September 2022: Food News

As the new school year begins, a wonderful variety of learning and community-building is happening in connection with food. In this issue, feast your eyes (and ears – there are two video clips and an audio snippet!) on stories of food-related learning from all over OSSU.

School Chef Dave Jourdan and Wolcott students were in the news on WCAX! Check out the story by clicking this link: https://www.wcax.com/2022/10/03/professional-chef-serves-up-school-lunch-with-students/

Here are a few bonus pics of the salsa-making referenced in the WCAX story above. Garlic and tomatoes are from the school garden!

From Moss McCurdy at Woodbury Elementary:

Howdy! I am so excited to share some Woodbury news! With our Community Garden, we harvested WATERMELONS and cantaloupe that was shared with the whole school! With our bounty of tomatoes, we made pasta sauce and ketchup!

Hardwick Elementary 4th graders did their annual corn glean at the Laggis Farm in Hardwick. So generous of the farmers! So fun! And so much corn! Look for this corn in school meals throughout the year.

Click on the triangle to hear the sounds of joyful discovery and teamwork in the corn patch 🙂

The Recipe for Human Connection class at Hazen is planning to cook for the community each month on the third Thursday as part of the Hardwick Community Dinner. In September, the class did some prep together in the classroom and then sent a team downtown to the kitchen at the United Church to prepare and serve 70 meals featuring a menu of mac ‘n cheese with Jasper Hill cheddar, fresh slaw with local veggies, and a delicious, seasonal apple crisp.

Thanks to Kim Beckley, Lorelei Wheeler and Lisa McCarthy for sharing this story of blueberry adventures at Lakeview!

Students made two jam recipes. One was cooked low and slow in a crockpot with lemon juice. The other was cooked faster in a cooking blender with pectin. In the ensuing taste test, adults favored the one with lemon, the kids the one with pectin. Students were surprised with the different yields from each recipe, despite both recipes beginning with the same amount of blueberries. The jam was served as a side with breakfast one morning for all students to try, and with goat cheese and crackers at open house on September 22nd. Lakeview looks forward to many more fun blueberry-related experiences this year, as we pull out the frozen berries to make muffins and other delicious creations.

Apples everywhere!

From left to right:

Lakeview students pressing cider for open house
Hazen middle school cooking up a huge batch of apple crisp for open house
Wolcott 5th graders putting their all into cider pressing
Hazen students in the Recipe for Human Connection class prepping apples for the community dinner with guest, Ally Howell, from the Center for an Agricultural Economy
Hazen apple pressing for open house with press supplied by Small Farm Guild, apples supplied by Burtt’s and pressing provided by Hazen 11th and 7th graders.
Video clip featuring the joy of cider-making with Hardwick Elementary 3rd grade at Atkins Field