Part II. Section 3. OTHER SUCCESSFUL URBAN AND RURAL FARM-TO-SCHOOL MODELS

Two Brattleboro Urban Models: The Healthy Snack Initiative and

Feed Your Head

Instead of eating sugary treats and oily chips during morning snack time, students in the Brattleboro area are making their own snacks using fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains and dairy products.  As the students chop, mix and cook the snacks, they learn what goes into the foods and how to identity what's healthy.  They also learn good social skills in the process.  

The Healthy Snack Initiative is a collaboration between the Brattleboro Food Co-op and local school administrators and teachers. Before the initiative, a typical snack consisted of two bags of Cheetos and a fruit rollup.  The "sugar rush" that came from these snacks was obvious to Kate Bailey, the educator and outreach coordinator for the Brattleboro Co-op.  In reference to the healthy snacks, Baily says, "The kids learn good manners, such as sharing and getting seconds, and they learn how to work together.  The children enjoy serving each other and being the  `snack helper'- "for the day." 

 

The second model is called "Feed Your Head." It provides free in-class projects in grades K-8 on topics such as: healthy snacks, good carbs/bad carbs, sugar, and local farms and food. The Brattleboro Co-op also provides discounts on fresh produce to schools and to individual classroom teachers who want to provide more healthy snacks and establish a salad bar.

 

Rural Models

In Alburgh, Jennifer Mitchell, the school's kitchen manager set up taste tests as part of FEED. She tried different grains: (brown rice, millet, and barley); fresh vegetables (including green and purple cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower); fresh fruits; various kinds of beans. Based on student responses, she featured some of the foods in school lunches. Ever hear of millet and vegetable salad?

 

In Ferrisburgh, the elementary school developed a closed-loop food system. The cafeteria buys local produce from area farmers, the food scraps are composted, and then the compost is added to the school garden for growing food for the cafeteria.  They grew tomatoes in the school garden, which Kathy Alexander, the food service director, processed and froze to add to pasta sauce.

 

In the small town of Greensboro in the Northeast Kingdom, the Lakeview Union School has a raised-bed school garden and is planning on building a root cellar. Linda Aiken, the school principal, told me that funds for the root cellar will come from Vermont Farm-to-School Program. She said the school needs a place to store root crops and other vegetables. The custodian is a key player. He built grow-lab structures for each one of the classrooms and is now involved with the root-cellar project as are teachers, parents and the food staff. The goal is to build the structure over the summer of 2008.

 

The Westminster Central School has a snack program in two multi-age K-4 classrooms, where children prepare healthy foods, as well as grow some of their own food in a large garden with the help of a neighboring organic vegetable farmer. Teacher Irene Canaris developed the program and has successfully integrated it into the classroom curriculum for the past 15 years. One classroom has a fully equipped kitchen. Many children expanded their diets to include healthy items they would not otherwise have tried.