Welcome Back to Farm to School!
Farm to School is back for a third year in the Concrete School District. This fall has brought some new faces and places to the program including Mitch Metcalf, the new United General District 304 Americorps VISTA and a Farm to School Classroom in Portable C on the Elementary School campus.
Over the summer, Farm to School was an important part of the Concrete Summer Learning Adventure, a five week day camp for elementary students. Check out what we did on our blog at cslacamp.weebly.com. It’s never too early to get excited for next year! Campers visited several local farms, worked in the Angele Cupples Community Garden, ate farm-fresh produce at lunch, and learned to compost their food waste. They also helped us to launch the new Farm to School classroom by painting a garden-themed mural on the outside, thanks to the generous support of the Museum of Northwest Art. Come on by for a visit- it’s not hard to find!
Concrete Summer Learning Adventure Campers in front of the Farm to School classroom.
This fall, we began our year of local foods with Taste Washington Day on October 7th. The kitchen crew pulled out all the stops to serve an all-local lunch, sourcing beef from Ovenell’s Cattle Ranch, kale and carrots from Blue Heron Farm, Asian Pears from Forest Farmstead, and potatoes from Double N Potato Shed. Several distinguished guests were in attendance including Senator Kirk Pearson, Judy Nevitt of the Darrington School Board, Jan Curry and Sacha Johnson of WSU Extension’s Food $ense Program, and reporters from the Skagit Valley Herald and our own Concrete Herald. Of course, the most important attendees were the kids, their teachers, and other school staff who enjoyed the meal of home-style meatloaf, mashed potatoes, kale-idscope salad, dilly carrots and sliced pears together. You can see pictures of the day in the Skagit Valley Herald article here: https://www.goskagit.com/all_access/taste-washington-day-lets-kids-in-concrete-explore-local-food/article_08fee4d2-0409-5a3c-aa51-65665ab34134.html
Students enjoy a local lunch on Taste Washington Day, October 7th, 2015.
Forest Farmstead is also working with the school district this year to divert food waste from the trash. After piloting a system to collect the school’s food waste for their pigs during summer camp, composting for the pigs was implemented district-wide beginning on the first day of school. While the occasional plastic fork still makes it into the wrong bin, we have successfully saved hundreds of pounds of food scraps from the landfill in the last month alone. Please encourage your child to remember to separate their trash from their food scraps! If it’s something they wouldn’t eat (like, say, a milk carton), the pigs won’t want it either.
These happy pigs at Forest Farmstead enjoy chowing down on food waste from our schools.
October is a busy month for Farm to School. On the calendar are farm field trips for several of the older grades to Cascadian Farm and Ovenell’s Cattle Ranch. On October 29th, Farm to School will be partnering with the PTO to provide a hearty fall meal at the annual Pumpkin Run. Hope to see you there!
For more information about Farm to School or volunteer opportunities please email farmtoschool@gmail.com or call Rachel Sacco at (360)854-7171.