Sprouting Chefs

05/23/2026

How it started with Jeremy who's now in Gr. 11 to how it's going today with Oliver at age 3!

05/04/2026

Still Space in our Wellness and Cooking Summer Camps!

What makes our camps special is how many of our campers return each year and also become volunteers and staff with us. We have a majority of campers, about 70% who are returning from previous years, some doing their 4th year!
This creates a family atmosphere with all of us working together to keep the space clean, create awesome meals together, and have fun! This is also why we have created our Teen Week as many campers want to become future volunteers and staff, they love our camp so much!

The Teen Leadership week is new and is shaping up to be a ton of fun while developing a variety of life skills, leadership, and learning wellness tools for the future. Several of our volunteers and staff say they are still using the skills and mental health tools in their university years!

What parents are saying:
"My child looks forward to this camp all year!" - parent of a child who has come multiple times for multiple weeks

"Our boys made dinners multiple times this week thanks to your camp!" - parent of a set of siblings who have come for the past 3 years

"I am sending photos of my son making every recipe for his family this past weekend. He was so proud of himself as were we" - parent of a child who was very shy at camp but still cooked at home for his extended family

There is still space in our July 27th week as well as our August 10th week. Register today at sproutingchefs.com/camp

05/03/2026

Time flies when you're working solo!

Moving the compost bins one at a time to bring things closer...slowly. Will be waiting till Friday when the Garden Club crew can work together to move the rest. Whew!

Had to pause and take in the cuteness of the art from Friday 🥰

Watered, cut back the kale, planted some more beans, fixed a hoophouse for the watermelons and made sure comfrey is still growing around the compost bins which we can chop up to add when it gets bigger to accelerate decomposition. (Only took 3 pieces of comfrey roots from Windsor Elementary a few years ago and now have a few bushes at Forest Grove, Edmonds and Burnaby Mtn)

Started at 8 am, left around 11 am with Dad's wise quote: "Know when to stop..."

Time flies when you're in the garden! 🤪

05/03/2026

Next bulb blooming up on the hill of Forest Grove by the garden: Irises!

Poppies and lupine will be next! So lovely and exciting!

05/01/2026

Art in the garden today painting the bins at Garden Club at Forest Grove. After all the work, it was nice to slow down and create some outer beauty while wating for our plants to grow.

There was also a group taking apart and turning the compost bins, not quite done yet tho. Also some grade 7s planted some nootka rose bushes as a legacy project.

Full day for Ms. Barb in the garden!

05/01/2026

Love it when my alumni returns to help me in the garden!! Especially with facial hair when you knew them since age 5! Whew!

joined me to help set up the bins with his sister's water wicking system. Such a full circle moment and evidence to believe and trust in the divine timing of things. He had time today to help with the 3 Gr. 6/7 classes.

We spoke about soil amending, companion planting and the climate changing as evidenced by this coming weekend. He has about 3 jobs but made time to help out at his former elementary school

Thank you Nathan! So good catching up especially since you'll be in France for the alumni reunion.

04/28/2026

update:
🥦 Broccoli plant being cared for by a very dedicated student

Swiss Chard growing in the tower

🥒 teeny tiny cucumbers. Not sure where it came from which makes it that more special!

🍅 very leggy tomatoes that grew from the compost and need to go into the school garden bins ASAP

🫑 Peppers and possibly some eggplants almost ready to go outside

🫘 New this year, beans! Something off about the humidity in the greenhouse which is evident from the leaves but a few purple beans did grow

04/20/2026

Spaces are filling up each week for our camps this summer. Week 2, July 27 to July 31st is our most popular so far followed by August 10 to 14th.

First week is our Original week best suited to a 1st or 2nd year camper with the rest a bit adjusted to inspire our 3rd and 4th year campers.

Teen week is also filling up on August 17 to 21st!

Register today to join us this summer as we celebrate 10 years of our Cooking Camps :)

Registration is NOW OPEN for our SUMMER 2026 CAMPS! We have 4 different weeks to choose from this year including a Teen Leadership Week August 17 to 21, 2026. Our camps are so popular, they fill up fast with both new and previous campers returning for 3rd and 4th years in a row. It's one of the reasons we are developing our teen week as campers want to keep coming back even as teens.

www.sproutingchefs.com/camps

04/18/2026

4 bins filled in 30 mins thanks to our awesome Garden Club today at Forest Grove!

A few bins have been planted and the wildflower garden has also been moved and seeded.

Time will tell what will bloom and grow but it's been quite a week!

On to Edmonds to rearrange the bins there and check on what could be Sprouting...

04/17/2026

What a time it has been! This project of moving bins from Edmonds to Forest Grove that started in October by emptying them, breaking down the Forest Grove garden, to the bins arriving yesterday while I was teaching a 2/3 class explaining I wasn't sure when they'd arrive!

To see them finally at Forest Grove with the kids looking for the Easter eggs with notes of kindness and the myriad of kids helping all the way through...I was so emotional!

Working with both schools has taught me so very much. I'm so grateful to all the kids every step of the way at each school in how they love to help and do such hard but good work.

Not many seeds have been planted yet at Forest Grove Garden but I hope various seeds of learning about trust, patience and surrender have. It's been my main message I've both taught and learned myself.

Mostly that not knowing when exactly the bins would arrive meant we had to focus on what we could do while we waited.

To be flexible

To note all the helpers along the way

And that community is when we come together in unity for a common goal where we all benefit 🥰

Still a ways to go. Have to still rearrange the existing bins back at Edmonds but I'm envisioning a more sustainable beautiful garden at both schools by the summer...💓

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