For students worried about the availability for the popular Culinary Arts elective next school year, there is another opportunity to satisfy cooking cravings. As part of the AISCE service learning program, aspiring chefs and active community members can participate in the Farm to Table Journey course.

From June 23 to July 3, students will learn about the process of farming to serving organic and locally grown foods, as well as cook for shelters. Chef M’Lisa Kelley will teach the course for a second year, and like last year, plans to visit local farms, including Alexis Koefoed’s Soul Food Farm in Vacaville.

“Last year, I had them do mulching in the vegetable garden and weeding in the lavender field,” Koefoed said.

In the spirit of service learning, Kelley plans to incorporate both education and volunteerism into the class. While at Soul Food Farm, Koefoed will lead the class in instruction and conversation the entire visit, Koefoed said. By showing the students work like mulching, weeding, or working in the chicken coop, they will see immediate returns as opposed to planting seeds, which they will never see mature.

Last year, the students visited Frog Hollow Farms to learn about how the farmer organically “creates a sustainable system with bees and beneficial insects to pollinate his stone fruit,” Kelley said.

The course begins with learning about the ways farms grow natural food, and ends with cooking, tasting and delivering the produce to shelters.

“We brought fresh produce back to school to cook,” freshman Olivia Friedes said, who attended the course last July.

Koefoed appreciates the education and involvement Kelley brings to educating students in culinary arts.

“This is her passion to connect farms to kids,” Koefoed said. “She’s one of the few people I know who packs up and brings her kids to the farm. It’s essential.”

Kelley expects full enrollment this summer. For more information on signing up, consult the AISCE brochure.