Team schools, workshops, cabbage hash browns and volunteer opportunities!
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Watermelon Wednesday
October 2025 Issue #13
Expanding Our Reach with
Chef in the Garden Teams
Historically, most Chef in the Garden sites have been able to serve up to 30 students at a time when delivering our programming. However, many of our site reps have been working hard to expand these numbers and share the curriculum with even more kids on their campuses! Based on the feedback and desire to expand, this year's CITG includes a team aspect where our site reps can join together in a group and receive enough ingredients to serve up to 90 students with the program. More students, more learning, more impact through taste education. It's going to be a great year!
Listening to our stakeholders and adapting our programs to meet needs is at the core of BWP's mission. This takes planning, evaluation and investment from supporters like YOU. Thank you for staying connected to our work and your community.
Students participating in our September Chef in the Garden lesson enjoyed a delicious cabbage hashbrown recipe by Chef Toya Collins! This quick, tasty recipe taught students about pan frying and gave them to enjoy a new version of a school favorite. Click the button to watch the video of Chef Toya walking us through her recipe, and see below for more information about September's featured chef and farmer!
For most of Chef Toya’s life, cooking and baking were simply a hobby and an expression of her love language - until the pandemic hit.
It was then she discovered online foodie communities and was charmed by the beautiful pictures and creative videos that began flooding her timeline.
They stirred her competitive instincts and inspired her to challenge herself. She started her own page, posted her recipes, gained a following, obtained her cottage food license and began selling her food online. Currently, she is the head baker for Bagelfeld’s, in Phoenix.
Bio provided by Chef Toya Collins
Blue Sky Organic Farms is a certified organic family farm located in Litchfield Park, AZ.
They have been farming in Arizona since 1995, with their chef-turned farmer David growing produce using his extensive knowledge and passion. Blue Sky grows over 120 different vegetable varieties and they are 100% organic, certified by California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF).
You can purchase Blue Sky Farm produce at their Farm Store, the Downtown Phoenix and Gilbert Farmer’s Markets, or through their website!
Check out what our students had to say about Chef Toya's recipe!
“I like it because it gives us a chance to cook and to have fun. It is very very fun."
- 4th grade, Rover Elementary
"The taste is pure cinema!" and "Thank you to Chef Toya, because it's a 10 out of 10. She knows what she's doing!"
- 6th graders, Larry C. Kennedy
“It was delicious!”
5th grade, Curry Elementary
“This was really fun and I believe that everyone should try this!”
- 8th grade, Royal Palm Middle
Volunteer with Blue Watermelon Project
Our calendar is filling up with a variety of volunteer opportunities! Sign up for a kit packing or kit delivery shift, cook with us at a chef demo, join us for a filming day with one of our partner farms, or learn about seed saving with us at our upcoming October gathering! We have enjoyed seeing many of you so far this year, and look forward to continuing to make impact together!
Ready to join us? New volunteers can click the button below to sign up for a Volgistics account to see all of the upcoming shifts on our calendar.
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