The Common Threads Blog

Volunteers help put mulch in a new bed at the Sunnyland Elementary School garden. By Robby Sheils, AmeriCorps Food Educator When I showed up thirty minutes early to my garden work party, I was worried no one would show. It was on the morning of a beautiful, sunny...

By Molly Monahan, AmeriCorps Food Educator How does the fall season make you feel?  Perhaps you experience the back to school feels, whether begrudging or exhilarating. Certainly the pumpkin spice latte brigade rises to the occasion in full force, as does the spooky...

Students at Skyline Elementary try Lentil Stew for the first time.Food Educator Jack leads a Plant Part Salad lesson.By Maggie Chen, AmeriCorps Food Educator The Common Threads team has wrapped up our cooking season and is preparing to get back outside for garden...

Kindergarteners at Northern Heights Elementary portion out plant part salad so that everyone can have a taste!Corinne Hill-James leading the lesson on plant part salad.Written by Corinne Hill-James, AmeriCorps Food Educator After nearly a 3-year hiatus, Common Threads...

Written by Corinne Hill-James, Response Corps Member In October of 2021, all Common Threads staff, board members, and Americorps service members attended an online workshop titled, “Uprooting Racism in the Food System,” presented by Soul Fire Farm. Soul Fire Farm is a...

Preparing to make hummus wraps, food educator Tristen Pohlman brings years of kitchen experience to students at Whatcom Intergenerational High School.Students practice mincing garlic and ginger with Food Educators Tristen Pohlman, Tessa Bolon, and Lauren...

written by Corinne Hill-James, Response Corps Member Common Threads helped install two new educational community gardens at the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center this summer to provide residents of rural Whatcom county with an example and inspiration for growing...

I'm standing in a two and half foot hole that once belonged to an oak tree. From this perspective, I can see the garden from the point of view of the elementary school students I serve. From the outdoor classroom benches to the perennial beds, everything feels bigger....

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Hello! My name is Margarita Gonzalez and I had the opportunity to serve as an Americorps Food Educator with Common Threads Farm in Bellingham, Washington. Common Threads focuses on food and garden education, mainly with kids, through garden lessons in the spring and...

written by AmeriCorps Food Educator, Hannah Allen-Young I started my position as an AmeriCorps Food Educator with Common Threads in the Summer of 2019. I felt simultaneously ready to teach and way out of my depth. Most of all though I was excited to get started on...

Written by Tessa Bolon, AmeriCorps Food Educator I applied to Common Threads when I was living in Florida, and was super excited to be outdoors and teaching children (two of my favorite things). However, COVID-19 had different plans, and I quickly realized that both...

This year's team of AmeriCorps Food Educators created these great resources for teachers who have been teaching virtually during the pandemic. Check it out to see some science-based lessons for kids in 3rd-5th grade: 3rd Grade Lesson 1: Rainfall Representations...

Written by Giorgie DePaolis and photo by Ana Prussia, AmeriCorps Food Educators L. terrestris, the common earthworm. In Bellingham, we see our red, slithery friend often -- on sidewalks during and after a good downpour, in our gardens, and beside urban trails, to name...

Dandelion is the third featured plant in Kaiti’s series! This plant is usually referred to as a weed, but it can be so much more than that! Read on to learn more about this cool flower.

This Black History Month, Common Threads is sharing a list of children’s books that feature Black authors and characters. We know that representation matters and that the books children read help shape their thoughts and views as they grow. It’s essential that kids...

Written by Laura Plaut, Executive Director   February is Black History Month. Among other things, this month is a good opportunity for me as Common Threads’ Executive Director to reflect in public on where our organization is on our journey toward building an...

written and filmed by Giorgie DePaolis, AmeriCorps Food Educator Winter can be painted as a dreary time, a time of hibernation and patience. But we say it doesn't have to be! As much as the winter months of frost inspire stillness, so many evergreen berries show off...

Written by Maddie Smith, AmeriCorps Food Educator For about two months leading up to the new year, I participated in the Connections program at Shuksan Middle School. Several local nonprofits teamed up with Bellingham Public Schools to connect students in grades two...

Comfrey is the second featured perennial herb in Kaiti's series! We hope that this makes you feel a little more comfy with comfrey.

Learn about phenology wheels with Common Threads! Join food educator Tessa as they explain and create a phenology wheel. Use the video to get an idea of what a phenology wheel is and then access the PDF to create your own! Phenology Wheels (click to download pdf)...

Introducing… Calendula! Calendula is a bright and sunny flowering herb that you can find popping up all over Bellingham. Growing calendula in your garden can attract beneficial insects like bees and lady bugs, and you can harvest and dry the flowers to make a homemade...

Learn about compost and worms with this Google slide presentation- designed for kids in grades 3-5! Make a copy and explore the wonders of how composting works and the benefits of worms, all at your child's own pace. Click here to access the interactive power point...

Common Threads grows fruits and vegetables of all different colors throughout the entire year! Adding a variety of fresh produce to our meals not only adds lots of colors that makes our food more fun to eat, but it also provides us with a variety of nutrients we need...

Learn about worms with Common Threads! Join food educators Ana + Dana as they lead you through two worm drawings, where kids can draw along! One drawing focuses on worm anatomy and the other on a worm's ecosystem. All you'll need for this activity are two pieces of...

Follow our Farm Educator, Kelsey, as she explains how to prepare your garden for the winter!

Our  commitment to connecting kids with healthy food has never been stronger! Usually at this time of year, Common Threads Food Educators would be busy cooking with kids in classrooms at schools all across Whatcom County. Since we can’t do that right now, we hope...

Calling all elementary and middle school students! We invite you to submit a piece of art to be featured on greeting cards this winter as part of a school gardens fundraiser. Art should address the question: what do school gardens and classroom cooking mean to you?...

Written by Caroline Boschetto, AmeriCorps Food Educator   Everyone knows that at Common Threads we love cooking with kids, whether it be in classrooms, housing units and detention facilities, after school clubs, or our summer camps. While we can’t connect with...

Written by Caroline Boschetto, AmeriCorps Food Educator   Last fall, Common Thread’s AmeriCorps Food Educators explored the environmental concept of adaptation with third graders, using thorny plants and brightly colored critters as examples. We never could have...

As weeks turn into months of our new “Covid normal-not-normal”, Common Threads continues to look for ways large and small that we can sow seeds of hope and joy.   In particular we are:   Tending (and expanding) school gardens so that we can harvest the produce to...

by AmeriCorps Food Educator, Caroline Boschetto Starting a garden is never a predictable endeavor. You may try to control the exact variety of seeds you’re planting, the amounts of water you pour over their roots, and the weeds and pests that you attempt to drive out....

Gardening Resources: NW Maritime Garden Guide - Our go-to for gardening questions in the PNW! Great information about planting, growing and harvesting all kinds of fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. Includes calendars and tips! Steve Solomon’s Gardening in the PNW...

February means crop planning for us here at Common Threads. Our Farmer Joe led a training for our Food Educators last week so that we can start to put plans together for each of the 24 school gardens we steward. We wanted to share his tips and tricks with you all for...

by Caroline Boschetto, AmeriCorps Food Educator Food is perhaps one of the most beautiful expressions of connection. The creation of a delicious meal from diverse ingredients embodies connections between farmers and chefs, parents and children, cultures and their...

Written by Kiana Jenkins, AmeriCorps Food Educator   Bellingham, WA may not appear to be the most likely location to collect snow. However, earlier this month, Bellingham was rocked with ice and almost a foot of snow, which caused many schools to close down during...

While there are still lots of tasks that can be done in the garden (check out Cloud Mountain's great list), I enjoy warming up in wintertime by drinking some hot, wholesome herbal teas. You can make them easily; you can even grow your own herbs! Here are some common...

by Caroline Boschetto, AmeriCorps Food Educator When Mr. Meissner’s third grade students hear a knock at the door and see two smiling faces in beet-logo t-shirts enter toting a black rolling box, their faces light up. The instructors begin unpacking colorful utensils,...

"This little boy liked the hummus so much that he offered to finish off the leftovers!" - Indigo Larson, Food Educator by Indigo Larson, AmeriCorps Food Educator During our cooking training a few weeks ago, I asked, “Do we give kindergarteners knives and peelers too,...

November is the time of year when we put our gardens to bed, and the trees start going to sleep too - shedding leaves and stopping growth to protect themselves against frost. In tree-language we call it going “dormant”. Trees in our area enter dormancy in November and...

Make a Difference Day happens every year on the last Saturday of October. In honor of the day, Common Threads Food Educators held a number of work parties throughout the month of October to get community members involved in their school garden. All told, 110...

When school’s out, it’s time for camp!  The beautiful 5-acre grounds of the WWU Outback Farm is the perfect spot for exploring nature and healthy food.   From the beginning, Common Threads’ has been committed to never turning a child away for lack of funds. This year,...

In the 2018-2019 school year, over 6700 kids in 21 schools across four school districts in Whatcom County gardened, cooked, and ate with Common threads. But so what? What changed because of our programs?  In the spring of 2019, we conducted an evaluation of our...

When school’s out, too many children in our community spend their time in environments where there is not enough to do, not enough to eat, and not enough positive human contact. This past year, thanks to support from Share our Strength and the Chuckanut Health...

As colder temperatures become more commonplace, most crops are coming out of season. But, in the Pacific Northwest, October is the perfect time to plant garlic. In our school gardens, kindergarteners are planting garlic right now to be used in next years cooking...

Make A Difference Day is one of the largest annual days of service nationwide. YOU can make a difference this year! Help at one of our upcoming school garden work parties so that kids can continue to have access to healthy food education in schools. Just bring your...

Have you been to the Birchwood International Market yet? If not, you should go - though you'll have to wait for next year. The summertime market is a large open air market celebrating the rich cultural diversity of Birchwood featuring cultural performance, music, and...

If you’ve been looking forward to Common Threads’ annual Harvest Dinner (squash soup, kale salad, roasted root veggies, apple crisp, good company… yum!) we’ve got some good news and some bad news for you. First, the bad news: the Harvest Dinner as you have known it...

Curious Minds and Dirty Hands Have you ever wondered what happens during an elementary school garden lesson with Common Threads? AmeriCorps Food Educators share a sneak peek into our some of our lessons this spring. This is a multi-part series, stay tuned for future...

Curious Minds and Dirty Hands Have you ever wondered what happens during an elementary school garden lesson with Common Threads? AmeriCorps Food Educators share a sneak peek into our some of our lessons this spring. This is a multi-part series, stay tuned for future...

Curious Minds and Dirty Hands Have you ever wondered what happens during an elementary school garden lesson with Common Threads? AmeriCorps Food Educators share a sneak peek into our some of our lessons this spring. This is a multi-part series, stay tuned for future...

During Spring Break this year, some of our Food Educators led cooking activities at both Regency and Sterling Meadows apartment complexes. Keep reading to hear some of the highlights! Our first day at each site was  “Exercise & Health Day.” We danced Zumba,...

by Carly Markowitz, AmeriCorps Food Educator We've all been there. "What can I whip up for dinner with this?", you might say to yourself, gazing into a fridge with yesterday's leftovers and veggies that need to be eaten before they pass their prime. Creativity and...

by Sophie Nicholakos, AmeriCorps Food Educator “What do I do now?”, Octavio asked after we finished opening and rinsing cans of chickpeas for the Chana Masala we were making. “Well,” I  said, “Do you want to help me recycle these cans?” Octavio had never recycled cans...

by Ellie Twitty, AmeriCorps Food Educator For millennia, from Mexico to Montana, women have mounded up the earth and laid three specific seeds in the ground - all in the same square foot of soil. There are many stories of how the three seeds came to be, but they all...

Written by Lindsay Williams, one of our AmeriCorps Food Educators “Cabbage!”  “Carrots!” “Garlic!”  “Onion!” “Salt and pepper!”  “Olive oil!” “Lemon!” “Beets!” These were the sounds of students joyfully shouting out the ingredients of borscht pictured on a PowerPoint...

by Sydney Latas, AmeriCorps Food Educator “I am just so proud of Bellingham,” said one Common Threads team member at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Bellingham Public School’s new Central Kitchen. The work to realize the vision for the Central Kitchen, which began...

By Anya Vollstedt, AmeriCorps Food Educator With the start of December, Common Threads Food Educators began teaching our second recipe of the cooking season! "What are we cooking today?!" students ecstatically asked Food Educators as they walked into the classroom....

by Lindsey Rieck, AmeriCorps Food Educator During my first garden lesson at Geneva Elementary, one 3rd grade student rejected my offer of freshly picked kale from the garden during  our class taste test, saying, “I don’t eat raw food.” A few weeks and a couple classes...

by Anya Vollstedt, AmeriCorps Food Educator at Common Threads When the time comes to cook with over 6000 kids, one of the big questions is, “Where will the food come from?”  For our first recipe (kale salad) for instance, we knew we would need to source 6000 kale...

by Sara Bauer, AmeriCorps Food Educator at Common Threads Farm “This is the best salad I’ve ever eaten!” exclaimed an excited third grader at Geneva elementary last week at the end of class, upon tasting her kale salad, the first recipe of our Winter Cooking Season...

Guest blog post & photos by Lisa Moeschler Want more photos? Visit the Harvest Dinner 2018 Facebook photo album! We’d had much discussion leading up to last Thursday’s planned outing on a school night. “There’ll be lots of kids,” I had promised my seven-year-old,...

As usual, summer went by in a blur! As we gear up for another school year of gardening and cooking with kids, here’s a quick glance back at the summer. Camps Over 140 kids explored, made new friends and prepared healthy snacks during camps at the Outback Farm at WWU. ...

Daniel began volunteering with Common Threads as an intern through the Human Services Program at Western Washington University. Excited about empowering students to make informed decisions about food choices, Daniel volunteered with Common Threads camps at The Outback...

Did you know that the spice turmeric comes from a rhizome of a plant in the ginger family? That cumin was used in mummification in ancient Egypt? That black pepper actually is the fruit of the plant? Our students are learning about these spices and much more in this...

For our 8th Annual Harvest Dinner, over 100 friends and family celebrated with Common Threads the harvest of crops planted throughout the year, and the role of community in growing good eaters! Preparation began many months prior, of course, with cultivating soil and...

Common Threads is growing! Our largest Americorps team yet includes Food Educators and also School Farmers, serving collaboratively to ensure community-wide support for thriving school garden learning spaces, increased outreach to families, after-school programs, and...