Sylvia Center Update-- September 12th 2018

At the Farm

The Sylvia Center’s Summer Volunteer Days take place on Saturdays. Last weekend, 3 volunteers who have been regulars throughout the summer - Violet, Max, and Leo helped with garden tasks in the Learning Garden. They had a great time harvesting kale, cucamelons, green beans and tomatoes. In between, volunteers snacked on tomatoes.

Already, they can see the benefits of all the work they put in -  new flowers are budding and the beans are growing. It was exciting to see major progress made in preparing the garden for the fall. There is still a change to help out! The last summer volunteer event is on September 29th.

In the City

In preparation for Art of Cooking, the Sylvia Center is collaborating with multiple chefs for the event coming up in November. Chef Anita Lo made a special visit to the last cooking class in Red Hook’s Miccio Community Center. The last recipe of the 6 week summer class cycle was a delicious vegetable filled quesadilla with swiss chards, corn, red peppers, and cheese. Students cutted the corn kernels off the cob by holding the corn cob securely and cutted the kernels from top to bottom. Red peppers were diced and cilantro was minced. Students were confidently showing their kitchen skills of various knife techniques, teamwork, meal prep, and organization.

Everyone gathered at the table to enjoy the food cooked together and shared their favorite dish they make at home. Anita shared her love to cook with what she grows and fishes. She likes to cook all kinds of food, cuisines, but especially what grows in her garden and what she catches!

After her visit with the young people, she made a stop to the Green City Force class at the Red Hook Houses Farm. She was impressed with the urban farm and how big okras can get! The farm manager explained her interest in learning how to grow things with different palates of the same items.

The programs of the Sylvia Center cover a large spectrum within food from learning basic kitchen skills to reaching out to community members on developing healthier eating habits and raising awareness on food systems. From the young people’s cooking class, students are introduced to new flavors to farm food education classes, where young adults continue to grow with food by becoming advocates. It was a pleasure to have Anita Lo visit and connect with Sylvia Center’s young chefs.