The October Harvest of the Month was kale! To celebrate, NOM ran a virtual cooking session with Mary Hogan elementary school to cook kale quinoa salad. Our volunteers helped lead 13 families in prepping the meal and got to enjoy the final product! A successful session all around.
What’s better than teaching elementary school children about the benefits of healthy food? Growing it ourselves!
In early October, NOM volunteers partnered with GlobeMed to finish harvesting the vegetables planted last spring, and put the gardens to sleep for the winter. We collected the last of the tomatoes, Brussel sprouts, beans, carrots and cabbage and delivered them to the dining hall to be prepped for the children’s meals.
To put the gardens to bed, we uprooted the rest of the harvested produce, churned up the soil, sprinkled fertilizer and planted cover crops. With water and hay, the beds are now prepped for the coming winter months until we can plant again in the spring!
This month we continued our programming with Mary Hogan and Addison County Teens. Our volunteers worked with students at the teen center remotely in a fun cooking competition, but this programming has been paused due to the teen center’s closure with the rise of Covid-19 cases in Vermont. We have been lucky to be able to continue working with Mary Hogan School, though, thanks to Principal Jen and all the other kind and flexible administrators and staff! This month we prepared kits in accordance with the November Harvest of the Month, which was Sweet Potatoes. We made stuffed sweet potatoes during a fun Zoom cooking session with families. Signups for our monthly cooking sessions have been growing, and we hope to see even more families to cook squash in December! Families who received kits but couldn’t make it to the Zoom can follow along with the recording sent out to families. See a screenshot of some of the participants proudly holding up their masterpieces below! We are grateful to all of the parents and guardians who made this possible by cooking with their kids at home, and to all who sent in the feedback that we received, as well! We are so happy to hear that kids are trying new foods and loving it.
First things first- an enormous shoutout to all of our volunteers and board members, both in-person and remotely, who made our new and exciting programming possible this month! We had a very busy month of October programming with Mary Hogan School and the Teen Center.
The Vermont Harvest of the Month was Kale for October, so we cooked two different kale dishes with Mary Hogan families over Zoom. We made meal kits and delivered them to the school, and then made the kale chips and pasta dish synchronously over Zoom with parents and kids! It was so much fun and we’re already excited to cook again in November. We’ve attached some photos of meal kit prep here, and Mary Hogan families can watch the recorded cooking video that was sent out to families and follow along with the pasta and kale chip recipes.
Our programming with the Addison County Teen Center is also underway- our volunteers are working remotely to mentor groups of teens in a “Chopped”- style competition. So much fun!
If you want to be involved with cooking or volunteering next month, let us know at nom@middlebury.edu! See you soon!
We have had a very new and different start to the fall, and we’re excited to get NOM up and running this year! Our club has been very active on Zoom this fall, participating in the MiddView Community Engagement Panel, MiddAction Fair, and the Student Activities Fair.
We have several programs in the works with community partners at Mary Hogan and the Teen Center and are excited to begin with these as soon as everyone is settled into the new school year.
We are asking all members, both new and returning, to fill out this form (also found at go/nom2020) to let us know what they’re interested in doing with the club this fall! Feel free to fill it out and join us even if you have never volunteered with us or didn’t find us at the club fair!
We are really excited for a new semester and hope to see you all (distanced in person and virtually) soon!
We have an exciting upcoming two weeks… including a Cornwall Cooking Workshop AND our Spring NOM Dinner / Info Session!
For next Friday, February 28 (SIGN-UP LINKED):
We are looking for volunteers for another Cooking Workshop / Taste Test with local, in-season produce at Cornwall (Bingham Memorial) Elementary School.
The shift is from 12:45-2:00 pm and transportation will be provided. Please fill out this Google Form if you would like to volunteer!
For next-next Monday, March 2 (SIGN-UP LINKED):
We are hosting our Spring ALL-MEMBER meeting / informational session (with dinner provided…) from 6:00 – 7:30 pm in BiHall Room #430!
At this meeting, we will review past events and compile feedback for improvements/comments going forward, in addition to outlining NOM programming (and programming changes) for all members: previous and new! We will also be using this time to introduce our incoming NOM Board additions: Mollie Ockene, Grace Kirkpatrick, Annabella Twomey, Emily Bulczynski, and Indira Yuldasheva!
IMPORTANT! … This meeting also serves as a chance to solidify NOM membership/volunteer numbers going forward (and avoid spamming individuals no longer able to uphold membership)–so if you are interested in staying on the email and membership list, please RSVP to this March 2nd Meeting. Or, if you are unable to attend this meeting, be sure to email us that you are still interested in the club. Otherwise, we will assume you are no longer interested in being apart of NOM (for whatever reason – no judgement!), and will not include you in the new email list. Thank you!
We are really excited for a new semester and hope to see you all at the meeting (and at our programming events)!
We are looking for volunteers for our upcoming cooking workshop / taste test with local, in-season produce THIS FRIDAY, January 10th at Cornwall (Bingham Memorial) Elementary School. This month we will be making a recipe featuring January’s Vermont Harvest of the Month…BEETS!
The shift is from 12:45-2:00 pm and transportation will be provided. Please fill out THIS GOOGLE FORM if you would like to volunteer!
ALSO…We have also EXTENDED THE BOARD APPLICATION DEADLINE until THIS THURSDAY, January 9th. So, if you are interested in applying, please do so through THIS GOOGLE FORM.
Is this your first semester with NOM? That’s okay!
Unsure what the NOM board does? That’s also okay! We will train you and make sure you are prepared.
Currently, NOM has a president, vice-president, recruitment and publicity chair, volunteer coordinator, and treasurer. We have some board members graduating so are in need of new leadership!
The time commitment varies by position and is fairly flexible, but includes being available to volunteer at least once a month, helping with preparation for volunteer group events roughly twice a semester, and engaging in general communication with other board members.
We are looking for volunteers for two NOM events Friday, November 15th. The first event is a taste test at Mary Hogan, and this month we will be serving SWEET POTATOES!
At Mary Hogan, there will be four shifts: one prep shift from 10.30-11.00am, and three serving shifts from 11.30am-12pm, 12-12.30pm, and 12.30-1pm.
The second event is a cooking workshop at the Teen Center: from 3:30-4:30pm, also Friday.
Please fill out this GOOGLE SIGN-UP by Thursday if you would like to volunteer for either/both of these events!
Please feel free to browse through the Vermont Harvest of the Month Curriculum to learn a little bit more about sweet potatoes and VTHOM initiatives.
If you want to learn more about what NOM does, check out other upcoming volunteer events, or have any questions about taste tests, please visit our website at go/nom, email us at nom@middlebury.edu, or contact Caroline Arthaud at carthaud@middlebury.edu.
Also, if you are interested, please join our email list through this link and/or new GroupMe through this link!
We are looking for volunteers for our upcoming cooking workshop / taste test with local, in-season produce next Friday, November 8th at Cornwall (Bingham Memorial) Elementary School. This month we will be making a recipe featuring November’s Vermont Harvest of the Month…SWEET POTATOES!
The shift is from 12:45-2:00 pm and transportation will be provided. Please fill out THIS GOOGLE FORM if you would like to volunteer!
Please see the NOM Volunteer Guide that outlines what we do and how we tend to do it, and our calendar of NOM’s scheduled events to help mark your calendars ahead of time!
Before the taste test, feel free to browse through the Vermont Harvest of the Month Curriculum to learn a little bit more about the featured harvest and other VTHOM initiatives.
If you are curious about what NOM does, want to check out other upcoming volunteer events, or have any questions about taste tests, please visit our website at go/nom, email us at nom@middlebury.edu, or contact Caroline Arthaud at carthaud@middlebury.edu.
