Alice Waters and Inspiration

So Farmers in the Dale has been working feverishly to get our Organization launched, we still have much to do but have also accomplished much as well! Today we had a tour of an edible schoolyard in our community and it was truly an amazing experience! Honestly it just took my breath away how amazing it was, the whole concept of children having this type of hands on learning just really made me feel so proud of what that school is accomplishing! I took pics to share of the yard and the kitchen classroom. Alice Waters is one of my all time favorite food heroes! Ever since my mom bought me one of her cookbooks a few years ago, I have been one of her biggest fans! It is such a beautiful cookbook and I began to research her and study her concepts on food and farm to table style cooking. A true hippie at heart this woman is a personal inspiration to me because not only is she a little bit of a hippie herself she's also an amazing Chef and inspiration to all of us who love and have adopted a farm to table type cooking, she's also the owner of "Chez Panisse" and truly the original pioneer of the entire farm to table movement started back in the 60's I believe (?) and have I also mentioned that she is the one that started the original concept of an edible schoolyard and curriculum design for the schoolyard gardens!?! This woman's vision of feeding the world and her local community and exposing the rest of us to this amazing concept is truly fascinating to me! I just LOVE her!!! Her cookbooks are beyond BEAUTIFUL too!

So here we are walking up to the building and being introduced to the amazing people that are running this wonderful garden and going to give us a tour and there it is, Alice Water's philosophy on a beautifully painted plaque, I almost died and went to heaven right then! I had no idea that they had based their edible schoolyard after her own curriculum and concepts. I knew right then that this was going to be an amazing and unique experience. Thanks to Grimmway farms for donating to and sponsoring this program, the children that attend this particular school are learning how to grow crops, how to raise and care for hens, how to maintain this massive garden space and how to cook straight out of the garden in the most beautiful kitchen classroom I have EVER laid eyes on. Truly I want a kitchen like it all for myself! I'm not even kidding! The idea that kids from Kindergaten up to 6th grade being exposed to this type of learning is one of the better things I have seen a public school do. The garden works closely with the teachers to help create a very hands on learning experience for the kids while also incorporating other various learning skills like math and science.

As you know I am a HUGE believer that food education could not only change the world but is really important for our future generations to learn! I teach my kids how to cook even now at the ages of 3 and 6. Edward can cook eggs by himself (with supervision of course because he's still 3 and there's still fire involved!) Kaitlyn just made pumpkin bread the other day with very little supervision. Food is important! Teaching our kids about where food comes from is just as important as learning how to cook and feed themselves. Let's face it, everybody eats and cooking is becoming a rare art that needs to be brought back in a big way! We have our garden and my kids are very open to eating and trying things picked straight out of that ground! It's more fun when they get to pick it themselves and I find that our garden time opens the door to lots of questions being asked and lots of opportunities to teach and learn about the food we are growing so an edible schoolyard is totally up my alley!
Our Farmers in the Dale is about a community of people that are all connecting together, families, kids that are wanting to be involved in making this movement something unique and special, a learning opportunity for all and a community of all ages that are wanting and willing to make a big difference in our own community.

We are hoping to launch Farmers in the Dale sometime in January, you can check us out right now on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Yourfarmers/?fref=ts

Or on Instagram under : Farm4others

we will hopefully have a website up as well closer to our launch to help our volunteer families and our community to connect with us.

The garden was unbelievable! Such a huge area with so many various types of fruits and veggies growing. They had a hen run and 17 hens! They had an outdoor pizza oven and a tool shed where the kids can access various tools to help them in the garden areas. They also had an outdoor washing station where they clean veggies and fruit before taking them into the kitchen classroom to cook. 

The kitchen classroom was my favorite part of the tour. I was so in awe of this space where kids learn how to cook and learn about food.

They had several different areas where the kids could gather and use various cooking tools based on skill.

The art around the classroom was adorable! They even had a bench with pillows that had fruits and veggies on them.

Every child has an apron to use and there are different types of stations for various types of uses.

They had so many kitchen gadgets and tools for cooking and chopping and everything! They even press their own olive oil from the trees growing around the schoolyard and use the oil for cooking!

They take this table outside so the kids have another little station to work on and learn using a board for information on the various plants, veggies or fruit they are learning about that day. 

And here is Alice Waters Philosophy <3 This is basic and something we all should learn, adopt and do for ourselves! 

So many of us know what is bad for us to eat, we all know unhealthy habits but not as many of us know what is GOOD or how to tip that scale to where we are putting more of the good into our food choices and our eating habits. Learning is one of the greatest gifts we are given and we are never too old to learn. The concept os growing food for our families out of garden spaces in our own yards isn't something that is new but not enough people know how to do that. There is such a huge difference in the taste and quality in food that we grow ourselves over food that is bought in a store and not enough of us are exposed to that! With programs like this we are teaching our kids important life skills that are going to make a huge difference in their lives, in their families lives and even in their communities! 

I'm feeling so inspired right now....and I hope you are too!