Outdoor Cooking at the Seattle Community Farm

This summer at the Seattle Community Farm we hosted a six-week Farm-to-Table cooking and nutrition class series through Solid Ground’s Cooking Matters program.

The Cooking Matters curriculum emphasizes preparing healthy and delicious meals on a budget. At each class we covered different nutrition topics, including the food groups on MyPlate, how to increase fiber in your diet, and the effects of different types sugars and fats on the body. On the fifth week, we went to a local grocery store and learned tips for selecting affordable, nutritious foods.

Since we held class outside at the farm, we chose recipes that emphasized using fresh, seasonal produce. We had a great variety of yummy vegetables to choose from! Class participants harvested  greens, onions, beans, cucumbers, squash, and herbs straight out of the ground and then cooked them up right at the farm. Instead of a stove we used portable burners, and enjoyed our outdoor surroundings as we chopped, peeled, and sautéed.

At the end of each class, participants took home the recipes used that week and a grocery bag of ingredients to try preparing the dishes at home. Participants came back each week with stories of their culinary successes and impressing their family and friends.

Thanks to the Cooking Matters staff and volunteers who taught and coordinated the wonderful class, as well as all of the participants who came back each week to share and learn together. This is our second year hosting the series, and we hope to make it a yearly event.

The melon and cucumber salad was a favorite among class participants this summer, and we think you'll like it too!

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Melon and Cucumber Salad with Pepper and Mint 

adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy

• 1 ripe melon, such as a honeydew (about 1.5 lbs)
• 1 cucumber, unpeeled
• 1 or more tablespoons chopped mint
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Mint springs
• Goat or feta cheese (optional)

Halve and seed the melon and slice into sections. Cut flesh away from skin, then cut into bite-size pieces. Chop cucumbers into bite-size pieces. Combine melon and cucumber into a bowl.

In a separate bowl, stir together the chopped mint, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Whisk in oil. Taste and adjust as needed.

Pour dressing over melon and cucumber and toss to coat. Add cheese if desired. Chill for an hour if time allows. Grind pepper over top and finish with mint springs.

Fourth Grade Cooks!

Since November 2012, Lettuce Link has staffed an educator position at Concord International Elementary in South Park. This position has worked in collaboration with an Apple Corps AmeriCorps member to teach hands-on nutrition education in classrooms and at nearby Marra Farm. Our presence at Concord has expanded how Lettuce Link improves access to fresh produce: not simply growing it, but through sharing and building skills in preparing food.

However, the most recent series of classes at Concord hasn't been taught by us, Concord teachers, local chefs, or adults in the community. In fact, the teachers aren't even elementary school graduates.

Fourth Grade Cooks: A Kid-led Community Kitchen

Thanks to a grant from the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, this spring Lettuce Link began coordinating a monthly community kitchen at Concord, where students instruct their families and teachers in preparing simple, nutritious, and affordable recipes.

Community kitchens are bubbling up all across Seattle, with the common creed that food is better when shared and that we all have something to learn in the kitchen.

How it Works

1. Students create a three-course menu by voting for their favorite recipes out of all the ones they prepared during their nutrition classes the past year.


2. Cristina Rebellon, Apple Corps nutrition educator, and Amelia Swinton, Lettuce Link education coordinator, assign a role to each fourth grader - chef, nutrition teacher, or server. Students change roles each month.


3. The chefs practice cooking the recipe, the servers decorate a bilingual menu and prepare some information about the food’s history or country of origin, and the nutrition teachers review the food groups and nutrients contained within the meal. Each group gives a practice presentation and receives feedback from their peers. For example, the chefs might hear, “Please add more salt to this dish next time!” or the nutrition teachers might be informed that “We would like more information about the vitamins in this salad.” 


4. Once the students have practiced their parts in this culinary orchestra and are ready to lead, they gather in the evening with their families and teachers and prepare a meal for everyone to share.

Youth Leadership in Action

This project exemplifies the importance of Solid Ground’s anti-racism work. Within Lettuce Link’s department, the Hunger Action Center, we organize as a “Change Team” to examine how our work perpetuates racism and oppression. We then work to interrupt and transform these dynamics within our programs.

Amplifying community voice and leadership is an ongoing goal of our department. By asking Fourth Grade Cooks students to teach their peers and families, we help to not only build their skills in nutrition and cooking, but also develop them as young leaders in the community.

Come Join Us!

Want to see what Fourth Grade Cooks is all about? Adult helpers are appreciated, especially as dishwashers! The next kitchen will take place on Friday, May 10, from 5:30–8:00pm. Contact Amelia, amelias@solid-ground.org, for details.

Many thanks to the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition for helping fund this project! This grant has also seeded several other new Lettuce Link projects at Marra Farm, including the formation of a community-run chicken cooperative, family work parties in the children’s garden, and a summer, outdoor community kitchen focused on improvising with seasonal produce. Learn about the other grantees.

Community kitchens take many different forms. Within South Park, for example, there are two other community kitchens: one geared towards teens (modeled after the FEEST program), and one tailored to Latina mothers. Find a community kitchen in your neighborhood.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup

as prepared by Fourth Grade Cooks  

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons brown sugar
6 cups green cabbage, shredded
8-oz can crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
4 cups low-salt chicken or vegetable broth
Salt to taste (optional)
Black pepper to taste
Plain yogurt (optional)

1. Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are soft.
2. Stir in brown sugar and cabbage. Cook for 5 minutes, or until cabbage is soft.
3. Add tomatoes, vinegar, water and broth; bring to a boil.
4. Season with salt, if desired. Add pepper to taste. Lower heat and simmer about 20 minutes, uncovered, or until cabbage is tender.
5. Adjust seasonings, if necessary, by adding more brown sugar or vinegar. Serve with a spoonful of plain yogurt on top.

Makes 8 servings

Sprouting Young Farmers at the Seattle Community Farm

A New Idea

At the end of the summer, we tried out a new idea – what would happen if we hosted informal farm classes for kids from the Rainier Vista neighborhood? The kids who live in the houses adjacent to the Seattle Community Farm frequently visit and want to help out, learn, and explore. The farm is for them, so we decided to plan some kid-friendly garden activities and invite them to come on over.

The First Class
Though we posted fliers and planned two classes for the last week of August, we weren't sure whether anyone would show up. But we had nine kids come to the first class, ranging in age from 4 to 12!

With that wide of an age span, we kept our activities simple – a farm tour (playing 'Guess The Vegetable'), planting bok choy starts, and watering. Then it was on to cooking!

We harvested beans, tomatoes, chard, and basil. With garlic leftover from the spring and olive oil, we made a basic tomato sauce, and served it over sautéed green beans. Though it wasn't a hit with every student, each one of them tried it and many liked it. Moreover, each kid participated in the cooking process - plucking a tomato or a bean from the vine, harvesting a leaf of chard, and tearing or chopping a vegetable for the sauce.

The Second Class
For our next class, five students returned, and we welcomed a few new faces. After watering our recently-planted bok choy starts, we dug into the worm bins.

Worm bin maintenance is an ongoing task that also seems to be almost endlessly entertaining to children of all ages. We spent the time tearing newspaper, adding it to the bins, mixing it in, and looking at all the cool critters that live in the worm bins. Our students had so much to say about worms and soil that we couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Amazing Rainier Vista mom and educator Mimi was back as well, with freshly made bread and a new recipe for us to try:

Vegetable Cookies

• 1 beet, 2 carrots, and 1 small zucchini, all grated
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup of flour
• some chives, chopped
• a couple sprigs of parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a big bowl. Have students form batter into patties, and then pan fry in a little bit of oil, about 3 minutes on each side. Eat alone or with bread.

Tuyetlam and Tran, 
at the entrance to the Children's Garden

A Success! 
After the second class, I received an e-mail from the mother of seven-year-old Tuyetlam, one of our students. This is what Tran wrote:

“My daughter attended your classes last week and she really likes it. Thank you very much for providing this kind of opportunity to the kids. After your sections, she was willing to eat vegetables for a day or two. She wants to attend the farmer classes.”

Tran and Tuyetlam have been back to the Seattle Community Farm several times, for both our adult cooking class and for work parties. Tuyetlam is an enthusiastic worker, teacher, and learner, who hopes to have her own farm someday. We're so glad that they are both a part of our farm community! 

We hope to replicate our kids' drop-in classes next summer, and children are always welcome to help out on harvest days and at work parties, which continue through November. 


~Leah, summer outreach and education coordinator at the Seattle Community Farm

Cooking Matters at the Seattle Community Farm

This season at the Seattle Community Farm we hosted Rainier Vista community members and Cooking Matters and for two Farm to Table Cooking and Nutrition class series. Over six Monday evenings in June, and then again in September, we gathered at the farm, harvested food, and cooked together.

Participants enjoying orange juice and oatmeal pancakes, 
topped with SCF strawberries!

The series emphasizes cooking healthy meals on a budget. We covered nutrition topics including the five food groups on MyPlate, how to get more fiber in your diet, the effects of different types sugars and fats on the body, and much more. One week we went to a local grocery store and learned tips for selecting affordable, nutritious foods. 

Since we were cooking in the garden, we had the opportunity to emphasize using fresh, seasonal produce. We're lucky to have an amazing variety of vegetables to choose from! From early summer greens, onions, and snap peas, to the zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes of September veggies have been the star of the show.

This was not a traditional cooking class – we were outside, preparing food on large concrete tables, washing dishes in sinks that are primarily used for washing vegetables. Plus, the languages spoken in our class included English, Amharic, Mandarin, and Vietnamese. While we couldn't always say everything to each other we may have wanted, we could still share skills, ideas, and food. 

Participants took home a bag of ingredients for a specific recipe at the end of each class, and would return the next week with stories about trying the recipe at home, sharing it with friends and family, and their own alterations to the recipe.

My favorite recipe of the series is what I am calling Seattle Community Farm Vegetable Soup. It was simple - we harvested any vegetable that was ripe and threw it into a pot with canned tomatoes, water, and cannellini beans. We followed no recipe, but just went with what was available. It was a fabulous experience in nutritious and creative communal cooking, fresh from the farm!

Thanks to all the committed participants, who returned each week to share and learn together, as well as the amazing Cooking Matters staff and volunteer team. We can’t wait to bring people together again in the Spring to be part of collectively improving our health and our food system!

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Freshly picked chard, 
ready to be added to the soup!

Seattle Community Farm Vegetable Soup

• 1 onion, diced
• 4 potatoes, cubed
• 4-5 carrots, sliced
• 1 big bunch of chard, chopped
• 2 handfuls of sugar snap peas, chopped
• 1 can tomatoes
• 1 can cannellini or other white beans
• Vegetable broth, chicken broth, or water
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, combine water or broth, onion, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, and beans. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add peas and chard and cook for 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve! 

Note: you can use whatever vegetables are available to you. This time of year, winter squash would be a great addition! 

~Leah, summer outreach and education coordinator at the Seattle Community Farm

Plums, Plums, and More Plums!

Fruit harvest season is in full swing! Here are a couple recipes from our fruit tree harvest volunteers for tasty ways to use all those plums. 

Are you a fruit tree owner with  an overflowing tree? Or do you want to help harvest fruit in your neighborhood to donate to local food banks and meal programs? Get involved with the Community Fruit Tree Harvest! 

Jan's Berry Cobbler

Our stellar fruit tree harvest volunteer Jan Foster sent us this cobbler recipe. She likes to use half raspberries and half Italian prune plums. You can use frozen fruit - no need to thaw ahead of time. 

Jan writes, "When you look at this recipe, you think, 'There is NO WAY this is going to work out,' but trust me, it does!!!"

Ingredients

• 4-6 cups berries or chopped fruit
• ¾ cup sugar 
• ¼ tsp salt 
• 3 Tbsp margarine 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1 cup flour 
• ½ cup milk

Topping

• 1 cup sugar 
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch 
• Pinch of salt  

Directions

1. Put fruit in 8x12 pan 
2. Mix together sugar, salt, margarine, baking powder and flour as if making a pie crust (cut in the butter with knives): 
3. Add milk to dry mixture, and pour over fruit. 
4. Mix together topping ingredients, and sprinkle over dough
5. Pour 1 cup boiling water over the entire pan 
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour

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Plumsicles!

Joyce Moty, another of our fruit harvest volunteers, sent us this easy recipe for plumsicles. It works best with Italian prune plums (or other firmer plums). 

1. Cut in half and remove the stone.  
2. Freeze separately on a cookie sheet.  
3. Store in a plastic freezer bag.  
4. Eat as you please for a frozen tasty treat

Garden to Table: Radishes!

It's spring! And you know what that means - your garden is starting to look delicious again. Your radishes may not quite be ready, but here's a recipe to jump start your spring taste buds.

Jicama and Radish Brown Rice Salad

This recipe comes to us from the South Park Community Kitchen. It's a refreshing and delicious way to prepare spring radishes.

Preparation time: 50 minutes, including cooking rice

Yield: 6 servings

Salad Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked brown rice 
• 2 cups diced jicama 
• 3 radishes, thinly sliced and chopped in half 
• ½ cup cilantro, chopped 
• ¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds or pepitas 
• ¼ - ½ cup quesa fresca or cotija, crumbled (optional)

Dressing Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp cumin ground
• ¼ tsp chipotle chile powder

Directions

1. To cook the rice, place 2 cups water and 1 cup brown rice into a small pot. Stir once and then bring to a boil. Cover with a lid, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook on low heat for 45 minutes. Remove lid and let rest for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
2. Add the brown rice to a large mixing bowl and add other salad ingredients. Gently mix together to combine.
3. In a jar with a lid, add all dressing ingredients. Cover with a tight fitting lid and shake for one minute to thoroughly mix. Note: this recipe makes about ½ cup of dressing but you will only need ¼ cup on the salad. Reserve remainder in the refrigerator.
4. Add dressing to the salad, being careful not to overdress. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Cole's Big Gift

Cole carefully counted all $73.87

This month, we’re featuring a particularly special first-time donor. Meet eight-year-old Cole Pawlitschek. Don't be fooled by his small stature - his generosity and insight into giving knocked our socks off.

For two years, Cole reserved a portion of his allowance, chore, and birthday money into a “save” jar. The nickels and dimes grew steadily, and last month Cole decided he had saved enough money to make a difference. Cole came into our office with his mom, Maya, to hand over $62 dollars in cash and $11.87 in loose change.

Cole says he chose Lettuce Link, “because I wanted to help kids that don't have food to get some. Marra Farm grows vegetables and gives them to people for free."

When it comes to vegetables, Cole is especially fond of steamed edamame with salt sprinkled on top. Though we don’t grow edamame (immature soybeans) at Marra Farm, we do grow several items that could be adapted into one of Cole’s favorite recipes – Mr. Egg Face Sandwiches! Radish eyeballs, asparagus mouths, frizzy lettuce hair … sounds like we’ve got a tasty treat to prepare with our garden classes this spring.

Aside from noshing on edamame, Cole can be found playing video games, doing math and reading, and participating in basketball, soccer, and karate. He also makes sure to spend with his kitten, Pluma. Cole says that his mom, dad, and family are the important communities in his life, as well as Poverty Action and all his friends. 

When asked about why he donates part of his money, Cole reminds us that, “some people in tons of places all over the world don't have enough money to buy food or houses or beds or toys.”

These days, Lettuce Link relies more and more on the generosity of individual donors like Cole to sustain our work. His advice for adults who want to make a difference:

“Grown-ups can give money so Marra Farm can grow more stuff and give to people. They can also volunteer at places to help raise money and help them do their work.”

As Cole notes, there is no single way to support our work. We need all types -- those who give time, money, in-kind donations, expertise, and more. Alongside our diverse community of supporters, we'll keep working to make fresh food a right for everyone!


Mr. Egg Face Sandwich
(from Lunch Boxes and Snacks by Annabel Karmel, adapted by Maya Pawlitschek, mother of Cole)

Ingredients (for 4 sandwiches)

• 7 eggs
• ¼ cup mayonnaise or hummus – add more if needed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 8 slices of bread
• 1 can tuna and/or 1 cup shredded cheese (optional - for extra protein)
• Face decorations, such as: sliced radishes or bell pepper, grated carrot, edamame, olives, salami, gherkins, chives, basil, peas, celery, or grape tomatoes

Directions

1. Hard boil eggs, let cool, and peel
2. Cut two eggs into four slices each for the eyes
3. With a fork, mash the remaining eggs in bowl, adding the tuna, shredded cheese, and mayonnaise
4. Season with salt and pepper
5. Spread egg mixture on four slices of bread 
6. Have kids make faces on bread, using the sliced egg eyes and decoration ideas above
7. Cover with piece of plain bread and enjoy! 

Thank you Cole and all those who support us growing forth into 2012!