Cooking from the Garden

Students learn to make simple, healthy snacks and meals using produce fresh from the garden.

Last month at Stare Road Elementary, students attended a summer school class called Grow Your Own Snack. In this class students learned how to make fun and easy snacks using produce from the garden right outside their classroom!

Jimy Chun, an intern at GROW La Crosse, helped out in the class for a couple days. She describes some of the highlights…

Their little hands were busy kneading and everyone had quite different styles of stretching the dough: some students used only fingers, others used only wrists, and some knew how to kneed with their palm. Because the paddle of the bread machine was not available on that cooking day, we decided to make homemade bread from scratch. Mr. Wolcott introduced us to the agent yeast, which is responsible for creating CO2 bubbles in the dough.

Pesto! Pesto! We made flavorful basil and garlic scape pesto using a recipe that originated from Northern Italy. Students loved the dip! With a blink of eye, our sauce bowl was empty. While we waited for the fresh bread to finish baking, we marched out to the school garden to plant some carrots and other seeds. I am sure we will get to taste these carrots at the school kitchen in September. We had to show our teamwork to pour ice into the bucket of an old fashion ice cream machine, from which we all enjoyed delicious ice cream. “Mmm,” I am still licking my lips!

Grow La Crosse also organizes cooking nights with students in the Youth Engagement Program at the YMCA. Every other Monday the youth are invited to help create a healthy dinner using in-season produce. They dice carrots, fry bacon, shuck corn, and do whatever else needs to be done to prepare the meal. Just this summer they have been able to try many new things like dill dip with carrots, rhubarb crisp, and homemade shepherd’s pie.

The students enjoy their time experimenting with food in the kitchen and are rewarded for their work with a tasty, healthy meal. This program was only meant to run during the summer, but it has been so successful that we have continued it for the year.

Nothing builds a community like preparing and sharing meals together!

Garden Work Party

Time to get the school gardens ready for school!  Help us get the school garden ready and see how it’s growing.

Saturday, August 20th

9-11am at State Road Elementary School

Meet by the garden.  Children welcome.

Fall Festival on the Farm

The date has been set! Our annual Fall Festival will take place on Saturday, September 24, 2016 from 2:00-7:00pm at Deep Roots Community Farm. Join us for an afternoon of live music, children’s activities, cooking demonstrations, and much more. We will also be celebrating the end of summer harvest by sharing a dinner made with fresh produce from local farmers.

This year, The Franke Foundation has generously offered to double all profit made on the silent auction up to $4,000! This money will go toward upkeep of the school gardens and educational programming throughout the year.

To find more information on how to get involved click below.

Fall Fest