Winter is Coming

Hello from Hindman!

This is Ashton here, the new VISTA at the Hindman Settlement School. I’ve been here for three weeks and it already feels like home. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am for the year ahead!

As we enjoy the last official days of summer, we should remember one thing– winter is coming. Kind of. The end of our summer harvest is here, so for those who don’t have a fall harvest planned, winter may as well be on its way! With this in mind, we held a cooking class based around roasting veggies last week. Not only is this a healthier way to consume them, but also it is delicious in its own right and an excellent way to store them for use in the winter.

                   
While roasted veggies are good on their own, we decided showing our participants three ways to include them in a meal would be best. We went with pizza, pasta, and eggs. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! The wonderful Jenny Williams from Hazard graciously offered her time to lead this class. Her enthusiasm for food and cooking shone as she led our members through the basic steps of roasting. I enjoyed getting to know a few more of our members, and they had an equally great time socializing, cooking, and eating delicious food together! All in all it was a successful night, and we’re looking forward to getting Jenny back here soon.

Meanwhile in our own garden here on campus, we’re still getting in some beautiful cherry tomatoes despite the squash trying to take over. Unfortunately, our beans suffered seemingly overnight! The culprit? Mexican bean beetles, or so Google tells us. They’re yellow with black spots and create a lace-like appearance on the leaves after they’ve fed on them. They savagely attacked our beans before we had a chance to harvest them all last week.

On a brighter note, we finally got most of our fall garden planted! We have a few more things to get in the ground as we remove the last vestiges of our beans and hopefully most of the beetles with them.

     
So here’s to a few more days of summer warmth and fruitful fall harvest for everyone!