ALTHEA BOURNE & SHANE THOMPSON
It is a pleasure to introduce you to Althea Bourne, who
is about to start her junior year at the High School for Public Service and
plans to apply for the Summer Youth Leaders Program again in 2014. “My greatest success in the kitchen recently
is having made a pizza from scratch – sauce and all! I was on Cloud Nine,” says Althea. “But I’ve also burnt rice badly if we’re
going to be honest here.”
“I’ve burned an egg!” chimes in Shane Thompson, a 2nd-year
program participant who’s about to start his freshman year at SUNY Buffalo in
the fall. “It’s so embarrassing to admit
that. In general, I try to stay out of
the kitchen as much as possible. My mom
is my favorite cook. I’ve tried other
people’s food, but I always come back to my mom’s. She makes a great Jamaican-style curry
chicken and white rice.”
“My favorite cook
is my Great Aunt. She has a variety of
skills and she can prepare a full meal: meat, starches, and vegetables,” shares
Althea. “She actually encouraged my love
of carrots and I thank her for that. One
of my favorite dishes is also curry chicken Guyanese-style, but I like it with
roti instead of white rice. Roti is a
Caribbean-style tortilla dish; it’s delicious.”
Both Althea and Shane want everyone to know that our farm
food is tasty and fresh. "Heirloom tomatoes
are so unusual and pretty!” exclaims Althea.
“You just can’t go wrong when you eat organic,” adds Shane.
“You just can’t go wrong when you eat organic,” adds Shane.
When asked how working on the farm might affect what they
eat for lunch in the fall, Shane shared that he avoids school lunches after
experiencing food poisoning when he was 11 or 12 years old. “It was so painful. I now regularly pack Subway sandwiches. I have been very moved by the Food Inc.
videos we’ve watched this summer and I have loved our nutritional
discussions. I am uncomfortable with the
way we treat chicken and meat in general in the USA. I am strongly considering becoming a
vegetarian.”
“I love to pack callilloo soup for lunch,” states
Althea. “I plan to add more vegetables
this year. And I’d like to pack more
sandwiches, too, and add some raw veggies.
I am always watching my budget and I am grateful to receive school
lunches at no cost to me. It is very
hard to study when you have to skip lunch.”
Shane plans to study Engineering in the fall and run
track. “Nutrition is key and vital to my
success at SUNY Buffalo. The farm has
taught me what I need to eat to succeed.
I plan to focus on more greens and less meat. In general I tend to avoid beef and pork and
I prefer good carbohydrates. My current favorite
vegetable is broccoli.”
Althea plans to be a social worker in the future. “I really enjoy seeing other points of view
and putting my pride aside. I strive to
be a good listener. There are a lot of
strong personalities among the youth on the farm and I have learned to carry
myself better and get what I need without being too forceful. I love working with Shane and I often pick
him on Wednesday’s shout out. He has a
great work ethic and he finishes tasks quickly.
He is known as Compost King after all!”
“I also enjoy working with Althea, but I have loved working
with Kumar,” states Shane, “because we work well together. He is so funny and makes time move
faster. I’m really going to miss him.”
“If I am invited back to work on the farm next summer,” says
Althea, “I want to do a variety of work and be encouraged to do tasks that I
may not be good at yet, like irrigating.
And I will make sure that the radio works so I can listen to it while
I’m weeding!”
SHANE THE COMPOST KING! Watch the video about Shane and Compost
