Hello everyone!
We had a busy busy month of May. We started the month with a workshop on Organic Disease Management taught by local Extension agent Melody Rose Teague. Our participants said they loved her presentation and could listen to her all day – which is really saying something when the topic is an intricate look at diseases in the garden. She will definitely be invited back again! We also had two material pick ups. One was for summer plants, seeds, and insect netting. The other was for organic disease and pest sprays, liquid fertilizer, and some donated items from Dalen garden supplies.
In April we started out cooking and food preservation classes. They have been a raging success. So far, we’ve done classes on: Cooking with Herbs and Spices, Freezer Basics, Traditional Greek Cooking, and most recently, a kids cooking class!
May 28th – We had our very first kids cooking class for Build It Up families!
This was our first time trying a kids only cooking class and now I want all of our classes to be kids only. It was so much fun! We had 20 kids and 9 adults that showed up so the classroom was packed. Rachel Dean from Carter County Extension teaches all of our cooking and food preservation classes, so she was the one to lead this one too. We’re so lucky to have such an enthusiastic group and instructor this year.
The recipes we decided on were veggie pinwheels, tri-pepper salad, and strawberry ice cream in a bag with farm fresh strawberries! I was curious to see how the kids would do with all the veggies, and boy was I surprised. They were a hit! At the end of the class, we only had one small plate of lettuce left.
Veggie Pinwheels
For the veggie pinwheels, kids got a whole wheat tortilla, option of veggie or regular cream cheese, and an assortment of veggies they got to dice up themselves. They diced up tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and cut some lettuce.
Tri-Pepper Salad
We didn’t have time to make the tri-pepper salad between making pinwheels and strawberry ice cream but Rachel made some for kids to try and take home with them. And they did get to chop the peppers! It was made of orange, yellow, and red peppers, feta cheese, and a balsamic vinaigrette glaze. And the kids actually liked it! Many tried it and took more home with them.
Strawberry Ice Cream in a Bag
The absolute showstopper of the night was the strawberry ice cream. It was so quick and easy! The kids got to chop their own strawberries and then mix them in a bag with vanilla, sugar, and half and half. Then, we put that bag inside a bigger bag with rock salt and ice and let the kids shake until their hearts were content. It was a great way to get energy out with a rewarding sweet treat at the end. In the span of 5-6 minutes – voila! Ice cream!
I can’t wait to incorporate more kids programming into future classes!
Rosie
Build It Up East TN
So glad to see how successful this was!