cells once they leave school if they’re not going into the science field. Everyone has to eat, though, and knowing where one’s food comes from and which foods help our bodies is knowledge by which to live, or grow.
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