BBBBiscuits! 8th Grade Farm Business

The 8th Grade has been busy working on a farm based business making garlic, cheddar, chive biscuit dough from scratch in the school kitchen. They named their business  BBBBiscuits! and offered pre-ordered frozen biscuit dough for pick up just before school got out for Christmas.  They had to limit sales quite a bit for fear of not being able to keep up with demand.  So far they have learned about supply and demand, gross vs. net profits, just how much work it takes to come up with and make a product, bottom line (profit) vs. triple bottom line (profit, social good and environmental good), and more. 

Sarah reads the recipe while Daniel and Denis add together the dry ingredients.

Here are all of our dry ingredients, ready for butter and buttermilk.

Alex cuts up the fresh butter to add to the mix.

  

Camilla cuts in the butter using a pastry blender.

Daniel and Denis concentrate on mincing garlic and chives.

Sarah Sophia just sticks with the garlic.

I'm not sure what Daniela and Sarah are doing here.  Maybe trying to decide if Daniel and Denis did a good enough job?

A few pointers on chopping from our adult baking volunteer of the day, Jeanne.

Many thanks to our photographer, Anne Haas, for taking such beautiful photos.

Artistic Photography of the Farm

Our photographer this week was Sarah Sophia.  She took a lot of beautiful shots of the people, plants and buildings that make up the farm.

 MacKenzie

 Denis and Noah

 Noah

 Pascal

 Sarah Grace

 Broccoli crowning

 Cabbage coming to a head.

 

Speedwell

 Gill over the Ground and Speedwell

 View from inside the greenhouse

 Parsnip forest

 Pine needles and pine cone.

 Scallions

 Shelf fungus

 Squash left over from fall celebrations

 Water on kale

 Wiregrass root.  Get that out of the bed!!

 Weeding garlic

Weeding

Ian's holiday cactus

Yogurt Cheese with Garlic and Herbs

This week Natty brought in this delicious spread for crackers or whatever else you might want to put it on. The garlic was extra seed garlic sent by Meadowlark Hearth so that our students could taste what they were planting.

Drain one quart of yogurt overnight in the refrigerator by pouring it into a cheesecloth lined sieve over a bowl to catch the drippings.

Divide the yogurt cheese into 4 flattened rounds. Place in a wide, shallow bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme, 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley, 1 clove of garlic, minced. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the rounds. Let marinate at least 30 minutes before serving. The longer you marinate, the yummier it gets.

This will keep covered in the fridge for 2 days.

Sweet Potatoes and Garlic

Our photographer for 7th grade this week is Noah.  Here he is showing us his artistic eye.

Our main tasks this week were planting garlic and harvesting sweet potatoes.  Below you can see some of the lovely biodynamic Chrysalis Rose garlic sent to us by Meadowlark Hearth Farm in the panhandle of Nebraska.

Making rows for planting.

Meanwhile Ms. Miller supervises the harvesting of sweet potatoes.

 It's fascinating work, digging for buried treasure.

 And the treasures to be found are plentiful.

A few pictures from around the farm.

The old sign that marks our garden gate.

 

Noah's sister, Sarah.

Our stinging nettle patch.  Watch out for this plant.  It bites, but a tea made from the leaves is nourishing for people, plants and soil.

Dill will be ready for its first harvest soon.

Okra has finished its season.

The bees enjoyed a warm day.

 Carter is a hard worker. 

In case you were wondering what his face looks like, a rare shot indeed!

View from the dogwood in the meeting spot.

Batian shows us how to properly enjoy sorrel.

And Denis shows us how you know that you've enjoyed it properly.

Shadow friends.

Stepping stone made by 3rd grade last winter.

 Shoes.

Washing hands at the end of the day.

Noah took a lot of pictures trying to catch someone in mid-air.  Success at last...