Students' Produce On Cafeteria Menu

"Seed money" is exactly what Hinsdale School students received from a Farm to School grant last year and this month, they are reaping the benefits.
They got $500 to purchase planters, garden seeds and hand tools for the students to use with the garden project. They prepared large gardens on school property and nearby private property, where they grew tomatoes, muskmelon, watermelon, onions, cabbage, peppers, sweet corn and herbs. This week they harvested some of their produce and with the cooperation of the school cook, the good fresh food was served for lunch in the cafeteria. The salad bar was brimming with just-picked cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, onions and freshly made cole slaw.
"That's as fresh as you can get," said Patti Armbrister, the Hinsdale ag-ed teacher, who wrote the grant and got the program going at Hinsdale. "Our goal was to get students involved in growing their own food and improving student nutrition, health and nutrition education opportunities in the school."
The national Farm to School Network, just over 10 years old, is now in about 9,000 schools and in every state. The network provides training and technical assistance, information services, networking, and support in policy and media and marketing activities.
Hinsdale is a community of wheat farmers and cattle ranchers, so growing food is not as foreign to these students as it is to city kids. Still, Montanans face significant challenges in redeveloping a local food system, according to information from the Farm to School website. Sixty years ago, 70 percent of the food Montanans ate was produced in state, the site states. That number is down to about 10 percent today. Much of the local infrastructure needed to serve the school market with local food doesn't exist any more.
Armbrister said some of the students who live in town helped plant the gardens, while others students picked and helped apply fertilize and compost to the gardens and planters.
Julie Alexander is a Hinsdale resident who let students till and plant a garden in her yard, the first real garden she has ever had.
"I learned what it takes to get the ground ready to plant. The work that goes into just preparing the land for the garden was mind boggling," Alexander said. "We had a few kids from the neighborhood come and plant the seeds for the corn and surrounding flower border. Wind and wildlife was never something I had to consider before. The kids had lots of fun learning and were so excited to be able to watch their seeds grow into mature plants. We have been able to enjoy a plentiful crop of cabbage, bell peppers, jalapeños, tomatoes, onions, leeks and corn.
"It’s been great to be able to share our bounty with the community and school. It’s great to know that we are providing something nutritious for the school kids. The kids love getting to choose the fresh vegetables and fruit on the salad bar. I also appreciate knowing that the kids are eating locally and hope it has the opportunity for them to learn how eating locally supports their community."
In addition to the fruits and veggies, the students planted flowers in their gardens. Hinsdale School's FFA chapter competes at the district and state FFA floriculture contest each year, and the students have fun practicing with the fresh flowers. By growing their own flowers, they have inexpensive materials to practice making arrangements, corsages and boutonnieres.
Last winter in the classroom, Armbrister held workshops on "food miles." She had her students look in the kitchen cupboard and bring in food, anything they wanted to choose.
"None of them had ever read the labels before," she said. "Pineapple, where is it from? Hawaii – that's a long way away! And some comes from Vietnam – even farther away. We figured the fuel cost for shipping. It's more than the produce is worth. All orange juice isn't from Florida, it's now a U.S. product with a Brazilian product, with a Costa Rican product, or other Central American countries."
Armbrister's students also compared genetically modified food and organic food, learning to discriminate and pick healthier food.
"I would like to continue with the 'Farm to School' grant program, as it is an excellent program and it is promoting fresh, locally grown and very nutritious food," Armbrister said. "The students hopefully will develop a lifetime habit of growing some of their own food. Anything that we can do to teach the students to eat healthier and to cut down on the number of miles our food is getting trucked and transported to our plates is a win-win for our children and their future.”