Photos from Harvest Fest, cont.

Valerie Hammond, who showed us how to can. Thanks, Valerie!

Photos from Harvest Fest

Well, it's been two weeks since Harvest Fest -- I guess it's about time to post about it.

The festivities went on all day, from 1:00 until people left -- which was mostly after dinner, around 7 or so. The day included pumpkin carving (which resulted in some pretty creative jack-o-lanterns), canning, crafts, live music, and of course, FOOD! All in all, it was a great success! Cleanup afterwards even went smoothly; thanks to former EcoHouser Stephanie Porter's brilliant idea, a few big ol' tubs, and some soapy water, we created a big "wash-your-own-plate" dish line.

We all had a great time, and hope to make the event an EcoHouse tradition in years to come!

Pre-Harvest Fest:  a visit to the pumpkin farm!

Pumpkin-head

This one was particularly warty...we liked him, but didn't think he'd carve too well.

Hannah with pumpkins

All ready to go!

Ahhh...what a sight.

The night before: Leah chopping carrots to be canned

Carrot-person!

Covered in flour, as usual

Vincent chopped a TON of onions

Jacob, sharpening knives for pumpkin carving

preparing for Harvest Fest!

Here at EcoHouse, we've been busy getting ready for Harvest Fest! That means everything from budgeting, figuring out what we're going to cook for dinner and dessert, planning carpool trips to the pumpkin patch, and lots more. We've been especially enjoying working with Grinnell resident Valerie Hammond, who will be coming in to help us with food canning. Don't miss what promises to be a really interesting workshop in food preservation!

We've attached the final schedule for the day. Feel free to come for the whole day, or just stop by for parts that sound especially interesting to you! (Although we all know the most fun happens during those spontaneous, inbetween moments where people are scattered about inventing their own lawn games, breaking into impromptu three-part harmony, or baking cookies in the kitchen!) 

We're so excited for this event, and really hope to see lots of you there! All students, staff, and community members are all welcome. See you on Saturday!

Apples and Pears and Tomatoes, Oh My!

A few EcoHouse residents went out on Sunday to harvest a bunch of fruit (and even some tomatoes and onions!) from the orchard/garden of a Grinnell professor emeritus. Huge thanks to Elliott Uhlenhopp and his family, who were kind enough to let us harvest and keep these veggies. What a pleasant surprise to come home to buckets and buckets of fresh produce on Sunday night!

Madeline, who organized the whole excursion

Hannah picking apples

Ivy poses with the "fruits" of their labor

 Jacob approves

SO MANY BEAUTIFUL TOMATOES

my favorite corner of ecohouse

Harvest Festival planning underway...

Fall is in the air (okay, so it was 85 degrees on Friday...but we've had those few important cold days that signal that summer is definitely at its end!) and it's time to start celebrating! This year, EcoHouse will be hosting its first annual Harvest Festival, where we will welcome the arrival of fall through food, music, games, and other fun activities! We're especially excited to try some canning and composting workshops, where we can expand our ever-growing knowledge of sustainable practices by learning from members of the greater Grinnell community (Sustainability director Chris Bair has offered to help us start a new, bigger composting bin, and canner extraordinaire Valerie Hammond has volunteered to come help us learn how to can vegetables!).

The Harvest Festival will take place on October 12 at EcoHouse and will be open to all Grinnell students and community members! More info to come soon.

David, Leah, Jacob, and Adri relaxing in the living room

Family Weekend at EcoHouse

This weekend was family weekend here at Grinnell, and we decided to greet our parents with a home-made meal! Eleanor led our endeavor with her famous salmon patties, while the rest of us made yummy side dishes. (Special shout out to David for his delicious pesto pasta -- made out of fresh basil from his garden back home in Kentucky!) 

Best of all, the meal was made from mostly local foods, including the kale, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, rice, and pesto (well, local to David's garden), to name a few. We even had some yummy local beer from the Amana colonies just down the road!

Everyone's families seemed to enjoy it, and overall I'd say we considered the evening a great success. 

The food! (Well, some of it)

House meeting time. Everyone just looks so enthused to be talking about dirty dishes again! (Just kidding.) (Kind of.) (We also talk about other things, I swear!)

Jacob and his parents enjoying the blue couch (the comfiest couch in all the land)

An after-dinner jam session in the living room is always a good way to end the night.