Teaching on a Colony in June

June and the school year is all but over. I am a substitute teacher at some of the Hutterite Colonies. Last year's barbecue was a resounding success and now I am probably branded to do it every year. The children range from Grade 2 through 9 and there are 8 in school. We make everything from scratch and spent the entire morning getting everything ready. I wish I wasn't so picky. I didn't want any sticky fingers on my good camera and as a result we have no pictures of food! Next time I am going to designate a photographer so we get pictures of the great food they make.

Mostly it is from scratch. The menu today was BBQ chicken wings that we grilled first and then tossed in some purchased sauce. It worked so much better than last year when I marinated all the wings in a sauce. They just got crusty and black. We're learning!

We made a buttermilk dressing to serve with fresh veggies. We enjoyed radishes and asparagus from their garden plus a few from the grocery store, like jicama. If I had a dollar for every time that one of them asked me the name of that vegetable I'd be rich.

Then there were hamburgers and hotdogs with the fresh made buns from their kitchen. Our side dish was coleslaw.  The meal was completed with banana boats or banana split as the kids described it, filled with milk choccolate, wrapped in foil and grilled and then with vanilla ice cream. Oh, and we made fresh lemonade.

The girls were so amazing. Without even a hint from me they carried the dishes to the sink and washed each and every plate and fork. We swept the floor. Got the camera ready. I put on my hiking boots and we went to the coulee.

These pictures are the product of putting a digital camera in the hands of a child. 306 pictures later I have selected these to share.