Kickstarter

Dear Food Lab Supporters,

It is hard to believe that is already been seven months since our Food Lab was complete.  We have been busy teaching, learning, gardening, cooking and eating!  We wanted to update you, our fabulous supporters, about how much we are enjoying our new space. 

This year we have over 330 students participating in FoodPrints classes in 1st, 3rd and 4th grades.  Over the course of this school year, our students have studied topics that range from studying the ways that tubers, bulbs and seeds grow new plants, to understanding companion planting through learning about the Three Sisters, to comparing nutrient dense and energy dense foods, to investigating soil and decomposition.  We have prepared dishes that range from Hoppin' John with Collard Greens to Vietnamese Summer Rolls to Sweet Potato Quesadillas.  Our students have taken home recipes to share with their families.

The new lab is an amazing resource for Watkins Elementary and for FRESHFARM's FoodPrints Program.  Thank you!  Please enjoy the pictures below.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Mampara                                                                                                 

With great pleasure today, we moved into the beautiful new Food Lab at Watkins.  It is an absolutely wonderful space and we are endlessly thankful to each of you for helping us make this dream come true for our school  Enjoy the pictures!

We will be there all day tomorrow for the Renovator's House Tour if you would like to come see it in person.  http://www.renovatorshousetour.org/

We have reached the final few days of construction on the Food Lab, and while it is still a big mess, the room has truly been transformed.  On Friday I will post another update with images of what it looks like once we have cleaned and stocked it.  In the meantime, I thought you would enjoy seeing the progress.

Also attached are images of the beautiful tiles our students created for the backsplash.

If you live in the area and are available on Saturday, please join us for the Renovator's House tour featuring the Food Lab at Watkins.  You can read more about the tour and buy tickets here:  http://www.renovatorshousetour.org/

Construction on the Food Lab is continuing.  The cabinets have been hung, the appliances have been delivered and the plumbers and electricians are visiting regularly.  The measurements for countertops were taken last week, and we've been very busy buying supplies to stock the room. 

We expect work to be done in two weeks so that we can prepare the room for the Renovator's House tour on Capitol Hill.  If you live locally and are interested in visiting us that day, we will have three cooking demonstrations and snacks will be available.  Tickets for the tour can be purchased at http://www.renovatorshousetour.org/tickets.html or at Fragers, Hill's Kitchen, or Schneider's.  They are $20 in advance and $25 the day of the event at any of the houses. All proceeds from the tour support programming at the Capitol Hill Cluster School.

Dear Supporters,

In addition to thanking you once again, we want to let you know that construction on the Food Lab at Watkins has begun! 

We spent the summer meeting with DCPS and District officials to secure the proper permitting for the project.  We have hired Keil Construction to manage the project, and they generously agreed to work with us for a greatly reduced fee.  We finalized the cabinet design and placed the order this morning.  The appliances are waiting to be delivered and the electricians will begin work this week.  The plumbers spent last week connecting the room to the school's water supply.

We had hoped to have the kitchen completed before school began, but are now well under way and expect that it will be finished by the end of September.  A few photos of the room we are using are attached.  As the construction progresses,  we will continue to update you with more photos, and can't wait to send you an image of the finished lab.  When it is complete we hope you will come visit in person!