What does it take to make a pizza?

What does it take to make a pizza, from seed to plate? This question led the Chimacum Elementary 6th grade on an adventure to the Chimacum Valley Grainery, a local farm and value-added food producer that grows, processes, and bakes heritage grains like wheat, barley, rye, and buckwheat. Students took a visual tour of the fields on their bus ride down Center Rd, enjoyed a picnic in the meadow by the bakery, and learned about the process of planting, cultivating, harvesting, storing, winnowing, stone-milling, fermenting, and baking bread. The field trip, paid for by the NOAA Ocean Guardians grant that supports our CES garden program, was a chance for students to get their feet on the ground at a local food and farm operation, their hands dusty with flour, and their tastebuds tangy with sourdough. As a culminating activity, students sampled several kinds of bread and cookies baked with locally grown grains, comparing and contrasting the colors, smells, flavors, textures, crust and crumb of each recipe.  

Next week the 6th graders will take the next step in their pizza quest, using 25 pounds of hard red wheat flour to mix dough and make pizza crusts—these will be used in their final garden class at CES to create personal pizzas baked in the CJSHS Culinary Arts class’s wood-fired pizza oven. Don’t be surprised if these young bakers are eager to share their skills with family and friends at home!

Thanks to intrepid 6th grade teachers Al Gonzalez and Gretchen Berg, to Garden Educators Valerie Randall and Hailey Lampe, and to Chimacum Valley Grainery owners Keith and Crystie Kisler and their staff for their generosity in hosting this experience.