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Yarrow students serve up smoothies though pedal power

Garden project lead to Smoothie Tuesdays, among other fun projects at Yarrow elementary in Chilliwack
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Mrs. Blessin helps a student blend a smoothie with the help of the Yarrow Community School smoothie cycle.


What's green and healthy and made on two wheels?

A blender bike smoothie, of course.

They are the latest sensation at Yarrow elementary, and are whipped up every Tuesday morning by the students, for the students. At about 9 a.m., one chosen class makes their way to the school's lobby, where all of the ingredients and tools have been set out by parent volunteers.

It's a production line full of busy hands, big smiles, and multiple taste tests snuck from compostable sampler cups.

This Tuesday, there were giant bowls of frozen peaches, strawberries and mangos. There were pails of kale, spinach and swiss chard. There was orange juice, agave syrup, and ice cubes.

And right at the centre of the action was the beloved blender bike. The light green mountain bike — the Yarrow Community Smoothie Cycle — has been retrofitted with a special kit purchased online from Rock the Bike. The kit is designed to hold the back tire in place, turning the bike into a spinning machine. But the real twist here is the platform that holds a blender in place, allowing the user to harness all that pedaling power into a freshly-blended smoothie.

It's not as easy as it sounds. This is hard work, and this week Mrs. Blessin's class was chosen for the honourable Smoothie Tuesday duty. As the kids worked to fill up the blender containers with peaches, swiss chard and ice cubes, they also took turns trying out the bike.

With the blenders full of chunky ice and frozen fruit, the job was nearly impossible for some. But they kept at it, with their classmates cheering them on.

Eventually, through teamwork, the blenders get the job mostly done and mix all that fruit into deliciously sweet offering. To help speed things up and finish the job, the kids also take their small batches over to a power station. From there, they patiently poured out dozens and dozens of samplers — enough for the entire school. Even the pre-school kids receive a knock on the door and a delivery of smoothies.

Sometimes, like this week, they smoothies are green. Other times they'll end up yellow, orange or pink.

No matter the colour, most of the students at Yarrow are keen to try their sample. And it's probably because they're getting used to seeing all manners of vegetables.

Smoothie Tuesday grew from an even more exciting program taking shape at the school. Last school year, with support from a few parents, local businesses, volunteers and a lot of kid power, they created a garden on their school grounds. At a recent presentation to the school board, Yarrow's principal Tracey Wagner thanked parent Molly Armstrong, community school coordinator Sally Lum, and teacher Angela Woods, for their vision behind the garden.

In the planning stages last school year, it became very clear this would be a well-loved community garden, and would go forward with or without grants.

With an army of volunteers from the school and community, they turned a lowly strip of concrete and grass into a thriving garden space, complete with an outdoor classroom and seven raised beds. The garden was a project intended to help teach food literacy, but its grown offshoots into all corners of the school, and the community. Smoothie Tuesday was one way to use the greens harvested at the school garden.

The garden, lovingly cared for by the students themselves both during class time and on breaks, has become a place to gather, to play hide and seek, to learn, to teach and to inspire. The garden shed opens up to reveal a teaching place, complete with a blackboard and wooden stumps to act as outdoor stools. While the garden is plumbed to deliver water when it's needed, students can also get water from the rain water barrel and watering cans.

They are learning not only to plant, but to harvest and then gather seeds.

And they are learning to love eating food grown in their backyard. They're growing spinach, kale, chard, cucumbers, peas, squash, strawberries, basil, chocolate mint, tomatoes, blueberries, sunflowers, and more. They are learning about bees, and have embraced "natural play".

The whole experience has even brought about an opportunity for students to take part in gleaning at Wisbey's Veggies, where they learned about giving to the local food bank.

Every student in the school is connected to the garden, whether they enjoy tending to the plants in it, or counting out seeds, or learning how to make a delicious salad.

The smoothies, every Tuesday, are just one way the kids are reaping what they've sown.

This week's recipe was aptly named Peachy Green. To make the Peachy Green smoothie at home, blend 2 cups of mixed fruit (peaches, strawberries, mango), 2 cups of mixed greens (kale, spinach, swiss chard), 1 cup of orange juice, 1 cup of ice cubes, and 1 tbsp of agave syrup. Add water if needed, to get the right consistency.