The eight students enrolled in Shepherd’s Table’s Culinary Skills Training program picked greens at Koiner Urban Farm Monday and then used them to prepare a pasta dish at Zinnia Restaurant.
“We are doing a farm to table day,” explained Emily Sells, Koiner Farm manager.
The idea was to teach the future chefs about fresh foods that are available nearby and how a community can work together.
The students spend 12 weeks learning restaurant skills as well as finance, computers, conflict resolution and mindfulness, The program is “really targeted to people who are facing multiple barriers to employment,” explained Christina Moore, director of meal services at Shepherd’s Table.
The goal, she explained, is “so they can go on, and just be successful in life in general.”
Koiner Farm, Shepherd’s Table and Zinnia Restaurant are all within walking distance of downtown Silver Spring.
The students learned how to pick arugula, collard greens and other salad greens while allowing the plants to continue producing. They then took the bins full of the greens to Zinnia, where they cleaned them and then prepared a pasta dish with ground turkey and butternut squash along with the greens they had just picked.
Several of the students seemed surprised that things were still growing outside in mid-November.
