With flour scattered around, and pots and pans dirty with dough, students listened to the secrets of baking. Seventy-eight-year old Marjorie von Euw, Sharon Scharf’s mother, visited the campus home economics class on Oct.23 to teach the students how to make a piecrust.

“I came because of my daughter,” von Euw said. “I am interested in working with youth because they are the future of the world, and that’s what I feel led to do.”

Von Euw has dedicated much of her life to serving others. She has sewed for more than 20 years in the Head, Hearts, Hands, and Health Program (4H), and she continues to volunteer for Trinity Presbyterian Church of Fresno.

Von Euw has been making her own pies and clothes since she was 16.

“Mrs. von Euw’s demonstration taught me that I don’t have to buy the frozen Pillsbury crust from the grocery store,” Chris Vanden Hoek, ’03, said. “Making my own crust is much better tasting, and it’s not hard at all.”

This is the sixth year that von Euw has returned to demonstrate the process of making piecrusts for her daughter’s class.

“I think it is a great idea,” Scharf said. “I believe in passing the knowledge that grandparents have across the age barrier.”

Von Euw commented that the ingredients are not the most important step in making the perfect piecrust. Of more importance is how the ingredients are put together. The less the dough is handled, the more tender and flaky it will be.

“There really isn’t anything complex about the ingredients,” Rachel Jacobsen, ’04, said. “It’s very easy to make and you don’t need any experience in baking.”

Over the next couple of weeks, the class will be using their new knowledge of pie making to bake many apple, cherry, pumpkin and cream pies.

For more information on the high school home economics class, parents and students can contact Sharon Scharf at 297-9464, ext. 159.