I led our 4-H club in a Dutch Oven Cooking project. It was my first time leading these "fire and knives" activities. We all learned a lot about cooking, and got a good bunch of healthy living information thrown in.
Beyond the cooking, I tried to tie this in with other 4-H projects. We talked quite a bit about gardening. Which ingredients that we were using could be grown in a garden? What could we do with our food scraps? What could we do with the ash?
As part of the project, each club member had to give a presentation about some aspect of dutch ovens. I was surprised at how many history projects we had ranging from the origins of cast iron and charcoal to the etymology of the name dutch oven.
We also worked with some interesting dietary challenges. One of our club families does not eat pork. Another member has a dairy allergy. Another avoids gluten. While we did not make every recipe fit every diet, we did make a number of accommodations in an attempt to help everyone gain cooking skills and still being able to enjoy the food we made.
Not only did the club members learn a lot, we really built some bonds across our families. Dutch oven cooking has a lot of waiting time, and we all got a chance to visit with each other, learn about each other, and grow closer as a community.
And the biggest sign of success: everyone wants to do it again next year.
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