It was our second growing season, two Lower Elementary students were deep into the West Coast Seeds website trying to find the strangest seeds for their spring wish list. The name said it all: "Witch Stick" hot peppers. Between the generous Community Roots Seed donation and our purchased seeds we gathered a small variety of sweet and hot peppers to grow including "Orange You Sweet", "Aji Rico", "Pathfinder" and the highly desired "Witch Stick". The Kindergarten students started numerous seeds indoors before the March break. To everyone's delight most of the seeds germinated. In April, the Upper Elementary students transplanted the seedlings and slowly introduced them to the unheated greenhouse as the days got longer. We kept one of each pepper plant and the rest were generously given away to the school families. The plant giveaway included many other varieties the students had started from seeds and had surplus of including; tomatoes, cucamelons, kale, beans, gourds, lettuces, basil, and a selection of flowers. The select pepper plants flourished in our small greenhouse and were well pollinated by the various bees and insects in the area. There was a small Western toad that took refuge in the moist pepper plant soil and soaked in the excess liquid during watering time. The students enjoyed quietly searching for it on their gardening day.
The preschool summer school students were excited to explore the greenhouse over the month of August, take turns watering, and watch all the peppers form into distinct shapes and change different colours. At the end of September, an Upper Elementary student harvested all the peppers and they were frozen for future processing. In November, the Upper Elementary student found an easy hot sauce recipe and came up with a plan to make it, bottle it, then sell it at the school Christmas market. The culinary educator ensured the student was safe and aware of the possible dangers of working with hot peppers. The student was cautious and wore a full chef apron, gloves, a mask and safety glasses. Our school is not equipped with kitchen exhaust fans so we cooked the hot sauce outside in December to protect everyone from the potential hot pepper fumes. It smelled absolutely delicious. Not knowing what temperature of heat to expect from the greenhouse peppers, we carefully tasted the smallest amount of hot sauce. And to our surprise it was wonderfully delicious! It had a touch of Scoville heat but the sweet peppers helped create a very mild yet flavourful hot sauce. This delectable taste was further enhanced by the garlic previously harvested from the school garden. It was the perfect hot sauce for kids. Much to his delight, the Upper Elementary student sold all his bottles of limited edition hot sauce in the first 15 minutes of the Christmas market! All the proceeds were generously donated to a local charity.
We look forward to this growing season and allowing the students to take an even greater role in shaping our school garden spaces. Over the last couple of years we've learned to embrace the uncertainty of trying new gardening ideas, be prepared to adapt as you go (and grow), and enjoy the many wonderful surprises!