The Garden State Community Kitchen
Providing farm-to-table education for children and families in The Garden State
2015 & 2016 Program Highlights
The GSCK garden was flourishing before we even knew what to do with ourselves! From being an unknowing home to a small nest of baby rabbits to picking flowers for our meal every day, the GSCK garden has never been more beautiful.
Participants learned about weed prevention with straw methods, visited a local berry farm, made a worm compost bin, planted and harvested all sorts of veggies, and we made TONS of kale chips from our Red Russian Kale plants!
Yoga & Mindfulness
The GSCK participants enjoyed bi-weekly sessions with our yoga teacher, April Lawicki, who specializes in youth yoga classes. It is April's vision that children are educated in both yoga and mindfulness in order to better handle emotional situations coming up in their teenage years.
Participants were instructed in Partner Pose, Mindful Meditation, and each student took turns leading classes in blended poses like Salutations and more!
Natural Cooking
Participants prepared OVER 100 DISHES during the 2015 Summer Program, including lunch for themselves every day with the exception of Thursday, swim day!
Participants enjoyed making dishes like Polenta Pizza, Jersey Street Corn, Buffalo Turkey Bites with homemade blue cheese dressing, Refrigerator Pickles, and LOTS and lots of greens.
We even cooked for a commuinity event with the Mayor sponsored by Stop n Shop! Finally, we ALWAYS do the Terhune's Orchard Peach Festival in August no matter what!
The GSCK kids love Science experiments so much that they even have a song about it..."Welcome to Science with CAROLE!!!" (I think that's the whole song.)
In our Science component, participants learn about the natural world on a much smaller level, enjoy hands-on science experiements during weekly workshops, explode rockets filled with Alka Seltzer, and more! From molecules moving to chemical reactions, we gasped, jumped, oohed, and ahhed our way towards a better understanding of Natural, Chemical, and Physical Sciences.
Chickens, snakes, and worms - oh my! GSCK kids hatched a baby chick from an egg, enjoyed a workshop with a real live snake from our pal Lee, a retired teacher, and made worm compost! Plus, don't forget about the probiotics we cultivated in our Sauerkraut and Fermented Foods workshops in the kitchen!
One thing's for sure - these kids love animals.
All About Animals!
Organic Gardening
Science With Carole!
