For our final third grade class of the year, we brought it full circle and returned to Indigenous foodways. In the classroom, we watched four generations of Ohlone women alive today talk about the importance of the oak tree and passing down traditions. Students shared what they’ve taken away from our journey through the history of San Francisco and explored the idea of being “ancestors in training." We discussed what our responsibilities might be to future third graders and what we can learn from Indigenous peoples, who are still here, thriving, and will continue to be here for generations to come.
In the kitchen we made acorn brownies using flour from acorns collected and processed by a woman named Sue Chin in the East Bay. We enjoyed the brownies with an Ohlone tea, made with ingredients Indigenous people still gather locally: yerba buena, white sage, rose hips, stinging nettle, and bay laurel. The third graders filled nut milk bags with the dried plants and we used them as giant tea bags, which worked wonderfully.
The brownies were gooey and nutty, and the bitter tea a perfect complement to the sweet chocolate. At each table while we ate, we went around the circle and shared our favorite recipe from the unit. In our closing circle as a full class, we shared appreciations and gratitude for what we’ve experienced together. It’s been an incredible ten weeks, and I look forward to working with all of our amazing chefs in fourth grade next year!
