The Commons » Edible Education

Food and Farm Pickle Tasting Table

tsmith — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 18:41:31 +0000

One fine lunch time in the Lower School (Wednesday, October 25th to be exact), members of the Food and Farm 101 class set up a table for sampling two varieties of pickles which they made in class. One variety was made with the standard ingredients of vinegar, water, salt, garlic, and lemon cucumbers. The second variety was a little more unexpected, made with apple cider vinegar, cloves, water, sugar, and watermelon rind. Lower School students were encouraged to come up during lunch to sample the selections. The consensus back at the lunch tables was that both types of pickles were delicious!

Common Plate — Second Edition

tsmith — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 18:40:40 +0000

Guest bloggers: Seth O’Bryan, Commons Director, and Lisa Barker, Food and Farm Coordinator

Recently, students from The Harley School and World of Inquiry School gathered on a Saturday to participate in the second edition of ‘Common Plate.” This experience consists of small groups of students from both schools working together from start to finish: receiving a box of food from the Good Food Collective, researching recipes, and then cooking food using the GFC box and their chosen recipes. Once the cooking is complete, the small groups present their creations to the whole group, and together everyone eats and enjoys a wonderful meal as they recap the day.

This fall’s GFC food box included fun seasonal foods such as apples, squash, tomatoes, carrots, garlic, and rosemary. Teachers supplied pizza dough so that students had the option to make pizzas as a main dish. Additionally, World of Inquiry students provided produce and herbs from their school garden, and Harley students brought a sauce they made that week in their Food and Farm 101 class from the Micro Farm harvest. The use of the Good Food Collective for food item sourcing was purposeful, as both schools value sustainable agricultural practices and work with students to learn more about sustainability in general. It was a powerful learning and bonding experience for all students; once again, it was evident that food is a remarkable tool for bringing people together, helping people learn about commonalities and differences. The schools plan on having the Common Plate occur seasonally throughout the year in alternating locations.

A New Season of Food and Farm Lab

tsmith — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 02:01:54 +0000

The opportunistic students in Food and Farm 101 made good use of the harvestable vegetables from the high tunnel gardens. For those of you who haven’t visited the covered growing space, it was virtually filled to the roof with all kinds of tomatoes! The enclosed spaces was kept at a perfect temperature over the summer to encourage the most growth out of those generous plants. After harvesting a full bucket of green tomatoes, the class decided to try out a recipe for fried green tomatoes. Each student helped by either bringing in ingredients, helping prepare the batter, managing the frying, or sampling the delicious experiment. Everyone chipped in the clean up right as the bell rang at the end of class. You can look for more inventive recipes as the harvest season draws to a close. Pickles are up next!