HARDWICK – Last month the Hazen High School Recipe for Human Connection Class took on a project to hold an all-school sugar on snow party they hope will become a regular annual event.
photo by Reeve Basom
Sugar on snow involves boiling maple syrup to 235 °F and drizzle it on snow for maple taffy. But the class added homemade doughnuts and dill pickles. And they decided to invite 300 people and make it a party.
Then the weather warmed up and the snow was disappearing as the date approached.
When the idea was hatched, students first spent a week testing out recipes on a small scale and considering what it would take to level up for a school-wide event, said their teachers.
With a date set, students stored snow in the freezer to make sure temperatures didn’t upset their plans. They then set to work making two gallons of garlicky dill pickles and turned the classroom into a doughnut factory.
photo by Reeve Basom
“The scaled-up production went smoothly due to their incredible collaboration and team-effort,” said co-teacher Jen Olson. “. . . and when it was party time and the delicious syrup from Vermont Way Foods was at temp, the Recipe class welcomed all students and staff through their buffet line set up outside, serving the excited crowd the classic Vermont treat.”
Human Connections are collaborations and services designed and led with partners and neighbors. These programs help build collective, local resilience through community organizing, shared learning and food justice.
Place-Based Education helps youth connect to food through community and to community through food. Co-created programming with school and community partners integrates meaningful place-based learning into the rural education system.
Reeve Basom co-teaches the Recipe for Human Connection class and shares her time with the school and the Center for an Agricultural Economy.
