Monday, November 9, 2015


Beautiful evening, amazing food, inspiring speakers at 100-Mile! Thank you to the following Orange County chefs for a memorable meal in the garden at Anneliese Schools: Chef Lindsay Smith-Rosales ‪#‎NirvanaGrille‬, Chef Ryan Adams ‪#‎370Common‬, Chef Camron Woods ‪#‎TheRanchLagunaBeach‬, Chef Debra Sims ‪#‎MaroWoodGrill‬, Chef Jessica McLeish and Jonathan Pfluegger ‪#‎SourcedCuisine‬, Chef Carli Savedra ‪#‎SeedandSoilChef‬.

Friday, September 11, 2015

The Anneliese Garden is Certified!

It's official - our beautiful organic garden at the Willowbrook Campus is now a Certified Producer of Orange County. This means that we are recognized as legitimate growers of produce and can sell our fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs at any Certified Farmer's Market here in Orange County! Our new certificate also opens the doors to partnering with local restaurants to supply them with specialty menu items. Very exciting news! 


Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Generous Contribution from Laguna Beach Garden Club

A HUGE thank you to the Laguna Beach Garden Club (LBGC) for donating $500 to SEEDS this month! The LBGC is honoring a grant proposal written by the Anneliese garden team back in Spring, and the funds will be used to bolster the garden program during the upcoming school year. Thanks again LBGC, we're very grateful for this support coming from our local community! 

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Late Summer Bounty!

The Anneliese Garden is BOOMING with goodies right now. Sam, one of our wonderful garden teachers, found surprise onions this morning while digging in the garden and harvested them along with some beautiful tomatoes that are just becoming ripe. She brought these fresh organic veggies to the Willowbrook Kitchen so they can be used in school lunches this week! Looks like the perfect combination of ingredients for a tasty salsa or tomato sauce!   

Nutrition Tips

Onions are an excellent source of vitamin C, which protects and builds the immune system. Onions also contain a significant amount of manganese, a mineral that is essential for energy metabolism and the functioning of the heart. 

Tomatoes have high levels of vitamin A, C, K, chromium, and folate, all of which have specific roles in the body, including skin protection, immune stimulation, and blood sugar regulation, to name a few. Additionally, tomatoes boast a special compound called lycopene, a cancer fighting agent that also reduces the risk of osteoporosis through the improvement of bone mass.










 

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Re: Scrumptious Swiss Chard from Alegria Fresh

No problem! Lots of parents read our blog so I hope this will help spread the word about Alegria to our community :) 

On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 6:17 PM, Erik Cutter <erikcutter99@gmail.com> wrote:
It is our pleasure Jaynie, 

Thanks for the shout-out!

Cheers,
Erik Cutter
Managing Director
Alegría Fresh
cell (949) 230-2486

On Jun 16, 2015, at 2:34 PM, Jaynie Loeb wrote:

Last week, Anneliese was thrilled to receive a very generous donation from local farmer Erik Cutter of Alegria Fresh, a sustainable farm located at The Great Park in Irvine. Our students loved Alegria's delicious Swiss chard, which our kitchen staff prepared as a side dish, sautéed with lemon and garlic. A big thank you to Erik and his hard working team for sharing their wonderful bounty with Anneliese Schools! 

Erik grows a beautiful variety of fresh and nutritious crops using hydroponic and organic methods. Check out his website for more information and to learn how you can access his healthy produce: http://alegriafresh.com/alegriafarm.html
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Re: Scrumptious Swiss Chard from Alegria Fresh

It is our pleasure Jaynie, 

Thanks for the shout-out!

Cheers,
Erik Cutter
Managing Director
Alegría Fresh
cell (949) 230-2486

On Jun 16, 2015, at 2:34 PM, Jaynie Loeb wrote:

Last week, Anneliese was thrilled to receive a very generous donation from local farmer Erik Cutter of Alegria Fresh, a sustainable farm located at The Great Park in Irvine. Our students loved Alegria's delicious Swiss chard, which our kitchen staff prepared as a side dish, sautéed with lemon and garlic. A big thank you to Erik and his hard working team for sharing their wonderful bounty with Anneliese Schools! 

Erik grows a beautiful variety of fresh and nutritious crops using hydroponic and organic methods. Check out his website for more information and to learn how you can access his healthy produce: http://alegriafresh.com/alegriafarm.html
<IMG_5226.JPG>

Scrumptious Swiss Chard from Alegria Fresh

Last week, Anneliese was thrilled to receive a very generous donation from local farmer Erik Cutter of Alegria Fresh, a sustainable farm located at The Great Park in Irvine. Our students loved Alegria's delicious Swiss chard, which our kitchen staff prepared as a side dish, sautéed with lemon and garlic. A big thank you to Erik and his hard working team for sharing their wonderful bounty with Anneliese Schools! 

Erik grows a beautiful variety of fresh and nutritious crops using hydroponic and organic methods. Check out his website for more information and to learn how you can access his healthy produce: http://alegriafresh.com/alegriafarm.html

Monday, June 15, 2015

Last Farmer's Market of the Year

On Friday, June 12th, Willowbrook celebrated its final Farmer's Market of the 2014-2015 school year. What a success it was! We raised nearly $160 for the Anneliese garden fund, selling a colorful assortment of goodies, from fresh apples and rainbow carrots, to native wildflower seeds and handmade lavender honey butter. We even sold our home-grown and highly nutrient-rich Worm Compost to a happy backyard gardener (see last blog post for more info). After a short break for the summer, our markets will be back in full swing beginning in September so stay tuned! 

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

4th Graders Rock Springtime Farmer's Market!

On Friday, May 1st, Ms. Lauren's 4th grade class hosted a beautiful market to share the bounty of the Willowbrook Garden with the school community. Ms. Sam, who works in the Anneliese Garden Programs, helped students sell a myriad of home-grown and hand-crafted goodies, from Loquats and Purple Potatoes, to Mint Lemonade and Coconut Rose Body Scrub. All in all, the market was a HUGE success and Ms. Lauren's class was able to raise $435.40 for their end of the year field trip! 



What is Compost and How Can You Use it at Home?

GARDEN NEWS


THE SCOOP ON COMPOST

Simply put, compost is organic matter (such as leaves, food scraps, manure) that has decomposed over time into a nutrient-rich resource beneficial to plant growth. Worms, bacteria, and fungi break down organic matter through biological processes, turning these raw materials into compost, a natural and highly effective fertilizer. Compost can then be applied to soil for a wide range of benefits. The first and most direct benefit is providing plants with essential nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus) for optimal health and development. Additionally, compost allows soil to retain up to 20% more water, which reduces watering frequency, builds drought resistance, and saves time, money, and ultimately our precious resource. Finally, compost improves the structure of soil, controls weeds, and suppresses a number of plant diseases. The list of benefits goes on, and it's clear that compost is a key component of agricultural sustainability and conservation.


ANNELIESE'S HOMEGROWN COMPOST

Under the guidance of our wonderful garden teacher Mr. Greg as well as our amazing maintenance crew, Willowbrook produces its very own compost. Our regular or "thermal" compost comes from a 3-bin system that uses the method of pile turning to break down organic matter, as this movement generates the heat and oxygen needed to support the organisms that cause decomposition. We also make "worm" compost, which is specifically the waste product of worms after they have broken down organic matter. Our compost is used for educational purposes during garden classes and is also applied to the soil to create a healthy growing environment.  


ANNELIESE COMPOST

Recently, the Willowbrook Garden has been able to generate enough compost to share with our families! We now sell both thermal and worm compost at our monthly Farmer's Markets - don't miss our last one of the year coming up this Friday, June 12th!


Here are some ways you can use our high quality compost at home:

  • Add a layer of thermal compost to the top of your garden beds or potted plants.

  • Sprinkle thermal compost around the bases of the trees on your property
  • Create a tea solution using worm compost and water your plants with it. Follow this link for specific steps on how to make Worm Tea: http://preparednessmama.com/worm-castings-tea/  

Friday, May 15, 2015

Garden Visit from Slow Food + Chipotle

This week, Anneliese had the opportunity to showcase its amazing Willowbrook Garden through a special visit from members of the Slow Food and Chipotle communities. Two of our guests - Lauren and Andy - hailed from the Slow Food USA headquarters in Denver, CO, where they work on developing school garden programs across the country. Our third guest, Marnie Henziak, oversees Chipotle's outreach and marketing programs here in the Orange County region. Our visitors were blown away by the natural paradise that our students get to experience every day, and they were very interested in learning more about our Garden Programs, especially the cooking curriculum and our newly launched Farmer's Market series. They will be posting a spotlight of our garden on their blog to share with the school garden community across America! Slow Food, in collaboration with Chipotle, brought us a beautiful Welcome Sign to add to the Willowbrook Garden, which we had applied for and won a few months earlier. We look forward to fostering partnerships with Slow Food and Chipotle, both of which are working to create a more nutritious, ethical, sustainable, and culinarily diverse food system - something that Anneliese Schools strives to support.  

Planting Milkweed

We planted native milkweed in our garden to attract Monarch butterflies!