Teen Battle Chef and Spoutwood Farm CHEFS in action!

Nobody can do everything,

but everyone can do something. 

~Author Unknown

You may know by now, (and if you don’t, read my blog!) I am a HUGE advocate for “BUY LOCAL” and keep it local. For me it’s about community! I believe community is essential.

Think about it, where would we be without many of the community run programs that enrich our lives?  We would not have parks where our kids play, we would not have hiking trails, or in some cases fire companies. Think of your own benefits a strong community brings to you… I am sure you will come up with more than a few.

Community is not only important for the benefit of recreation, safety, and personal enrichment, but it is also crucial for our economic health. Recent studies prove that during economic downturns, the communities who strongly and closely support their local businesses are the strongest over all. These communities take less of a hit when the economy is low, (i.e. lose few jobs) and bounce back faster than communities who mainly support big box stores/nationally owned/operated franchises.

Supporting locally owned and operated business = a community with economic health.

However, I think the equation goes much deeper. I feel that as a small business owner it is my responsibility to, in turn, support my local community programs and groups. Small locally owned business is about building relationships. Relationships are built when you show up to serve. As a small business owner I firmly believe that I should spend some of my time in the community helping it grow and thrive, in any way I can.  So, maybe the equation should look more like this…

Consumers support small locally owned and operated businesses + Local small business owners actively investing in their surrounding community (i.e. spending time & energy volunteering and/or financially supporting community groups and events) = A strong community over all!

I am a local small business owner. I am member of the Buy Local Coalition, and I am leader for the Spoutwood Farm TBC and CHEFS programs. I personally volunteer a lot of my time toward the benefit of our community. I see the benefits first hand! So I know this works!

The next question I know went through your head, (If you are not familiar). WHAT THE HECK IS Teen Battle Chef and CHEFS??

Here is a very good description! As brief as I can make it…

The Teen Battle Chef Program is a beginner’s education and training program where kids learn to select, prepare, and enjoy whole-fresh foods from local farms, farm markets, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

The CHEFS (Culinary Health Educators from Spoutwood) is a continuation of the Teen Battle Chef program, where our graduates take on the role of leader and teacher. Their efforts further educate our community on the importance of eating and cooking whole, healthy, local, and fresh foods.

WHOA! What a mouthful, and trust me when I say, that was only the tip of the ice burg.

These kids are amazing! They work long hours in the heat and get around to all parts of the county and Maryland. They have taught inner city high school seniors how to chop and prepare whole foods. They demonstrate their cooking skills to the public at health fairs, the Fairie Festival, and Mother Earth Harvest Fair.  Some of our graduates even move on to join culinary careers!

I hold this program in high regard as it teaches them more than how to cook. It teaches them to speak in public, to work with a team toward a common goal, follow directions, clean up after themselves, and much more! (I know some of you moms out there have your ears perked… “What they cook and clean?! Yes! Indeed!)

Over the next two weeks, I will be volunteering my time with the Spoutwood Farm CHEFS teaching a new group of Teen Battle Chefs knife skills, cooking skills, and life skills.

I plan to share my experience with you as I help teach our future generation the importance of eating your colors, and preparing whole foods from locally grown sources.

See there it is… Keeping it local!!! I want you to see the value this program has in our community. I also want you to get to know me as a business owner and mom who wants to make a difference in our community.

Today was day 1 of our two week program. On Day One the kids get familiar with one another, the knives, Spoutwood Farm, and the flow of the program. Our emphasis today was knife skills. We take a lot of time teaching the kids the proper way to handle and use a chef knife. A sharp chef knife!

In addition, Spoutwood Farm is a Zero Waste community. The kids learn a lot about what is considered trash, compost, and recyclable. Spoutwood is also a full blown Community Supported Agricultural Farm. So many of the ingredients we use for our dishes come directly from the farm. This is a perfect demonstration of “Farm to Table”.  There is so much going on within this program sometimes I have trouble keeping up. I will try to share with you as much as I can.

Today our dish was a Caribbean Salsa. The reason we chose this recipe is because of the number of ingredients, chopping requirements, and the amount of measuring. This recipe allows the kids to each take an ingredient and everyone has a job.

Some of our kids minced, some chopped, and some sliced & diced. They all had a great time! They all worked really well with one another, and I can tell they had a good time!

Here are some photos of the kids in action throughout the day.

First we teach them about safety in the kitchen and safety with knives. 

.

This is Collandra, She is one of our veteran CHEFS who helps us teach the two week program.

Once we feel the kids know about knife safety we teach them how to julienne, chop, and dice. 

Next we began our Caribbean Salsa!

This was a delicious day! I look forward to doing it again tomorrow!