Basil Harvest and Pesto Making

Farmers and their classmates feasted on big bowls of freshly made Italian pesto pasta today. Earlier this morning, they harvested two baskets full of the fragrant herb, washed and dried the leaves and delivered them to their classroom. Barbara Adams and Ana Garcia were ready with all the ingredients and a cooking lesson on how to make pesto.

Students worked at a table set with a Cuisinart, the basil leaves, Parmesan-Reggiano cheese, garlic, salt and pepper and olive oil. Within the hour, the kids whipped up eight batches of this gorgeous Italian sauce.

Each student had a job measuring ingredients, crushing garlic and pouring the oil down the Cuisinart shoot. Another stood-by and worked the Pulse button until the sauce was the perfect consistency.

When finished, Ana took a huge batch of pre-cooked pasta and mixed it with some of the pesto. The room smelled amazing. Apparently the scent traveled to other classrooms because several teachers came to see if they could have a bowl of whatever smelled so good.

Ms. Siskin told the kids that we harvested today because the rats had discovered the basil bed two nights ago. The hungry little critters devoured 12 lush plants all the way to the ground.

Do you think the rats would like pesto as much as all of the students and teacher do?