By Ande Finley
Upcoming events
Join the Locavores for our winter Evening Meals at School on Thursday, January 26th, 5:30-7 p.m. for a menu featuring squash, lentil and kale soup, potato cakes with leeks, winter slaw with mustard vinaigrette, and spiced apple cranberry bars.
And our next film “Cafeteria Man” about chef, Tony Geraci and the greening of the Baltimore City schools lunch program will screen on Sunday, Jan. 29, 4:30 p.m., at Port Stanley School.
What’s happening on the farm to school front?
Did you know that every state has at least one Farm to School program with over 9,800 schools involved nationally?
That represents millions of children who are being exposed to the concept of local and fresh and often, learning to grow their own food.
It is one of the building blocks of a quiet revolution with far-reaching consequences for the future of food and food policy in our nation.
In August 2011, a survey released by the School Nutrition Association discovered “that 48 percent of food service directors offer locally grown fruits and vegetables, up from 37 percent in 2009… More than 30 percent [of schools] already have “farm to school” programs and another 41 percent are interested. In addition, 21 percent of districts said they have a school garden and 3 percent more are planning to implement one.”
Among the myriad benefits of farm to school, the link between nutrition and learning seems to be catching on.
As an umbrella over this movement, the National Farm to School Network (http://www.farmtoschool.org/index.php) acts as a clearing house for the wide range of programs, each “shaped by its unique community and region,” providing free training and technical assistance, information services, and networking.
Hundreds of news releases include a mix of Georgia schools holding a kale taste-testing contest, Maryland’s Homegrown School Lunch Week, the Twin Cities’ free Youth Farm summer camp program, and Massachusetts’ Harvest for Students Week.
Closer to home, in 2008, the Washington State Legislature appropriated $1.5 million to pass the Local Farms-Healthy Kids legislation, creating a staffed state Farm-to-School Program and effectively promoting schools using local, fresh ingredients in their lunch programs by easing procurement restrictions, encouraging school gardens, and requiring education about organic and conventional farming.
This bill also created the Washington Grown Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program which provides funds to elementary schools with large populations of low-income students to make available a locally-grown fruit and vegetable snack program.
Sound familiar?
The Lopez School District has been supporting local farm fresh foods for its cafeteria since 2002 when S & S Homestead began supplying greens for a lunch salad bar from high school students’ gardens at their farm.
Over the last six years, the L.I.F.E. Garden Program has expanded to include a district-funded coordinator and two part-time gardeners to produce more food for the cafeteria.
The garden boasts four hoop houses, three with sturdy new doors constructed by Pamela Pauly and her team of volunteers and a fourth which is slated to become the outdoor produce-washing facility.
And this year a culinary program directed by Jeanna Carter has been launched to expose students to the professional world of inspired food. Lopez’ farm to school program, featured in the book Smart by Nature — Schooling for Sustainability, has become a model nation-wide of what is possible when schools make a partnership between on-site gardens, curriculum, and their cafeterias a high priority.
For your cooking pleasure
Did you know that the Eastern Washington Palouse is considered to be the most productive in the world for growing lentils, split peas, and chickpeas? This recipe, adapted from Greg Atkinson’s Northwest Essentials, shows his culinary brilliance in the simplicity which allows each ingredient to pop.
Green Split Pea Soup with a Mirepoix
Serves six
2 quarts water
2 teaspoons salt
2 bay leaves
2 cups green split peas
1 medium onion
4 stalks celery
3 medium carrots
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon fresh black pepper
1 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Over high heat, boil water, salt, and bay leaves. Stir in the split peas. Over medium heat, partially cover, and cook for 30 minutes or till the peas are just tender.
Meanwhile dice the onion, celery, and carrots as small as the peas. Sauté the diced vegetables in the oil 8 to 10 minutes or until they are soft and beginning to color. Add the pepper, parsley, and garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes more. Add to peas. Simmer 10-15 minutes or till peas begin to fall apart. Serve hot.
