How Farm to School Grew This Spring

So many exciting things have happened since our March Farm to School workshop.   The North Powder School District formed a Farm to School Committee, the Elgin School District is in the process of forming one, Oregon Rural Action and OHSU partnered to organize a Harvest of the Month “beta taste,” and the ORA Farm to School Task Force met to set priorities for next fall.  

In April the North Powder Farm to School Committee met for the first time.  Their goal: “To provide healthy food and education about it to those that attend North Powder School and help promote healthy lifestyles with a sustainable food system.”  Since that first meeting North Powder elementary students have planted a beautiful garden.  The committee is hard at work on updating the greenhouse to be used year-round, building a root cellar, and starting a composting program.  Prior to forming the committee North Powder was already making strides to improve their school lunch program by serving fewer processed foods. Now they’re expanding the effort. 

The Elgin School District is in the process of forming a Farm to School Committee to expand efforts to improve school lunches and integrate a greater focus on health into other parts of the school day.  Elgin already purchases fruits and vegetables from PD Farms in Elgin.   If you would like information about how to join the North Powder or Elgin Farm to School Committees contact Teresa Roark at teresa@oreognrural.org or (541) 975-2411

May was “Spring Greens Month” and ORA worked with OHSU to feature local spinach as part of a Harvest of the Month Program. The Oregon Rural Action Farm to School Task Force piloted three tasting tables. Elementary and middle school students at North Powder, Imbler, and Union sampled a fresh local spinach salad, and a local spinach smoothie.  They then voted on which they liked better.  If a student just couldn’t decide which they liked best, they were allowed to vote for both (Hey, it’s not civics class).  In the end 323 students participated in the project.  And the smoothie was the hands-down winner in all the schools, by a 2 to 1 margin. 

On the first day of summer, June 21st, the ORA Farm to School Task Force met to discuss priorities for the next school year and how to best support existing Farm to School efforts.  The group approved the following goal statement for the countywide Task Force:

To connect schools and local producers with the objectives of:

• Serving healthy meals in school cafeterias,
• Improving student nutrition,
• Providing agriculture, health, and nutrition education, and
• Supporting local and regional farmers.

One of the priorities that the group identified was the need for another workshop.  And hopefully we will be able to organize one in both the fall and spring this next school year.  The group also formulated some exciting ideas for the focus of this year’s workshops, including a “Farm to School Bus Tour” of school kitchens, school gardens, and farms that sell to schools.  The first Farm to School workshop planning meeting will be on July 19th at 3:30 at the Ag Services Building at 10507 N McAlister Rd.

The Task Force also recognized that the La Grande School District faces some challenges that are different from the other school districts in Union County.  So we will be holding a special meeting to discuss how to move forward in La Grande on July 26th at 3:30 at the Oregon Rural Action office, on the second floor of White House Coffee.

These are open meetings and everyone is invited and encouraged to come. In the past six months we’ve set a great pace for Farm to School in Union County, and we hope to continue that momentum into the 2010/2011 school year.  If you have any questions please contact Teresa Roark at teresa@oregonrural.org or 541-975-2411.