Bittersweet

Hello!  This week we’ll be celebrating lots of area high school graduations, and here at Pathfinder Produce, we can assist you as your family gets ready to celebrate your special young adult.  We have a wide variety of fruits, veggies, and our own Pathfinder Produce hoop house greens for your party needs.

Stop by the Edmeston market at the Village Commons on Thursday, from 1 to 5 p.m., or the Morris market at the UMC Hall on Friday, from noon to 5 p.m.  We look forward to serving you, and hearing about your student’s accomplishments!

In this week’s blog, Sr. Director of Education Maura Iorio shares her thoughts on graduation at Pathfinder School.
Good luck and well done to all our area grads!!!

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This Wednesday, five of our Pathfinder School students will be graduating. Our Graduation and Moving Up Ceremony is always bittersweet for me. I absolutely love it because it showcases our students and their many talents and accomplishments, but it will also be sad to say "so long" to our Class of 2017!

This year's theme is the Wild West. Our graduates helped select this theme and I think it's very fitting. It represents their hard work and their determination to keep pushing forward despite any hardships that may stand in their way. We are so proud of the five young men graduating this year!

As we have worked to turn our school's gymnasium into a scene from a John Wayne western, I have had the opportunity to read up on cowboys and the Wild West. One article that I found of particular interest was about how difficult it was to find enough fresh produce in the harsh desert climate.  (An interesting blog post on modern day desert growing strategies is at the Prairie Homestead website).

Having your own western homestead garden was precarious at best, as crops were often lost to drought, pests, storms, or wildfires. For soldiers and cowboys posted on the frontier, gardening wasn't an option and too often they would develop scurvy. One solution to this problem was the prickly pear.

Part of a cactus, the prickly pear fruit was covered in bristles that needed to be carefully removed. They were then peeled and boiled with sugar to create an applesauce-like food. Although the men complained that it tasted more bitter than sweet, the ingenious concoction contained enough Vitamin C to keep men on the frontier healthy. Even today, the prickly pear is sought after for its high amounts of fiber and antioxidants! 

Although I can't promise that there will be any prickly pears, stop in at Pathfinder Produce this week and stock up on some fresh produce to keep you and your family scurvy-free! 

 

And like those cowboys of the Wild West, Pathfinder School's Class of 2017 will get to show off their tenacity and grit this Wednesday at our Graduation and Moving Up Ceremony. We can't wait to celebrate with our staff, students, families, and community! 

Thanks for an awesome school year,

Maura (and Lori)