last week's farmstand + gleeson library

a few weeks ago, following a very successful farmstand one, i gave the 21 students and 1 TA in community garden outreach a challenge: "at our next farmstand, when people approach your table and say, 'i would like a salad, please,' i want you to say, 'which one?' at the last farmstand we offered 1 of everything. this time, let's offer 2."

at our second farmstand (thursday, march 22) CGO students delivered. they harvested for, cooked, and served 2 salads (a mixed green with golden goddess dressing and a raw kale salad), 2 soups (a butternut squash with greens soup and spicy collard green with potato and sausage soup), 3 (3!) desserts (lavender cookies, lemon bars, and rhubarb almond bars), 3 (or 4) frittatas, and 1 huge vat of lavender lemonade -- all featuring at least 1 ingredient from the USF garden.



there's a real community forming around farmstand and it includes students, faculty, librarians, staff, administration, and jesuits. by the time we finally opened (about 12:10, i think) there was a long line of folks waiting for good food.



this farmstand included, for the first time, a food/cooking/gardening/sustainability-related book and DVD collection curated and created by gleeson library. arranged by USF librarians debbie benrubi, shawn calhoun, matt collins, and sherise kimura, the gleeson mobile library offered on-the-spot, free, relevant, and borrowable books and DVDs to the farmstand community. perfect.

cooking something new project

update (march 27): to see students' work, please visit our blog, green media @ usf. also, at the end of demo day, march 27th, students were assigned to comment on each of their fellow students' blog posts.

update (march 30): students were assigned to do this project again - due in class on tuesday, april 3.

cooking something new project for green media

1. sometime this week or this weekend, go to a san francisco farmers market.

2. select and buy a vegetable or fruit you have never cooked with before.

3. find a recipe - from a book, from a friend, online, at the farmers market - for your vegetable or fruit.

4. cook it.

5. write a blog post, on our new course blog green media @ usf, about the dish. include a recipe.

6. sometime before class on tuesday, march 27, post a tweet that includes a link to your blog post.

7. in class on tuesday, be prepared to demo your work. if you have no work to demo, do not come to class.


rules and regulations:

a. your blog post must have four - no more, no less - photos. you must have one photo of the farmers market, one of your recipe, one of cooking your dish, and one of serving/presenting/eating it. remember: less is more.

b. you must extract something interesting from your interactions with the folks running the booth at the farmers market. learn something about the food you purchased, the farm it's from, and the people that brought the food to you - and integrate that something into your blog post.

c. at some point in your blog post you must use the word esculent.

d. link generously.

green media at buck mountain experimental station

MS 301: Green Media
Professor David Silver
July 24 - August 10, 2012

Green Media is an advanced production media studies course devoted to making media about making food. During this summer intensive, students will learn how to combine words, drawings, photographs, performance, video, social media, and found objects to tell and share compelling stories about food. Along the way, students will also learn some basic skills in harvesting, cooking, and preserving seasonal food.

Learning Goals:
1. To learn how to use social media to make and share media about making food;
2. To develop a unique, creative, and compelling voice within your media work; and
3.To learn how to collaborate creatively and effectively.




Lodging and Logistics: This course takes place at Buck Mountain Experimental Station, a 22-acre off-the-grid homestead located in Eastern Humboldt County, from July 24 - August 10, 2012. Prior to the summer intensive, students and professor will meet face-to-face to discuss class expectations and assign pre-intensive readings. Upon completion of the course, students will have one week (until August 17, 2012) to complete their final project.

Accommodations: Students will sleep in tents and have access to a large vegetable garden, chickens, a milking goat, two kitchens, a homestead workstation, two showers, and two outhouses.

Food: Students and professor will plan, prepare, and serve daily lunches and dinners. Students are responsible for preparing their own breakfasts.

Connection: Although Buck Mountain has internet access and cell phone reception, they are extremely limited; students should expect to be online about an hour a day.