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 slide. As his classmates discussed which of these ingredients they had tried before, one fourth grader raised […]

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 back in 2013, was a communal labor of love, all done to ensure […]

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. “Applesauce!”  The simplicity of this recipe allows educators and students to dive into a conversation about […]

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 later, I saw that same student trying Swiss chard, […]

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 leaves, 2400 radishes, 2400 chives, and 600 […]

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 2018-2019. Students around the city and county have had […]

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, first grader… “along with fun activities, music, a live performance, and […]

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.  Check out the snacks we prepared […]

When Common Threads launched school garden programs in 2009, our efforts grew out of conversations amongst teachers and parents who believed school gardens could be most resilient and best integrated into the fabric of their school communities if they were grown in conversation with each other.   Too often, school garden advocates were re-inventing protocol […]

Ms. Maria couldn’t believe how quickly the salad was eaten– the kids love kale! Carl Cozier’s food service lead Maria Moench made sure that the kale, harvested from the Cozier school garden by Mrs. Conlon’s second graders, became part of a tasty Plant Part Salad. By the start of the second lunch period, the salad […]