An Alaskan harvest-elementary school style

I like the idea of writing a "harvest" post this time of year-taking a look back at our own efforts at a wee garden and greenhouse growing, but I think I've missed the mark the past couple of years! My intention was to do one now, but I think I'll wait until after I post this one about Willa's class trip to the u-pick farm. It's a nice taste of agrarian Alaska and the magnificent produce it yields. And it kicks the ass of our little harvest here at home.

Willa's school does a K-6 class trip at the beginning of the school year as a way for kids, parents, and teachers to get acquainted/re-acquainted with each other, to get outside for some kind of harvest activity, and after which the kids bring their goods back to school to prep and cook into something yummy. For years it was a berry picking/hiking trip and the kids would make muffins the next day. This year was different. Since this program is embarking on a year long gardening project, they opted to take a trip up to Palmer to Pyrah's Pioneer Peak Farm to give the kids the experience of a tractor drawn hayride and picking veggies straight from the gardens. I definitely think it was a success! -Our previous berry picking excursions sometimes left us with NO BERRIES, depending on how the summer's weather had been! The farmland up in the Mat-Su valley is just GORGEOUS! Fecund emerald land and indigo mountains...

The kids brought home their veggies to be cleaned that night and then brought them back to school the next day to be chopped and prepped for soup. Each class had about 4 crock pots going in their rooms that day! The smell was heaven. Everyone got to enjoy the soup at our Family Harvest pot luck. A warm and lovely segue into fall.