{"id":8224,"date":"2019-04-30T15:52:09","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T15:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hvfarmhub.org\/?p=8224"},"modified":"2021-03-25T19:44:13","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T19:44:13","slug":"farm-hub-profarmer-teaches-cooking-youth-kingston-ymca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hvfarmhub.org\/es\/farm-hub-profarmer-teaches-cooking-youth-kingston-ymca\/","title":{"rendered":"Farm Hub ProFarmer teaches cooking to youth at Kingston YMCA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The scent of onions, peppers and butter ribbons through the hallways of the Kingston YMCA. Tucked inside the YMCA in downtown Kingston, a group of teenagers are all smiles as Nailah Marie Ellis, a ProFarmer<\/a> at the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, walks them through the steps of cooking red beans and rice and cheddar and jalapeno cornbread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today is Thursday and cooking day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This spring, as part of volunteering at the YMCA Ellis is working with youth from the Kingston YMCA Farm Project\u2019s youth development initiative<\/a>. The majority are students who attend Kingston High School. As part of her volunteer work at the Y Ellis also runs this weekly cooking class for youth in the program. She picks recipes that allow for opportunities to teach a variety of cooking skills including saut\u00e9ing and grating. Susan Hereth, the education director at the Kingston YMCA Farm Project, says a goal is to teach young people the basics of cooking, the importance of fresh local produce, and also career and work skills. The cooking class is also a platform to \u201cuse fresh food\u2026and they are always hungry every day after school, and it\u2019s really a safe space to try things and fail,\u201d Hereth says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shameer Peters, a freshman at Kingston High School, joined the Farm Project to gain work experience. Growing up he helped his mother out in her garden and credits the program with extending his skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned how to seed the plants and help my mother out now even more,\u201d Shameer says. \u201cI\u2019ve always liked cooking so it\u2019s just fun to learn new recipes and try different things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the class the youth, Hereth, and Ellis gather together and enjoy the results of their hard work, topped off by a surprise dessert by Ellis. In recent weeks it has been blueberry pie and today a whoopie pie with a cream cheese filling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe love Nailah!\u201d the crew exclaims as they polish off dessert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

— Amy Wu<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n