Friday was the last day for Minneapolis students! We celebrated at Lyndale elementary during recess with 60 students coming in to harvest a head of lettuce to take home. Later that night we harvested 14 pounds of radishes with All Stars and then took a field trip to Minnehaha Falls. Happy Summer in the City!
All Stars May Snap Shots
Here are a couple quick shots of our All Stars in action this month. We’ve been planting, turning compost, repairing bikes, harvesting hoop house crops, playing soccer, and cooking up dinner. Its been a busy month!
Oops we made BUTTER!
On Tuesday in our Cooking Class, our All Stars learned a valuable lesson that mistakes can sometimes lead to even better discoveries. One of the cooking teams was making Banana Pudding and when they whipped the whipping cream, well, they did a very thorough job of whipping it and butter was made!
Our knowledgable volunteer JoAnn showed them how to separate out the buttermilk, wash the butter and add salt to it.
Everyone had a sample!
And of course the Banana Pudding was still delicious! Thanks Ms. Bev and JoAnn for your wonderful encouragement and support!
Sleds and Salads
Lyndale All Stars visited the West Side Youth Farm’s greenhouse last week to check out the new hydroponics system. Loads of lettuce are coming out of the greenhouse this winter for our classes and dinners, and this was a chance for All Stars to sow some seeds and do an on-site taste test. Plus, a trip to the greenhouse wouldn’t be complete without a sledding party!
Pasta!
All Stars in Frogtown made a guest appearance in the kitchen at St Paul College. Chef Dan and the culinary arts students taught All Stars about fresh pasta. All Stars brought some new ideas to traditional pasta shapes, and topped their pastas with tomato sauce and Alfredo sauce. Thanks to St Paul College, Chef Nathan, and Chef Dan for an awesome field trip!
Pizza Night!
How do All Stars entertain themselves in the dead of winter? Baking pizza and juggling garlic, of course!
Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!
On Friday and Saturday, we got our Cooking Class, All Stars and LEAD back together to host our annual Hawthorne Cookie Bake! We made 8 different varieties of cookies and had a ton of reconnecting before winter break.
Greenhouse Party and Mini-Field Trip
To celebrate our final greenhouse class of the fall the Youth Farmers decided we should have a party. With music, decorations, dancing, courtyard soccer, gummy worms, and guests, we celebrated the past seasons accomplishments. This fall there was a lot of be proud of. Led by Farm Steward Teng Lee, the greenhouse after-school group successfully harvested, saved lettuce, radish, basil, and bean seeds, started head lettuce (that we’ll eat in January), became worm wranglers (vermicomposters), turned the compost, and put the Cherokee School garden to rest for the year. The previous week we made the trek across the Smith avenue bridge to a small park, climb atop the Huge chair and made observations about the Mississippi below. All in all a lot of fun.
Garden Party and Franconia Sculpture Field Trip
Earlier this fall we threw a mid-week garden party to kick-off our fall cooking and greenhouse classes. It was a beautiful evening complete with dodge ball, freshly made snacks, and harvesting of fall crops. It was a time to reconnect with friends from the summer, to check in on what’s new, and to play in the gardens again before the frost came.
Additionally we took a very fun field trip to Franconia, MN to visit the Franconia Sculpture Park. The park is 20-acres of color, creativity, and playfulness, the perfect destination for a group from Youth Farm. We explored the park and its near 100 sculptures for over 2 hours, highlights included the floating house, the two play structures, a padded silver polygon, the salt tower, and stone cave.
Gearing Up For Harvest Fest
We are hard at work gearing up for this year’s Harvest Fest. Our youth are beautifying their gardens by pulling those last pesky weeds, repainting sheds, compost piles are getting rebuilt, and laying down mulch. Through it all we’re harvesting a whole lot of food for our lunches and families. This week our All Stars also visited former Youth Farmer Anjali at her family’s hugelkultur farm in Lindstrom. The All Stars learned about permaculture, got to pet the chickens, and a few even got to take their first ride in a canoe.
We’ll see YOU at Lyndale Harvest Fest on Wednesday August 7th from 5:30 to 7:30 on the corner of 33rd St and Pillsbury Ave!