LEAF 2014 - The Movie

Joseph Serves Those in Need

Food Prep, Serving in Glide's Dining Rooms, Sharing Lunch With Friends, Survey@Farmers' Market

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Pierce’s French Toast!

Ingredients:

3 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tablespoon of honey
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Directions:

Crack open the three eggs and beat them. Then add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl. Then mix them all together. Next, soak slices of SF Sourdough Bread in the batter momentarily. After that, put the bread slices on the griddle until the bread is brown on both sides. Then EAT IT! :)

Friday, August 1, 2014

Max Loves LEAF and Urban Farming

LEAF was great! The work on the roof was tiring but fun, and a little inspirational, to go make your own rooftop AWESOME, and that's what I'm going to do! I did a lot of watering plants. I loved pouring a tiny but of water on the leaves and seeing how they reacted. One held the water in the flower. One leaf filled up, overflowed, tipped, spilled it's water on the leaf below, which in turn overflowed onto the dirt the plant was planted in.

I can't believe the LEAF graduation is tomorrow. There's so much we have to do, like finish the mural. MURAL! I love the mural. So proud.

~ Max

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Juliana Farms, Chats With Community Leaders and Creates Art

Today we went to Glide's rooftop garden. We did lots of projects like picking out potatoes from the potato tower, watering the plants and shifting the compost. After that we harvested some lettuce and some other plants that are edible and made it for lunch. I learned that they harvest food from their garden once a week and serve it to people.

~ Juliana

Josh Farms Glide's Urban Rooftop!

L3@F @ G|ID3

Today, Leaf academy went to Glide for the second time. We were going there to look at the roof-top garden and help out at the garden. When we arrived, we were greeted by friendly smiles and "hi". Then, we marched up 5 or 6 flights of stairs because 17 people in an elevator = big no no.... Not good. When we got to the top floor, we put our stuff down and looked around at the garden. The garden had mostly eatable things like lettuce and pomegranates. The lettuce was bad because it was bitter. The view from the top was amazing. We could see the whole city below us. Todd got us to circle up so we could get working. We were divided up into three different groups. One was the watering group that watered all the plants that needed it. The second was the compost group that ran compost through a sifter that would later be used for the soil. The third group was harvesting and washing potatoes. I was in the watering group :). Then we took a break to eat lunch. Robert and some of the GLIDE staff brought food for us to eat as well as the lunches we had. Robert brought a salad that had beans, avocado, corn and tomatoes. The staff brought bread and blue cheese. The lunches were amazing! I had a good day working with Glide as well as the other people at Leaf.

~ Glide

Rou Rou Puts Her Energy Into Making the TL a Better Place for All People

Today, I had an amazing day. I worked at Glide and went to the farmer's market. GLIDE is a soup kitchen in the Tenderloin. A soup kitchen is a place where homeless people can eat for free. When I was working at GLIDE, I prepared lunch for families. I served people, cleaned off table and made sure that there were enough utensils for everyone. The Farmer's Market was okay. I had a better time at GLIDE. At the Farmers Market, I walked around and asked people if they were willing to take a survey LEAF made.  I had more fun doing this project last year.

~ Rou Rou

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

A very tired Juliana shares her day with you!

Today we went to GLIDE and prepared and served food to people who are less fortunate. I noticed lots of people smiling*:) happy when we gave them lunch. After that we went to the farmers market and asked people if they could take our foods survey.

~ Juliana

Max Tackles Tough Issues and Craves to be Creative!

LEAF was great today! The work at GLIDE was tiring, but it was worth it for that warm fuzzy feeling that feels like a kitten that just came out of the dryer. It was sad to see the kids come in at the end. One looked like he was my age!

I really liked the farmer's market surveying. My group got both adults and kids, which I thought was cool. Our group only got 8 people, but assuming everybody else got all 9, the total is big! I do feel that, since everybody was at the farmer's market, the results were similar. If we had asked random people around that area, we would have gotten more varied results.

I wished we had gotten to work on the murals. I'm super proud of mine, and can't wait to paint it.

~ Max

Leo Gives of Himself!

Today we left Matter of Trust early to get to Glide early. For the first part of Glide we prepared food for people. We sorted out eggs and we cut chunks of ham into square slithers. For the second part we served food to the homeless people that came in. I served food for the first five minutes, but then I started to do some cleaning and running. Running is when you take the dishes to the other room and you put them in the dishwasher. It requires a lot of running. I noticed that all the people were very polite and that they would always say thank you and smile. That was a fun experience. Then we walked to the farmers market and we asked people to take our foods survey. I have learned a lot in LEAF.

~ Leo

Joseph's Extra Moist Banana Bread

Banana Bread

Extra-moist banana bread with chocolate chips

The Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 really ripe bananas
1 ¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

The Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a loaf pan.
In a food processor, blend together butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Fold in bananas. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Add that to banana mixture and blend well. Quickly fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake about 55 minutes, or until done. Serves about 8 people.

I picked banana bread as my favorite because I have a big sweet tooth. When I first had banana bread with chocolate chips added I instantly fell in love with it. My old nanny introduced this recipe to me and ever since then I have enjoyed sharing it with my immediate family.

Josh Gives to the Tenderloin Community

___L3AF @ GL|Dé___   (Making the food  (ONLY))    -Josh Beissinger

OMG! THEY ALMOST LEFT WITHOUT US!!! BART backups... :) But Robert and I made it just in time today. On Wednesday, Leaf Academy went to the GLIDE center which was a place where people take care of homeless people and sick people 4 FREE! If only the whole world was like this... :( But when we got there, we were taken downstairs to the basement where the cafeteria was. We put on insane looking aprons, gloves and stupid hair things. We were separated into 3 diff3rent groups. The younger kids did....? IDK. And the older kids were separating chicken into different bins and slicing bell peppers. (We did this for about 1 and1/2) Then when we're done with our chores, we were going to serve the yummy food for the homeless. We were separated into different groups again and shown what our new jobs were. I was with Robert and Kajon in the "steam roooooom". Our job was to take out all of the clean dishes from the dishwasher and put them away or give them to other people. After that, we had our lunch, we left. Over all I felt proud of myself for helping people in need of food. I had a good time with my friends also.

~ Josh

Max Creates!

Mini-watersheds are AWESOME! In my opinion, it's the best thing we've done! I'm excited about the squash because it looks like it will grow the most food, I'm excited about the beans because I want to see it spiral up the corn and PVC pipe, and I'm excited about the corn because I LOVE CORN! SO YUMMY!

I'm super excited about the mural. Our group came up with our theme really quickly, and I feel we're working really well together. Everyone has really good ideas. We're almost ready to paint!

~ Max

Kajon Connects Concepts, Budgets, Explores and Creates Art

Today we went all around the SF Mission. The first thing we did was go to the hardware store to get some supplies for our watershed that we made. Then we went to 24th and mission to look at some paintings. Then after that we came back to Matter of Trust then made some art of our own. We were in teams and made art together. Today was so fun. A foodshed is something that holds food. In the foodshed we planted the three sisters, which are squash, corn, and beans. We planted them today in our foodshed models. A foodshed is like a watershed. It delivers food, collects food, processes food, serves food and is habitat.

~  Kajon

Daniel at the SF Food Bank

In today’s adventure we went to the San Francisco-Marin Food Center. We learned that half of the people living in San Francisco have trouble getting food. I also learned that wasting food is very bad, and some people need to dumpster dive in order to collect food to eat. I would eventually like to volunteer at the Food Bank, and help people in my environment.

~ Daniel Jimenez

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Max Makes a Difference at the SF Food Bank!

LEAF was great! Since we went to the food bank, I actually got kinda hungry. IRONY!
My favorite part was the role play. It was really fun, compared to just packing food, which was doing the same thing again and again and again and again.....
I learned a lot, and some of it was kind of terrifying. Like the fact that half the people who can't get food in America are kids!

~ Max

A Magical Day!

Today's adventures embody why I became a teacher. Every moment was filled with caring, compassion, creativity, drive to learn and grow, and a profound value for our shared humanity. I loved designing, exploring, building, taking risks and being wildly creative with this unique and powerful group of young people! Knowing the future is their hands fills me with optimism and hope!

~ Todd

Josh is Passionate About Food!

I LOVE FOOD!!! Food is my life! But unfortunately there are some other people that don't get food on a daily basis. We made one of the solutions to end world hunger right in the Matter Of Trust building today. This invention is called "A planter-box!" So simple, it acts like a watershed by the way we built it. First, you take 2 5 gallon buckets and place them on top of each other. You drill small holes in the bottom and one big hole in the center. The small holes around the big hole are for the water to drain out once you water the plants. Then, you take a one-quart cup and you drill holes at the bottom of it. You put the cup in the big hole in the center of the bucket bottom. This is also used for draining the water. You fill the bucket with soil or compost and plant your plants. We planted "The Three Sisters" which are squash, beans and corn. This version of planting these three plants together has been around for hundreds of years! This is a solution to end world hunger because it is a simple and inexpensive way of farming. You can create the planter box in the city where farms do not usually occur, or in your neighborhood.
   
I had a good time collaborating with my group and hanging out with my friends. All the thinking about food as we worked on the planter boxes made me hungry. It paid off by going to a bakery on 24th street after we were done. All in all, it was a tiring but fun day.

~ Josh

Monday, July 28, 2014

Take our Food Survey! Thank you Natalia for putting our survey on SurveyMonkey! Technology Rocks!

Please take two minute to take our LEAF 2014 Foods Survey. We will be completing this survey at The Heart of the City Farmers' Market too! Fun! Click this link and take the LEAF 2014 Foods Survey! Thank you! Keep checking back for results.

Juliana Takes on Hunger!

Today we went to the SF Food Bank and helped package food for people who are food insecure. I learned that lots of people count on the food bank. I also learned that 25% of people who live in San Francisco are who insecure and half of the 25% are children. My favorite part was part was packaging the food strips and the hunger 101. I like the hunger 101 because we put ourselves in other people's shoes and see what one day of their life would be like.

~ Juliana

Sunday, July 27, 2014

And more poetry...

Kids LOVE to kayak
And you LOVE to kayak
Yippie down the rapids
Acting like you are in a kayak is no fun… you must be in one!
Kiss your kayak all you want
I'm going to a river
No! I am go to Kayak… then the river!
Going is fun! Thinking is not!

~ Nika

Friendship
Ecosysytem
LEAF
Leadership
Ocean
Watershed
S ­PWAN
Hills
Interaction
Poetry

~  Josh

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Quiana's Flan!

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condescend
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar until liquefied and golden in color. Carefully pour hot syrup into a 9 inch round glass baking dish, turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs. Beat in condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla until smooth. Pour egg mixture into baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake in preheated oven 60 minutes. Let cool completely.
To serve, carefully invert on serving plate with edges when completely cool.

Max's Family's Black Bean Soup

When it comes to Black Bean Soup- simple is the best!

Start with a big pot and a big yellow onion. Chop up that onion. Saute it in a little olive oil over medium heat.  As it starts to change color stir in a dose of ground chipotle pepper and some cayenne pepper. Stir continuously so the pepper absorbs well into the onion but doesn't start to cake, stick and burn to the bottom of your pot.

Add your black beans. [If you are started with dried beans- make sure you soaked them in water for about 12 hours.] Good quality cans are just fine. We suggest 4 12oz cans. Pour it all in including the water. Thoroughly stir your onion/pepper mixture with your beans. Bring the pot to a rolling boil (while stirring) for at least a minute. Turn down your heat, put a lid on your pot and go do something. Watch a soccer game, make paper airplanes, read The House of Hades--just leave your beans simmering for as long as you can.

When you're ready to continue, get out a blender and a cup or two of milk. Ladle your beans and liquid into your blender. Only fill the blender 2/3 of the way. Pour a splash of milk on top, put a dish towel over the top of the blender, then your hand on top and turn it on. Be careful as the hot soup will cause pressure to try and push the top off the blender. Quickly puree the the beans then pour the soup into a clean pot. Repeat this step until you have blended everything. Stir your blended soup and add sea salt to taste. Serve it right then or lid your pot and wait an hour. It will be delicious anytime!

Always a good idea to have tortillas and fresh salsa to accompany your soup. Black bean soup is healthy, easy to make and super yummy.

Enjoy,

Max and Family!

Rodeo Watershed Coliform Test Results Are In!

LEAF 2014 students tested for dissolved oxygen, pH, phosphorus, nitrates bio-oxygen demand and coliform levels in the Rodeo Watershed. The coliform test required 48 hours to process. Here are our four teams' results. You decide for yourself. Is the water sanitary?
Rodeo Watershed Coliform

Robert's Summer Black Bean and Corn Salad!

Ingredients:

4 ears cooked corn, removed from cob; about 2 cups
(frozen corn works, but not canned)
2 cans black beans
2 medium tomatoes, diced; or one basket cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 avocado, diced (2, if you have them or love them)

Dressing:

Juice and pulp from 1 to 1-1/2 limes
1/4 cup olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

optional:
chopped cilantro
red pepper flakes
minced hot peppers

Process:

1. Mix dressing in the bottom of a large salad bowl.  Add in the optionals if you like them.
2. Steam or grill corn until cooked through.  Chill until you can handle, then cut the kernels from the cob and put into the dressing.  A little bit of heat still in the kernels will help to mellow the garlic
3. Drain and rinse the black beans, then add to the corn and dressing.  Mix it all up well.
4. Add halved or diced tomatoes to the salad and mix.
5. Add the diced avocado and mix.
6. Taste, adjust seasonings, add more mix-ins if you like.
7. Enjoy!

Daniel Explores the SFPUC’s Southwest Sewage Treatment Plant

In today’s adventure I got a chance to meet new friends and it was pretty awesome. Today I also explored new things, like the sewer. The sewer was also very sunny and smelly. I also learned the poo is turned back to dirt. I also had fun working with the people that work at the sewer. I had fun experiencing new things in the sewer. My opinion is that the trip was a way fun, stinky adventure. I hope I go there next year or some other time!

~ Daniel

"Fellowship" by Rou Rou

F – alling behind you one by one
E – veryone go, Run, Run Run
L ­– aughing, playing, talking
L ­­– oving, walking and having a
O – h
W ­– hat a great time
S ­– spending my life trying to rhyme
H ­­– oping it will be enough to save
I ­– t
P – lease, let me stay with my friends forever
~ Rou Rou

Max "Tomales Bay" Poem

T – omales Bay
O – ars and Kayaks
M ­– arching out onto the bay
A ­­– dventures await
L – uke warm water
E ­– veryone happy
S ­– alt everywhere

B ­­– ack on shore
A ­– Flat stone skips towards the
Y – ellow sun
 ~ Max

Daniel Kayaks Tomales Bay

In today’s adventure we went kayaking. Today was my first time kayaking. I will say that it was pretty awesome. I want to go again sometime with my family and friends. The grade I gave the watershed we were in today was an “A-“ The reason why is because it was clear, it had some seaweed but it was natural. I also had a great time with all my teammates. That made me very happy and joyful. We also had a “Poetry Slam.” That was very fun!

~ Daniel

Friday, July 25, 2014

Mia Explores Tomales Bay and Giacomini Wetlands

Today I had FUN!!!!! Going Kayaking - I got to see crabs also I saw a stingray and I had a Blast at LEAF ;-) I thought I was going to tip the boat over but I didn't and I would like to go again and try;). What happened was our team went to an old barn to write acrostic poems using words like KAYAKING, TOMALES BAY and FELLOWSHIP! We got to sit in a field where we read our poems to our Friends! Next, I had FUN on the bus. Most of the kids slept on the bus... I also fell asleep... There was lots of Traffic and I just fell asleep ;-).

~ Mia

Kai Visits Tomales Bay

When we went kayaking we saw a couple bat rays in the shallow parts of the water. The bat rays were in different places and very spread out. There were also lots of crabs around trying to hide all over the place. There were many different adventures on one little island. For some people it was skipping rocks across the bay, finding a cricket in the water and saving it or exploring a big rock. Some people just sat down and looked at the scenery. Our final adventure that day was going to a farm and doing a poetry slam the funniest part about that was the many different poems that people came up with. After that we went on the bus to go home. It took longer than we suspected because we got in the city at rush our. Over all the day was extremely fun.

~ Kai

Max's Impressions of Tomales Bay

Kayaking was so fun! I got super tired and kinda wet, but I DON'T CARE!

When we were coming back, I noticed that the waves had gotten bigger. I thought, "Hey, we're on the San Andreas Fault, maybe there's a mini-earthquake!" I know, that's probably not it. But it's what I thought.

I also noticed we were a lot faster on the way back than on the way there. That's probably because when we first started, we were getting the hang of it. Also, on the way back, my rudder was fixed! :)

I would love to go kayaking again. It's awesome!

~ Max

LEAF + Kayaks = Poetry!

      Kai led the group
      And gave everyone a
      Young
      Adventure while
      Kindling
      Important
      Nightime
 UnGraded dreams
~ Kai

K – ayaking
A – wesome
Y ­– ummy food
A ­­– again
K – iams
I ­– nteresting
N ­– ice
G – listening
~ Pierce

K – indness
A – wesome
Y ­– ayy!
A ­­– nimals!
K – ool!
I ­– nteresting!
N ­– ature
G – uiding!
~ Mia

Leo's Acrostic!

K – ings
A – and
Y ­– aks
A ­­– ttack
K – ayaks
I ­– n
N ­– orthern California with
G – uides

~ Leo

Angelica's Poem

F – aced challenges
E – xplored together as a team
L ­– owering my fears
L ­­– ead  us to a big accomplishment
O – h we were really hungry
W ­– ell we work hard to have the delicious
S ­– nack full of granola bars and fruits but
H ­­– ey we had so much fun
I ­– nstead od complaining we had
P – eople full of happiness
~ Angelica

Fellowship

F – alling behind you one by one
E – veryone go, Run, Run Run
L ­– aughing, playing, talking
L ­­– oving, walking and having a
O – h
W ­– hat a great time
S ­– spending my life trying to ryhme
H ­­– oping it will be enough to save
I ­– t
P – lease, let me stay with my friends forever
~ Rou Rou

Tomales Bay

T – omales Bay
O – ars and Kayaks
M ­– arching out onto the bay
A ­­– dventures await
L – uke warm water
E ­– veryone happy
S ­– alt everywhere

B ­­– ack on shore
A ­– Flat stone skips towards the
Y – ellow sun

~ Max

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Is Tomales Bay a Healthy Ecosystem?

Today marked another day of adventure. LEAF went kayaking on the beautiful Tomales Bay. We were able to explore the wildlife and nature surrounding our kayaks as well as beneath them. Based on the clarity of the water, and the nature and animals in and around the bay, we decided it was a fairly healthy ecosystem. I enjoyed being on the water (and covered in salt), and exploring all it had to offer.

~ Natalia

Today we went kayaking. It was really exciting because this time I saw more animals than last time. I think the Tomales Bay is a healthy watershed because there are no boats with engines so there is not much pollution in it. My favorite part was getting towed on our kayak because my kayak got behind. I can't wait to go hiking tomorrow.


~ Juliana

LEAF 2014 - Eco Poetry Slam Overlooking Giacomini Wetlands

T – icks and trees
O – MG! So Happy!
M ­– any signs of nature!
A ­­– Bumpy Trail
L – EAF is great!
E ­– nthusiastic Kayakers
S ­– almon swimming

B ­­– roken barn
A ­– nimals make this their home
Y ­– et another adventure!

~ Quiana

F – ACED CHALLENGES
E – XPLORED TOGETHER AS A TEAM
L ­– OWERED OUR FEARS
L ­­– EAD US TO A BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT
O – H WE WERE REALLY HUNGRY­­
W ­– ELL WE WORKED HARD TO HAVE DELICISOUS
S ­– NACK FUL OF ORGANIC BARS AND FRUITS
H ­­- EY WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!
I ­– NSTEAD ACCOMPLISMENT WE HAD
P ­– EOPLE FULL OF HAPPINESS

~ Angelica

K – indnesss spreading everywhere
A – nimials all around
Y ­– ellow kayaks passing by
A ­­– mazing animals swimming past
K – ayaking Tomales Bay
I ­– nteresting wildlife
N ­– ature everywhere
G ­­– uiding us to our destination

~ Juliana

Preview Activity - Watch "Running the Gauntlet"