LEARN HOW TO GROW & EAT FOOD MORE BEAUTIFULLY NOW

If you want to learn how to eat more beautifully, you’ve come to the right place!

In celebration of National Farm to School Month, today we are sharing 3 wonderful sources for classes, workshops, and programs that will teach you about how to grow, harvest, prepare and eat, sustainably, ethically, and deliciously. Check them out below!

STONEGATE FARM

If you are interested in learning how to grow food sustainably, and you have a passion for beauty, one of the most extraordinary places that checks both of those boxes is Stonegate Farm, located in the beautiful Hudson River Valley.

The farm is run by author and photographer, Matthew Benson and his wife, Heidi. It is modeled after small family farms that proliferated the region centuries ago, using sustainable farming techniques and practices.

As a photographer, Benson cares about the visual beauty of his farm, as well as the plants and animals that grow there. And it shows. Everywhere you look, you see another incredibly beautiful scene.

Learn how Stonegate grows and produces their gorgeous vegetables, fruits, flowers, honey, and eggs, by attending one of their workshops or meetups, so you can try it yourself at home.

Past workshops have covered topics, ranging from raising chickens, to beekeeping, to micro-farming. To join an upcoming meetup, check their event schedule.

Check out Matthew Benson‘s photography in his new book Growing Beautiful Food, which we reviewed in our Daily Fix post: Beautiful Learnings From Beautiful Books Now. His work also appears in House & Garden, Better Homes & Gardens, The New York Times, Garden Design and Country Living. 

STONE BARNS CENTER

Want to learn how to eat more beautifully? Check out the programs offered by the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, located also located in the Hudson Valley, Pocantico Hills, New York.

Stone Barns is a working farm and education center. Renowned chef and food activist Dan Barber is co-owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the partner restaurant on premises. Food grown at Stone Barns farm is served at the restaurant.

Stone Barns’ mission is a noble one -- To change the way America eats and farms by inspiring people and engaging leaders to develop practices in resilient agriculture and to make choices that benefit health, for humans, animals, and the environment.

Choose from a range of really cool educational programs, in which you can learn about how to grow food sustainably and transform your harvest into incredibly delicious, healthy, and beautiful meals.

Check out The Little Cooks and Gardeners Program, which teaches children how food is grown and gives them simple delicious recipes they can make at home.

We are intrigued by the Kirschenmann Lectures, a fascinating new lecture series, offered by Stone Barns, which explores topics related to food and agriculture, focusing on issues such as resource depletion, the principle of “shared value” and the land ethic.

You can find more information about Stone Barns Educational Programs here.

And check out our Daily Fix posts which feature Dan Barber and Stone Barns, including: Better Food, Better World, Beautifully Supported Food Now, Beautiful Harvest Celebrations, A Return to Beauty for Fish Right Now, 10 Most Beautiful Pie and Pi Books, 10 Gorgeous New Books on Fruits, and 10 New Books Celebrate Beautiful Darkness Now.

EDIBLE SCHOOLYARD

Our preferences, ideas and attitudes about food start when we are young. So it makes perfect sense to teach kids about where food comes from, how to grow it, prepare it, and eat it.

Alice Waters, renowned chef, author, and creator of the acclaimed restaurant, Chez Panisse, made educating kids about sustainable ethical food production her mission. 

The Edible Schoolyard, which Waters founded in 1995, teaches students how to grow and harvest their own food, as it teaches them about history and heritage. For example, students grow heirloom grains, just as ancient civilizations did. They also brush up on their math skills, as they practice fractions, following recipes in the interactive kitchen.

The program, which originated at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, in Berkeley, California, now operates in 6 affiliate locations around the US, reaching thousands of students each year. The success of The Edible Schoolyard also led to the formation of the School Lunch Initiative, which provides healthy lunches to kids in the public school system.

Waters also founded the Sustainable Food Program at the American Academy in Rome, a collaborative learning and dining program, as well as the Yale Sustainable Food Project, in which students grow an array of edible crops on campus and host educational programs that are open to the community.

In 2014, Waters won a National Humanities Medal for her teachings on ethical food production and consumption.

Read more about Beautiful Learning, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including Beautiful Learnings from Beautiful Books Now and The Surprising Beauty of Animal Learning Now.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Matthew Benson. Stonegate Farm.  
2. Image: by Matthew Benson. Stonegate Farm.  
3. Image: by Matthew Benson. Stonegate Farm.  
4. Image: by Matthew Benson. Stonegate Farm.  
5. Image: by Matthew Benson. Stonegate Farm.  
6. Courtesy of Ashley Rabin, of Haute-Mind. Stonegate Farm.
7. Image: by Matthew Benson. Stonegate Farm.
8. I
9. Image: Courtesy of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture.
10. Image: Courtesy of Blue Hill Stone Barns. Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
11. Image: by Ben Hider Photography. Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture.
12. Image: Courtesy of Rebekah Schott. Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture.
13. Image: Courtesy of Nicole Franzen. A View of Dan Barber’s Stone Barns Center field and barn in Pocantico Hills, NY.
14. Image: Courtesy of Eat Sac Edible. Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School Edible Schoolyard.
15. Image: by David-Liittschwager. Alice Waters.
16. Image: Courtesy of The Edible Schoolyard. The Original Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School.
17. Image: Courtesy of The Edible Schoolyard. Jones Valley Urban Farm.
18. Image: Courtesy of Eat Sac Edible. Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School Edible Schoolyard.
19. Image: by Amanda Marsalis. Alice Waters.
20. Image: Courtesy of WORK Architecture Company. Outdoor Class in the Ramada.
21. Image: by Matthew Benson. Stonegate Farm.
22. Image: by BN App - Download now!
23. Image: by Matthew Benson. Stonegate Farm.