Second Farm to You Fest hailed as educational and charitable success
For lots of school children, food originates in the kitchen or cafeteriaanything beyond that can be an abstract concept. But in the Bethlehem School and other districts across the state, educators are aiming to change that perception through the annual Farm to You Fest, which is in its second year at BC schools.
Farm to You Fest is a weeklong program built mainly around educational components, teaching elementary school-aged children all about where food comes from and the importance of eating fresh food. But a huge component of the week is also a Squash Hunger drive.
Last year, schools donated about 1,000 pounds of produce, and on Friday, Oct. 22, students and parents turned over more than 300 pounds of fresh food to bring the total raised to 1,034 pounds. The food was delivered to local organizations that will either cook it for meals or distribute it straight to the needy. Friday’s delivery sent to the Capital City Rescue Mission.
Though schools are often involved in food collections, Squash Hunger is different in that the food is fresh.
It’s not in boxes and cans, which is what kids are used to bribing in for food drives,` said Karen Shaw of the BC Healthy Kids Committee, which is deeply involved in the fest. `Not only do our students in Bethlehem have to eat fresh to be healthy, families everywhere who are in need do need more than the boxed stuff. They need fresh food.`
Putting the emphasis on fresh, locally-grown ingredients and foods is what the Farm to You Fest is really all about. Though most adults know a fresh-picked head of lettuce is more flavorful and nutritious than one shipped hundreds of miles across the country, for children that difference might not be so obvious.
`The real food that’s really good for you just does not get marketed, so it gets forgotten,` said Shaw. `We really wanted to get other things in their [students’] hands, so they got to have that really fun experience with a broccoli head or a beet.`
Some schools held tasting events, where students will get an opportunity to eat fresh foods they might not always be exposed to. Indian Ladder Farms donated bushels of apples to some schools to have on hand for snacks, and students were encouraged all week to bring their own healthy snacks from home.
And the best and most convenient places to get such local, healthy foods is a farmers market. The Delmar Farmers Market has been involved in the planning Farm to You week, and on Saturday, the last day the market was held outside for the year, students could participate in a farmers market scavenger hunt, finding new foods and learning about them. Those who participate were entered into a raffle for prizes from market vendors.
`It gets the kids and families out to the farmers markets,` said Shaw, who is also on market’s board of directors. `The farmers have been really generous and really sweet about it.`
The Delmar Farmers Market also paid for licensing of the documentary `Fresh,` which was screened Tuesday evening at the BC Middle School. The film focuses on sustainable innovation to the food system, and a number of local experts held a discussion after the screening.
But Farm to You Fest also took place in classrooms across the district. Budget cuts have in recent years eliminated school field trips, but Farm to You organizers are circumventing that problem by bringing the field trip to students whenever possible.
At Eagle Elementary, classes last year took advantage of the proximity of Sunnyside Farm to take tours of a working dairy farm operation. It’s an excursion the school hopes to make a recurring feature, said Principal Dianna Reagan.
`It was quite an eye opening experience for the children,` she said. `We learned all about where milk comes from…and just in general a lot about a farm, which not a lot of students have been exposed to.`
This year, kids were also treated to an in-school lesson on butter churning.
Capital District Community Gardens visited several schools to give gardening lessons. Many of the district’s schools have started their own gardens, and some incorporate the harvest into the lunch menu. The visits will hopefully strengthen the harvests in years to come, said Eagle Elementary parent Amy Conway, who has been organizing some of that school’s activities.
`It generates interest for some of the teachers who maybe don’t know a whole lot about the garden or bring their students down,` she said.
And all across the district, students have brought in their favorite recipes that incorporate locally-grown ingredients. The tastiest ones get put on the school lunch menu.
After two years of focusing on healthy and local eating, those involved agree that Farm to You Fest not only provides kids with fun activities, but teaches early on that food comes from the ground, not the store shelf.
`That’s been a beautiful connection to make,` said Shaw.“
