Our First Harvest

I was kneeling garden-side with one student who asked me about harvesting the green onions, "How do you know when they are ready?  What happens if they break off?  Are they ruined?".  Her questions made me realize it was time to demonstrate the fine art of knowing when and how to harvest.

The others had just started cultivating and watering...or so I thought.  We practiced pulling a few onions out of the soil and I  told her she could take home the three green onions in her hand.  I searched in my basket for a ziplock bag. When I turned around, a handful of gardeners were pulling green onions from their gardens.  Before I could ring the bell to stop them and give them some direction, almost every gardener was happily yanking green onions out of the ground.

The third graders lined up with fistfuls of onions, ready to return to class.  I stopped the gardeners at the office door, to find Mr. Chisik surveying the abundance of onions being brought into the school.  I asked for some ziplock bags.  As he handed them out, he joked about them having bad breath and instructed them to wash the onions before devouring them.  I started to lead the class down the hall. All of a sudden, Mr. Chisik realized the real issue.  He yelled,"Hey, don't leave those onions in your lockers!"

Onions are a girl's best friend.