A festive cooking celebration was enjoyed by the fifth grade students of Bristol Consolidated School last week at the FARMS (Focus on Agriculture in Rural Maine Schools) Community Kitchen in Damariscotta. Located above Rising Tide, FARMS offers a unique kitchen facility with ample classroom and meeting space, dedicated to providing a hands-on experience for both children and adults to learn how to work with local vegetables and other healthy foods.

The students visited the FARMS Community Kitchen for their annual classroom holiday celebration. Working with Youth Program Director Karen Kleinkopf, and their teacher, Ms. Gallione, as well as their guidance counselor and principal, the Fifth Grade prepared seasonal foods from local farm sources, including potato latkes, deviled eggs, fresh carrot and radish crudité, and roasted beets.

One of the best things about the FARMS Community Kitchen is the cooking island where visitors can actively participate in the cooking and preparation process. This enthusiastic class learned basic food safety, cooking hygiene practices, chopping, mixing, sautéing, presentation and above all, healthy eating and the joy of sharing good food together.

This class was first of its kind in FARMS’s new school-centered education program, which is offered to local schools to provide the perfect adjunct to classroom studies, with emphasis on nutrition, health studies, agriculture, science, and home economics.

Classes at the Community Kitchen can be customized to meet whatever curriculum requirements each class has, providing a dynamic and direct learning experience that goes beyond regular book studies.

For more information please visit the FARMS web site at www.mefarms.org or find them on Facebook.