2009 New York Harvest for New York Kids Week

I think we have started to really get the hang of this concept of making purchases of local produce and integrating them into the school menus. This school year, it all got started the week of October 5th -11th, the time frame selected by the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets to celebrate “Farm To You Fest” in schools. For area school food service managers, as members of the Schoharie Valley Farm to School Project, this was also the second year of planning and implementation for Harvest Week. Thus, building upon the relationships forged in 2008, while expanding the reach of our message with expanded activities, yielded a busy but rewarding week. In one of our schools, the food service manager had even extended the menu adjustments into the entire month.

Of course, the primary focus was to serve up wholesome local produce on school lunch trays, and let the children know what they were eating. Local pears, apples, broccoli, squash, potatoes, carrots and cabbage, were provided either fresh or in menu items such as White Pizza with Broccoli, Roasted Herb Potatoes, Dill Potato Salad, Garlic Bread made with Fresh Roasted Garlic, Homemade Coleslaw, Gingerbread-Carrot Cake, Zucchini-Tomato-Cheddar Bake, Vegetable Soup, Sauté Squash, and Sweet Corn on the Cob. Deee-licious!

In several schools, youngsters were made acquainted with a farmer, either serving in the cafeteria or speaking in a classroom. Corn husking was a popular activity that provided the students with a chance to get closer to their food source and the farmer who grew it. At one of the schools, preparing squash that they had seeded in the previous year for a food donation program, got kids personally interested in the acceptance of the dish by the larger student population. Food Service Managers were also pulled into the classroom to help teach about food and nutrition.

Senator James Seward and State Assemblyman Peter Lopez, both of which served lunch in the elementary school cafeteria, supported us in our efforts with a special visit to Schoharie Central Schools. Later in the week, NYS Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets, Patrick Hooker, along with local farmer and owner of the Carrot Barn, Richard Ball, read off that day’s PA announcements, which had been composed to highlight Harvest Week. Similar announcements were made in each of the schools each day of the Harvest Week celebration, thus, spreading the message of the importance of various fruits and vegetables readily available nearby. By in large, the biggest hit might have been the “Produce Trading Cards” made available to K-6th graders. Students collected the set of nine cards, featuring a particular fruit of vegetable on each, over the course of the week.

Who were these heroes of the Farm to School movement in the Schoharie Valley region of NYS? The Food Service Managers of the following schools deserve much of the credit for implementing a multi-faceted approach to Harvest Week, covering a lot of ground in the interest of encouraging student consumption of locally grown fruits and vegetables: Berne/Knox/Westerlo CSD, Cobleskill/Richmondville CSD, Gilboa-Conesville CSD, Middleburgh CSD, Schoharie CSD, and Sharon Springs CSD. Our thanks go, as well, to these farms that made available their produce, and in some cases their time, to our schools: Barber’s Farm, Bohringer’s Fruit Farm, Fox Creek Farm, Parsons Vegetable Farm, RSK Farm, Shauls Farm, Schoharie Valley Farm, Sharon Orchards, Stone House Farm, and Terrace Mountain Orchards.

Deb Rosko, School Food Service Manager at Berne/Knox/Westerlo CSD, said it best when she explained that, “while we cannot force students to make healthy food choices, we can indeed offer them not only the food but the benefits the food brings, to their own bodies as well as to the local farm community.” Now, that’s an education that could stick with students for a lifetime.