The students arrived in the morning at a farm just outside of the city. After we arrived, the farmers kindly gave the students bags so that they could pick vegetables from the vegetable garden.

As we walked through the fields, students picked aubergines, chilis, potatoes, tomatoes, gourds, radishes and pumpkins. After that, the farmers helped us weigh the vegetables.

From the vegetable patch, we went to feed the goats and rabbits. They really enjoyed eating the lettuce and other leaves the students picked and fed them. The goats live in a big grassy field where they can roam freely, and students had the chance to run and play as well.

After half an hour with the animals, students went in to have a homemade lunch from the farmers. Braised beef and potatoes were served in a thick gravy with bitter gourd and rice as sides.

After eating, we went inside and the students made tofu by hand. First, students stood around a millstone and poured soya beans and water into the eyelet. Students ground the beans by turning the runner anti-clockwise by hand with a dowel. The beans are ground around the rhynd and pushed out into the catch tray and swept into a bowl by a brush.

Once all the beans are ground, they take the bean paste and water, pour it through cheese cloth, and strain out the water. After that it is ready to be set and turned into tofu. A delicious byproduct is the soya milk that can be boiled and drunk.

This was a fascinating way for the students to see how food gets from the farm to their table, and that not everything is simply bought from the store, someone had to help it get there. Join us next for the jam making process, where students learn how to preserve the food they’ve made!