“If the land that the U.S. agricultural system is built on is Indigenous American and the hands that built the system are African - where is the African and Native American representation in the U.S. agricultural system?”
Steve Williams, a 14-year veteran educator, is currently in his second year teaching the Farm-to-Table: Foundations of Farming and Food Justice course at DeWitt Middle School. DeWitt's principal, Carlan Gray, agreed to support Williams's pursuit of an agricultural class that re-centered Black and Indigenous history, culture, and cuisine.
Williams teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth graders an annually rotating curriculum with three main learning spaces: the garden and greenhouse, the classroom, and the kitchen.
To incorporate the important history of the DeWitt garden and greenhouse, Williams regularly collaborates with Wayne Gottlieb, a retired DeWitt teacher who was instrumental in developing the school’s garden. Gottlieb, now a committee member at Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI), serves as the garden/greenhouse mentor for Williams’ students. They engage in hands-on learning about farming and actively turn over the several growing beds in the DeWitt garden (mainly during quarters 1, 3, and 4 to avoid the winter months). While much of the produce grown in the garden is used in the kitchen space, the rest is donated to Mutual Aid Tompkins.
Swiss chard and tomatoes that were grown in the DeWitt Garden.
DeWitt garden beds are put to sleep for the winter months.
While the Farm-to-Table course relies on many hands-on components in the garden and kitchen, Williams emphasizes the importance of high academic standards and rigor in the classroom. Utilizing Leah Pinneman’s Farming While Black as a centralized text, Williams has students close-read and annotate excerpts through an intersectional lens. A wheel of privilege and power poster, provided by the DeWitt Equity Team, hangs in the classroom for student reference; Williams says it supports students’ understanding of white supremacy, disenfranchisement, and the historical context of the U.S. agricultural system. “Kids are receptive,” Williams said. “Though, in a predominantly white class, some students start the year feeling that racism is over. They quickly learn how that isn’t true.”
Williams supplements his syllabus with additional texts for close reading, and students most often work in groups for additional perspectives and support. Student presentations are a common evaluative tool in the course to support their public speaking abilities and share knowledge with the whole class.
Students work together to construct a timeline of BIPOC food sovereignty in the United States, as guided by models in Farming While Black.
In the classroom kitchen, many of the skills learned in a typical home economics course are put into practice. The space is equipped with several ovens, sinks, dishwashers, and a wall-mounted rack for pots and pans specially engineered by DeWitt technology students. Students learn not only to cook using garden-grown produce and family-donated food items (such as cheese, eggs, and tomatoes from family farms) but also about food and kitchen safety and how to wash dishes and do laundry. Working in small groups, students share responsibility for the safety of their group members by monitoring food allergies; for instance, if a student in the group is allergic to milk, that group will replace milk in a recipe with an appropriate substitute. Throughout the year, students learn to cook cultural dishes in alignment with many national heritage months (such as Hispanic Heritage Month in September and October).
Student-made biscuits were added to the food-sharing cabinet on Warren Road. King Arthur Baking Company sponsored the supplies for the biscuits via their Bake for Good Program.
Mr. Williams fosters connection and collaboration through several local partnerships. Last year, the students learned about hydroponics from Cornell Professor Neil Mattson and grew their own lettuce. Dan and Ruth Beasley from SweeTrees Maple Products in Berkshire taught students to identify, tap, and collect sap from maple trees and turn it into maple syrup. This year, Gabrielle Smith, Assistant Director of Student Success Programs at Cornell, is helping Williams’ classes develop a composting program at DeWitt. Mr. Williams sees these collaborations as crucial opportunities to provide students access to resources right in their community.
Mr. Williams sends correspondences to students’ caregivers bi-weekly to share about the lesson and invite them to participate. His classes host voluntary gardening events during the warmer months to work in the DeWitt garden together.
“I’m not an agriculturalist or a chef - I’m a STEM teacher,” Williams said. “Even though I’m not an expert, I get to be a learner alongside the students and it allows me to add to the curriculum every year with new partnerships we discover along the way.”
Mr. Williams’ Farm-to-Table courses demonstrate the impact of Learning Forward ICSD’s key tenets of students as partners and leaders and an anti-racist curriculum for all.
If you would like to support Mr. William’s efforts or learn more, email him at stevey.williams@icsd.k12.ny.us or follow along on Twitter/X.