Carriage House Harvest Projects

For our main Harvest Project this year, the Upper and Lower Carriage House worked together, choosing from one of the following: Indigenous Dwellings, Harvesting Colors: Natural Dyes, Harvest Feast Baking and a Harvest Edition of The Beak Jr. Magazine. No matter which they chose, they were exposed to the majority of our learning links. We shared with students what each project would entail and then they were able to use rank choice voting to make their selection. 

Indigenous Dwellings with Angie

Students involved in this project are exploring the relationship that native peoples of the Northeast had with the land hundreds of years ago. Since indigenous cultures are very vast, we started out by identifying what we already know about it, and what we hope to learn. 

Here at Randolph, indigenous teachings and history are woven throughout our curriculum, so our “what we know” list came together quickly: children discussed the Three Sisters, the Lenape people, the Wappinger people, and some kids offered up knowledge they had about building natural shelters. Then, they really dug deep as they pondered what they didn’t know: When did the first people arrive here? What were they called? Are they still around today? What did their villages look like? How did they cook? What materials and tools did they use to build a home? All of these questions and more have been guiding our work, whether it be through books, stories, pictures, hands-on building, or snippets of knowledge from evan, who has been assisting with this project alongside Angie.

We began by taking a walk around the school, taking note of what the land had to offer us for this project. We looked for a suitable place to build our large model wigwam, and places to harvest materials. When deciding on a site, we discussed how the structure might impact our current community, how it would sit among the modern buildings, and how we wanted the space to “feel”. One factor that was important to the group was that it felt protected and tucked under a grove of large trees.

On our walk, we identified a grove of Ailanthus (Tree of Heaven) saplings that were the perfect size and flexible enough to be used for the frame of our wigwam. We discussed how using this invasive plant is a sustainable harvesting option, as opposed to cutting down native saplings. The saplings’ long, flexible petioles (small branches) were perfect for our smaller models. Angie and evan bent the trees down to kid-height so they could pluck off the leafless petioles. After harvesting just the right amount – not too few and not too many – we stored them in water to retain their flexibility. 

Now we are ready to begin making our small model wigwams! The crew worked in two teams of 3-4 kids, using an instructions sheet to guide them through the steps. We used a stake in the center, twine, and a marker to create the circumference of the base of the wigwam, being careful to measure the appropriate diameter with the length of the twine. Each child got a chance to poke in a pole or two along that circle: a pair of poles at the North, South, East, and West ends of the wigwam. Opposite poles were bent towards each other and lashed together to form an arc. Additional longitudinal poles were staked in along the circle, and bent over to create smaller arcs that began forming the dome shape.

Next, we needed to add lateral poles that would be perpendicular to the poles that are in the ground. We estimated the circumference of various heights along our dome shape, then created circles with the petioles and slid them over the top of the dome, securing them at the appropriate height by tying them down at each perpendicular intersection with the longitudinal poles. As you might imagine, we got a lot of knot tying practice! We also practiced the art of working on a team, with individuals being responsible for specific roles within their team and taking turns doing certain tasks. After about a week and a half, our small wigwam frames were complete, and we were ready to put our new skills to the test and move into building the life size wigwam!

 Harvesting Colors: Natural Dyes with Renée

The Harvesting Colors Natural Dye project from last year is back by popular demand from some of the Carriage House elders who loved it last year and some new Carriage House friends who heard about it and were eager to give natural dyeing a try! The beauty of this year’s iteration of our Harvesting Color project is the knowledge and expertise of the elders who did this work with me last fall. They truly remember a lot from that time! Throughout our work the elders have been generously, clearly, and patiently sharing their knowledge with our first year Carriage House friends, including teaching them all how to knit! And, our new fiber artists have been eagerly soaking it all up, like a hank of wool yarn dunked into a marigold dyebath! 

To start this project we had an initial discussion about what we wanted to dye (Yarn? Fabric? BOTH!?) and what to do with our colorful fibers once we’re finished. There were a lot of fun, clever ideas and much reminiscing about last year’s Grandmother Maple scarf project. In the end, we all decided that we wanted to make something for both Harvest Feast AND for Grandmother Maple. We landed on the very sweet idea of making cloth napkins and yarn napkin rings for everyone to use at Harvest Feast. Then the fiber artists’  plan is to wash the napkins after the feast and use them to sew a quilt for Grandmother Maple to snuggle under during her winter dormancy.

Like last year, we got our work started with an exploration of yarn and textiles, and the different kinds of fibers they’re made of. We learned (and remembered) that yarns are usually made up of three different types of fibers, not the kind of fiber you eat, but thread-like substances that can then be spun together using different kinds of spindles or spinning wheels. These fibers can be cellulose (plant-based like cotton or linen), protein (animal-based like wool or mohair), and synthetic (human-made like acrylic or spandex). We took a closer look at those three kinds of fibers in their raw, spun, knit, and woven forms under the microscope. The fiber artists did some highly detailed observational drawings, noticing things like the protein fibers kind of looked a little like wavy human hair (makes sense!), the cellulose fibers were duller, and the synthetic fibers looked like plastic (because it is!). We also got a chance to try out carding (kinda like brushing the fibers) and spinning our own yarn using a drop spindle. It’s hard work and really makes you appreciate the yarn we love using so much!

Next,  the wool yarn (protein fiber) and cotton napkins (cellulose fiber) needed to be prepared for the dyeing process. Our elders taught the newbies how to use a special tool called an umbrella swift to make hanks of yarn, or large loops of yarn tied together. Around here we sometimes call them “yarn donuts.” The children learned (and remembered) that hanking the yarn helps to increase the surface area and keep the yarn from getting tangled during the dyeing process. We also made hanks in pairs,  one partner holding their hands out while the other wrapped yarn around them; and independently by wrapping around their arm, like winding rope, or around the back of a chair. Some friends got creative making very large hanks by partnering up with one person wrapping yarn from head to toe on the other! Our napkins are simply woven bandanas that we cut into quarters. It was so fun and satisfying snipping one end and ripping along the grain of the cloth to get the size napkins we want.

Then it was time to scour and mordant! Scouring is like a special bath that clears away any oils or debris that would interfere with the dye penetrating the fibers. Protein and cellulose fibers have slightly different scouring and mordanting processes. The cotton needed to be scoured a couple times and it surprised even our elders how dirty the water was after scouring what looked like perfectly clean, white napkins! Once our yarn and napkins were nice and clean from scouring, they were ready for mordant. The children learned (and a couple even remembered!) that the word mordant comes from a Latin word that means “to bite” and is a chemical put on fibers that helps to attach and hold dye pigments to the fibers. This time around our elders were interested in experimenting with different types of mordants and no mordants at all to see what different colors would reveal themselves.

Time to start harvesting our colors!  In the natural dye world this is described as extracting color or pigment from dyestuff. We had a lot of options for dyestuff right here at Randolph! The Three Sisters garden was loaded with zinnias and  a variety of marigolds, and the black walnut trees were dropping walnuts all over the place. We also got a whole bunch of dahlias from our very own dahlia expert and mom to Upper Carriage House kiddo Natalie, Jessica Dell. Thanks, Jess! Working with the marigold flowers was probably the most interesting for all of us. We had yellow and orange flowers, dried and fresh flowers. We were curious to see if they would make the same color or different ones. It turned out that we got an even more beautiful range of yellows and oranges than we expected. In the process we learned that in Mexico marigolds are referred to as “Flor de Muertos” (Flowers of the Dead) and are used in Dia de los Muertos ceremonies. In India they are used as decorations for weddings and other special events.  That got us wanting to experiment with different dyestuff that comes from other parts of the world, like the fuchsia and red producing cochineal bugs of Central America. Cochineal bugs suck the sap and nutrients out of the prickly pair cactus. True nature-loving Randolph kids that they are, the fiber artists made the connection with spotted lantern flies sucking sap from trees. They wondered if next spotted lantern fly season they could try collecting, drying, and harvesting color from the insect since, as one of them put it, “we don’t really feel like we need to protect spotted lantern flies and we might as well see if they can be useful.” 

Once you have the dyestuff, creating the dyebath is a multi-step process. It involves weighing the dyestuff on a precise kitchen scale. The elders taught the newbies how to zero out the scale using two of the same containers to get an accurate measurement. They recorded the weights so that later, when we added the fibers to the completed dyebath, we would  know how much fiber we could add to get rich colors. Natural dyers often work in ratios, so when we had 100 grams of dried orange marigolds, we later weighed 100 grams of dry fiber to add to the dyebath, for a 1:1 ratio of dyestuff to fiber. In a typical dyebath, once the dyestuff is measured, it’s added to a large pot, simmered, cooled and the remaining dyestuff is strained out before adding the fibers and simmering on the stove again. Some of the dyebaths call for color enhancing chemicals like soda ash or cream of tartar, so the kids helped measure these to dissolve into the dyebath. Once you get a round of dyeing on the stove in, it’s always fun and interesting to save what’s called your “exhaust bath” for other dye experiments. Clearly, the fiber artists did lots of weighing, measuring, and transferring of liquids. Much brain and brawn was needed!

We have four more days of this project left and the consensus of the group is that we just want more time to play with Harvesting Colors! We still have so much dyeing and experimenting that we want to do! Next week we plan on making an indigo vat for dyeing and overdyeing (dyeing over the top of already dyed fibers) to make new colors. The yellows of the marigold dyes, when dipped in the indigo, should yield some pretty greens. Thanks to Downstairs teacher extraordinaire , Samantha, who brought us some bark from an apple tree that needed to be cut down on her property, we have some apple bark soaking that will be ready to have the color extracted from next week. Maybe we’ll get some pinks and peaches. Plus, we’re in the middle of experimenting with the dye baths we have right now and an iron modifier, a rust bath that can change the color of natural dyed fibers. We found out that dipping cellulose fiber in our black walnut dyebath and then immediately after dipping it into our iron modifier makes gorgeous charcoal greys and blacks. We found that our dahlia dyebath can produce almost neon orange on our whitest protein fibers. Just to name a couple of our discoveries!  

Harvesting Colors continues to be so much fun! And, the real joy and testament to the fiber artists' hard work will be seeing their proud faces when they share the napkins and napkin rings they made with the whole school at Harvest Feast!

Harvest Feast Baking with Jackie

Though baking is a lot of fun, it is also a LOT of math! Especially when you are feeding a LOT of people (100 to be exact!) The baking team first had to find out how many people in total we were preparing food for. We looked at the class lists and added up the number of students and staff. Once that was done, we searched for recipes that would use the foods we harvested from our gardens. They decided on corn muffins, apple muffins, and butternut squash soup. After the recipes were selected, the big math began! How many times would we need to multiply each recipe? How much of each ingredient will we need? Kiddos added and multiplied their way through whole numbers AND fractions! 

After our ingredients were figured out, it was time to go to the grocery store! With the help of Amy and Tisha, students in this group took a trip to Adam’s Fairacre Farms to shop for our remaining supplies. Each child in this group had their own shopping list that they were responsible for keeping track of, making sure we didn’t miss any of our ingredients. Together, they compared prices of items, looking for the lowest prices as they went. They also looked for any of the items that were on sale from the store circular they had looked through prior to our trip to the store. Our outing concluded with a fun “impulse buy” of some flavored popcorn to bring back to share with the rest of our friends in the Carriage House! (A major highlight of the trip, if you ask any of the kiddos that went!)

Once we had all of our supplies, the food preparations began! Because we were making such large quantities of food, we knew we needed to get a jump start on it, even though Harvest Feast was still several weeks away when we started. Part of the process of selecting the recipes was that they needed to be foods that would freeze well. Kiddos chopped butternut squash, potatoes, apples, carrots and the “dreaded” onions (We all know that many tears were shed during that process! A special THANK YOU to Chloe’s mom, Eve, for her soup recipe!) They measured and mixed dry and wet muffin ingredients, and scooped out over 300 mini muffins! There may have been some taste testing along the way. After all, a good chef/baker always makes sure they are happy with their product they are putting out to the public, right?!

In addition to all this food prep, this group has also taken on the task of making the menus for our special day. In order to do this, we had to know what the other classes would be preparing for our feast. They worked with a buddy and worked their way through the 5 steps of the writing process to draft, revise and edit letters that they delivered to our neighboring classes. We awaited their replies, and then got to work on our menus! In addition to our offerings, our feast will also include mashed potatoes made by the entire Carriage House, applesauce and corn cookies made by our Downstairs friends, three sisters succotash and apple cake made by The Neighborhood, and the infamous STONE SOUP; a collaboration from all!

Finally, to connect to our “People and Places” learning link, we did some reading about different indigenous groups and how they planted and used Three Sisters Gardens. We did some comparing and contrasting to how we, here at Randolph, also plant Three Sisters Gardens. Though there were more similarities than differences, it was interesting to explore and connect to this more, as it is such a big part of our gardening experience here at school. 

We cannot wait to all come together around the tables and share our special meal together with our Randolph family next week!