Cornucopia Project’s cooking club closes with pizza
Students from Cornucopia Project’s After School Cooking Club at South Meadow School compete for “most beautiful presentation of a pizza” at the last class of the season on April 1. STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS
From left, Olivia Larouche, Brynn Hill, Charlotte Petrone and Oscar Dunn create pizza. STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS
Charlotte Petrone displays her flower-themed veggie pizza. STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS
Gloriana Morales, front left, decorates her pizza with vegetables grown by the Cornucopia Project. STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS
Douglas Higley of Blackfire Farm feeds a pizza into Blackfire’s mobile wood-fired pizza oven at South Meadow School. STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS
Dylan Larouce tastes his homemade pizza. STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS
| Published: 04-04-2025 8:31 AM |
Students at Cornucopia Project’s after-school cooking club at South Meadow School ended the season with a special treat, making wood-fired pizza in Blackfire Farm’s mobile pizza oven in front of the school April 1.
Cornucopia Education Director Olivia Clark said that initially, the group had planned to use South Meadow’s outdoor brick oven, but found out it wasn’t the right kind of oven for pizza.
“We came to find out it’s not a pizza oven; it’s a bread oven, and it only heats to about 500 degrees, while pizza needs to be heated to about 1,000 degrees,” Clark said. “So we asked Blackfire to come and bring their oven.”
Douglas Higley of Blackfire Farm was busy loading student-created pizzas into the mobile wood fired oven and coping with gusty winds. Students in the class competed to see who could make the pizza with the most beautiful presentation, using vegetables grown by Cornucopia’s high school students.
Middle-schooler Charlotte Petrone proudly displayed her pizza.
“I made a flower out of peppers and basil leaves. It looked better before it was cooked,” Petrone said.
Student Gloriana Morales said her role in the cooking club is “interviewer.”
“I brought a mini-mic, and I interviewed everyone about what they’re cooking. We made a video and we’re going to post it soon,” Morales said.
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Members of the cooking club learned to make quesadilla from homemade tortillas, fresh egg rolls, apple crisp and apple pie this season. They also worked with bakers from Baker Space in Depot Square to bake muffins.
“The muffins were my favorite,” said student Dylan LaRouche.
Cornucopia runs cooking clubs at South Meadow and Great Brook schools.
“This is our last cooking class of the season, and next we’re heading back into farming,” Clark said. “In the summer we do our on-farm programming, and in the fall we are back to gardening at the schools.”
Clark said that the Cornucopia Project office staff is excited about their upcoming move into a new space at the former Parker Brothers Coffee shop. The building, originally a private home, is located directly in front of ConVal High School and across the street from Cornucopia’s educational garden. Previously, the Cornucopia Project office was been located in the Vose Farm Road office park
“We are excited to be settling in there. The ribbon-cutting will be officially announced soon,” Clark said.
For information about Cornucopia Project, go to cornucopiaproject.org/product/cooking-club.
