Getting Fresh and Local in D.C. Schools

June 23rd, 2010 by Andrea
Local lettuce and berries for school lunch being prepared at CentroNia

Local lettuce and berries for school lunch being prepared at CentroNia.

Carl Rollins with Common Good City Farm shows a strawberry plant to a group of pre-K students at Simon Elementary School.

Carl Rollins with Common Good City Farm shows a strawberry plant to a group of pre-K students at Simon Elementary School.

Chef Oliver Friendly of Eat and Smile Foods makes home-made granola and local strawberry parfaits at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School.

Chef Oliver Friendly of Eat and Smile Foods makes home-made granola and local strawberry parfaits at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School.

If you walked into a D.C. school cafeteria on June 3, 2010, you may have been surprised at what you saw on students’ trays! Over 150 schools in DC featured fresh, locally-grown strawberries and salad greens as a part of their school lunches. This was part of an event called Strawberries & Salad Greens, organized by the D.C. Farm to School Network and in partnership with participating schools and food service providers.

About 40,000 students in all 8 wards of the District gobbled up juicy, red berries and bright green lettuce in their lunches. Approximately 7,300 pounds of local strawberries and 2,400 pounds of greens were purchased and served for the event, contributing about $20,000 to our local food economy. The produce was grown on farms in Virgina, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. To find local growers in your neighborhood visit DC Farm to School.

In addition to helping schools find sources of fresh, local produce, the D.C. Farm to School Network coordinated “Where Food Comes From” tables in 16 school cafeterias. At these tables, volunteers and parents displayed plants, posters, pictures, and gardening tools. As students enjoyed their meals, they were able to see, touch, and smell where their food came from!

In twelve schools, local chefs performed interactive cooking demonstrations using local strawberries and salad greens. Kids were able to help professionals prepare recipes, taste samples, discuss the importance of eating fresh, local, healthy foods, and bring home recipes to try with their families.

The D.C. Farm to School Network is a program of the Capital Area Food Bank that works to get more healthy, local foods into Washington, DC school meals.

Learn more at DC Farm to School.

Additional Resources
Farming and Gardening Related Teaching Resources – Bay Backpack

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Andrea Northup is the coordinator for the DC Farm to School Network.

Gardening for the Environment

June 7th, 2010 by Kacie
Students sow seeds for their garden in the classroom.

Students sow seeds for their garden in the classroom.

The Washington Youth Garden is a nonprofit one-acre organic children’s garden that has been on the grounds of the U.S. National Arboretum since 1971. Programming in environmental and nutrition education is offered year-round at local schools, community organizations, and on-site.

Washington Youth Garden staff help Center City Public Charter School install planter boxes at their school.

Washington Youth Garden staff help Center City Public Charter School install planter boxes at their school.

During the past school year, we brought our Garden Science program to six third and fourth grade classrooms at three elementary schools in Ward 5 of the District. For eight weeks, we teach how to use gardening as a tool to teach environmental science. Along with lessons in the importance of plants, soils and composting, and insect life cycles, we start seeds in the classroom with the help of a grow light. After the eight weeks, Washington Youth Garden staff and DC Master Gardeners support the school in designing and installing a schoolyard garden. Those seedlings that we started in the classroom are transplanted out in the school garden come springtime. To cap off the program, each class comes out to our site at the Arboretum for a full day gardening and a cooking experience.

Students tend to their schoolyard garden.

Students tend to their schoolyard garden.

Though our Garden Science program is limited to elementary schools in the District, schools from the entire Washington Metro Region can experience the Youth Garden through our SPROUT Program (Science Program Reaching OUT).

The US National Arboretum sits right on the Anacostia River, with a dock and access point through its Asia Valley collection. We often take groups down to this part of the Arboretum to see the river and conduct watershed education activities. There are many connections between gardening and caring for our local waterways. We utilize organic growing methods for many reasons, but one reason is that we don’t want chemical fertilizer or pesticide runoff from our garden entering our neighboring Anacostia River. Just like the DDOE’s River Smart Schools Program written about below, we hope to further establish the connection between gardening, the fruits of which are healthy for our bodies, and the health of our environment.

Additional Resources

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Kacie Warner is the Education Coordinator at the Washington Youth Garden.

From Farm to Fork

May 21st, 2010 by Krissy
Baltimore City students learn about livestock at a local farm.

Baltimore City students learn about livestock at a local farm.

Guess how far a typical food item in the U.S. travels to get from farm to fork. The answer is an astounding average of 1,500 to 2,400 miles. That’s like driving from the top of Maine to the tip of Florida.

Nearly one-quarter of the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s land area is devoted to agriculture. Farms in our area supply us with grains, eggs, meat, milk and vegetables. Imagine connecting your student’s forks to a local farm in your area!

The Farm to School Program does just that by supplying K-12 schools with local fresh, nutritional produce. Farm to School teaches students about healthy eating habits. A study shows that Farm to School cafeteria meals result in the consumption of .99 to 1.3 more servings of fruits and vegetables.

Along with healthier eating habits, students also learn about agriculture through taste tests, schools gardens, composting programs and farm tours. These experiences help students understand where food comes from and how the choices they make affect their health, local streams and rivers and the community.

Farm to School Project Ideas
- Plan nutrition education activities like a “Harvest of the Month” featuring local foods
- Host a local farmers market on school grounds
- Connect with a local farmer and take a farm tour
- Offer a local foods salad bar

The Farm to School Program is available in every state in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Find a program in your state and reconnect our farms to our fork.

Additional Resources
- Healthy Farms, Healthy Kids Report – Community Food Security Coalition
- Farming Lesson Plans – Bay Backpack
- Growing Green Dreams – Washington Youth Garden

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Krissy Hopkins is part of the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship Team and Education Workgroup.