Time to peel away the layers and re-know your onions!

Join Anne and Mary Jo again as they talk through all things onions and why your students will be crying if you don’t plant this awesome vegetable in your school garden this season.
Podcast outline:

2:50 - Why grow onions?

3:33 - What part of the onion do we eat?

4:24 - Onion Family

4:43 - Planting onions

5:30 - How do onions grow

6:40 - Where to buy onion slips and sets

7:28 - How to plant onions and connections to the classroom

9:00 - Book Connection - ⁠Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens ⁠

10:23 - Caring for your onions as they grow

11:10 - Watering

12:46- Signs of growth

13:15 - Bolting, going to seed or putting up a flower

15:40 - Harvesting

19:46 - Funny story

22:11 - Kid question: Why do onions make you cry?

Recommendations: Our favorite and recommended feed store in North Texas is Russell Feed and Supply. Find your local store ⁠here⁠.

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Another helping of potatoes, anyone? We’re digging back into The Potato Episode! Yep, it’s that time of year again—so get ready to plan and plant this student favorite. Your school gardens are about to get spud-tacular!

Chapters:

Encore Episode Introduction - 0:50

Why Should We Grow Potatoes in Schools? - 3:14

Connections to Curriculum - 4:38

Potatoes are a Hungry Crop - 6:52

DIfferent Varieties of Potatoes - 7:52

True Potato Seed or Seed Potatoes - 9:42

Buying the Right Kind of Seed Potato - 11:00

Chitting or Sprouting Seed Potatoes - 11:51

Cutting Seed Potatoes - 14:43

Where to Plant Potatoes - 16:24

Hilling, Banking or Earthing Up Potato Plants - 18:12

Harvesting Potatoes: 20:32

Finding the Mother Tuber - 24:24

Top Tips for Growing Success -25:15

Have a Potato Party! - 27:02

Growing Potatoes with a Class of Kids - 29:00

Caution and Safety Notes: 29:43

Kid Question: What is the difference between Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes: 31:17

Ending

Mentioned Books or Materials

The Enormous Potato - Aubrey Davies purchase ⁠here⁠

Recommended Fabric Growbags purchase ⁠here⁠

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Pesto grilled cheese, anyone?
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Chef Vahista Ussery joins today’s conversation to share her passion for all things food in the world of children’s nutrition education. Grab a plate and a napkin as we dig into the Shovels and Whisks After School Cooking and Gardening Club, which she runs alongside our very own Anne Santana! Bon Appetit!

00:42 - Intro and Vahista’s Journey

Take a look at Vahista’s work at

To Taste:To Taste on Insta

To Taste on Facebook

To Taste on the Web

To Taste on YouTube

05:49 - The Origin Story of Shovels and Whisks After School Cooking and Garden Club

09:57 - How to Organize a Cooking Club

11:08 - The Cooking Sessions at Shovels and Whisks After School Club

17:44 - State of Child Nutrition

22:09 - Navigating the Healthy Eating Conversation

27:36 - Favorite Recipes

31:49 - Tips and Tricks

Grants Opportunities - Sprouts Healthy Community Foundation - School Gardens

Links to recipes mentioned in the episode here

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www.madegreene.com

Join Mary Jo and Anne as they explore the most popular reason students grow in school gardens—to taste! Listen along as they share tried-and-true strategies, practical techniques, and favorite recipes for trying produce in the school garden space. Perfect for empowering even the most cautious educators to host tasting sessions all year long.

Podcast Outline:

00:41 - 'Tis The Season for Tasting

01:07 - How was your week? Mary Jo has been thinning and tasting and Anne has been working on her indoor hydroponic garden

03:40 - Episode Intro: Tis' The Season for Tasting

07:38 - Benefits of Tasting in the School Garden.

10:22 - Tx Sprouts School Garden Program - Health Data Outcomes. Research Link here.

11:38 - Safety First

13:24 - Preparation Next

14:55 - Cleaning Produce

17:32 - Easy Tasting Ideas. Link to info about Sunbutter here.

26:24 - Recording Taste Testings

30:39 - Encouragement, Praise and Experimentation

33:56 - Involving other District Departments and Local Organisations

38:09 - School Garden to Cafeteria and Food Pantries

39:33 - Resources - see links below

40:38 - Outro

We love Life Lab. Check out their resources here.

We love The Edible School Yard Project. Check out their resources here.

Resources from North Texas School Garden Network (NTxSGN) here.

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Email us: podcast@madegreene.com

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www.madegreene.com

We love children's literature—and we know you do too! That’s why we couldn’t imagine a better first-ever podcast guest than Mary Frances Baker, author and illustrator of The Garden Friend. Join Mary Jo and Anne as they chat with Mary Frances and discover how your students can create their own garden friends and imagine new adventures in your school garden space.

00:42: Intro

O1:24: We are guests on The Farm to School Podcast! Listen to the episode: When The School Garden Podcast meets The Farm to School Podcast episode. The Farm to School Podcast website.

02:37: The School Garden Podcast’s first guest! Mary Frances Baker and her book, The Garden Friend.

05:10: Texas Children in Nature Network

08:11: The Garden Friend bookThe Garden Friend WebsiteThe Garden Friend Instagram Page @the_gardenfriendThe Garden Friend - Teachers Pay Teachers

13:44: The Welman Project

13:50: Pegasus Creative Reuse (Pegasus Reuse)

24:20: The Garden Friend Activity and Song (YouTube)

25:45: Folklore Grove Bookstore, Arlington, Texas

28:01: Outro

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Join Mary Jo and Anne's new broadcasting voice as they share an engaging baker's dozen of tried and tested activities that will get you and your early years learners outside-just perfect for pre-school, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten classes and even nursery school settings.

Plus Mary Jo has beef with Fort Worth's new Trick or Treating signal, and Anne has been harvesting pomegranates!

Podcast Outline

04:42: Intro: 0:42

01:53: Recap: Gardening with Early Learners - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2vkLB8U8PDPRAmpQW5dxNR?si=zvTtiCP_Q3y5Shk033v_1Q

04:48: How was your week?

07:35: Sprouts Foundation Growing School Garden Summit: Link and Info here.

School Garden Support Organization (SGSO) Network : Link and Info here.

09:46: Nature Sink or Float

12:28: Acorns: Viable or Non-Viable

14:37: Water Painting

16:11: Mud Painting

18:53: Ice Observations

19:52: Nature Treasure Tins

24:16: Life in a Rotting Log

26:17: Class Mystery Nature Box

27:29: Adopt a Tree

30:07: Beanie Babies

33:00: Wishing Tree

35:10: Natural Fabric Dyes

39:32: Buzzing Bees

41:10: Outro

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Email us: podcast@madegreene.com

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www.madegreene.com

Join Mary Jo and Anne as they discuss strategies, benefits and pointers to help ease our early years learners into the garden and outdoors. Plus, it’s finally fall! This episode is packed with final fall planting advice, and lots of conversation to help garden educators get our most curious gardeners out into the garden space and beyond.

Podcast Outline

00:42 - Intro

01:27 - It’s Finally Fall

03:37 - Transplanting Brassicas

05:36 - Anne’s Carrot Seed and Cardboard Trick

06:50 - Garlic and Strawberries are Garden BFFs

08:55 - Radishes and Time Lapse Videos

https://www.youtube.com/Boxlapse

10:24 - Shout Out to Muddy Pandas Garden Club

11:09 - Shout Out to Sarah Houdmont - #1 Podcast Fan

11:58 - Introduction to Gardening and Outdoor Learning with Early Years Learners-ages 3 through Pre-K

14:30 - Benefits for Gardening and Outdoor Learning with Early Years Learners

17:40 - If it Doesn’t Happen at an Early Age, Let’s Not Assume it Will Happen at All

19:58 - You Don’t Have to Have a Garden - Just Go Outside

20:19 - Make a Permanent Dig Bed in Your Space

21:20 - Pointers and Strategies to Consider with Early Years Learners and the Outdoors

28:43 - Start Simple …

32:42 - Mary Jo and Anne’s Top Tip - Spray Bottles and Meeting Spots

34:30 - Outro

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The Great British Garden Visit Download episode.

From The Garden Museum, to press visitors at the RHS Wentworth show, to peeking at the world of UK allotments and Mary Jo's meeting with BBC Gardeners World Adam Frost. Join us as we share details from our most wonderful week of all things English gardening!

00:42- Introduction - Our English Garden Adventures and RHS Garden Show Download

02:15 - The Garden Museum, London

04:11 - The Garden Museum Cafe and Restaurant --- SO good!

04:47 - Kew Gardens (that's K.E.W, y'all)

06:48 - Queen's Garden Kew

09:10 - Garden in the UK11:53 - Intro into Allotment Gardens in the

UK16:23 - RHS Show Wentworth Woodhouse, July 2025Wentworth WoodhouseBBC Gardeners World Adam Frost - such a lovely bloke!Hooton's Walled Nursery - Dean Charlton Garden Whispers Garden designed by Hyeyoung Choi and Yungil ChoiThe RHS Miners Garden designed by Chris Myers

27:35 - Children and Community Growing Spaces at RHS Wentworth Woodhouse RHS Show 2025

32:59 - Interview - Girl Guiding North East - Community Cube at RHS Wentworth Woodhouse RHS Show 2025 82nd Doncaster Rangers

37:13 - Outro

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Email us: podcast@madegreene.com

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www.madegreene.com