Last Friday, many of us watched the first episode of Jamie Oliver’s new show, Food Revolution, (or at the very least, DVR’d it). If you’re a regular reader of Farm to Table, you know we support Jamie’s efforts. In a nutshell, he’s trying to save the youth of America one lunch period at a time. Sound dramatic? It is. The truth is many children think that fruit comes in gummies, chicken is found in dinosaur shapes and salad is something suited for their pet bunnies to eat.

I should know, I’m a teacher.  One of my regular battles occurs at snack time, when I look at each snack and talk to the kids about what is or isn’t healthy about what they’ve brought. We now have a class rule that no dessert-type foods are allowed during our morning snack break. The disheartening part of that rule is that it had to be made in the first place. Some parents think that chocolate chip cookies or 100 calorie Twinkies are a good choice. Brain food? No way. In the long run it teaches children that snacks can be as easy as opening a bag of chips and munching away.

The fact that parents feel OK about teaching their kids bad eating habits is unfortunate. I won’t argue about the convenience. I won’t even pretend to understand how challenging it can be to put together snacks for a family with young children since I don’t have any of my own. But I do know that just through simple conversation during a daily ten minute time period, we’ve made a small difference in their lives. It’s not structured. It isn’t on the curriculum. It’s as simple as discussing the facts of food. We “chew over” everything from what certain vegetables taste like, when and where they grow, to what sugar does once it’s in our bodies. I’m no Jamie Oliver, but I’d like to think that this helps his cause just a little bit.

Community Gardening 101

In the interest of not being a “Debbie Downer,” I would like to put the spot light on a school that is doing something right with food.  A few years ago, Friends Academy in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts cleared a small patch of land and started growing a garden. Since then that little garden has blossomed, both literally and figuratively. There isn’t a student on campus that has not visited, worked, learned about, or sampled the bounty from that garden. They learn about where food comes from, how it grows, how it’s affected by weather and the scientific aspects of soil tests and types of compost. In my opinion, the best part about this garden is what the school has elected to do with the produce they grow. Grace Episcopal Church, not far from the FA campus, receives all the veggies to use in their food pantry which services more than 200 families. They’ve been lucky enough to donate lettuces, kale, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes and summer squash.

With a campus that is 65 acres in size, there is no question that Friends Academy is blessed with the space for such a project. But make no mistake:  This didn’t come to fruition easily. It requires countless hours on the parts of staff and children to keep up with all the work a full-time garden requires. During the summer, children from the school’s summer program, several sixth graders, plus a couple alumni work closely with Steve Walach (half gardener, half English teacher, all green thumb) to maintain the grounds and be sure what’s ready for pickin’ gets to the church.

On a particularly sunny, warm day during their recent spring break, four kids, one alum and a teacher worked from 9AM to 3PM preparing growing beds and transplanting hundreds of onions. You read that correctly: kids volunteer to spend their spring and summer vacation hoeing, raking, picking and pruning. After reading about the successes and use of this school garden, the Baldwin Foundation donated a generous grant which provided necessary equipment to increase the size of the beds. Brix Bounty Farm next door to the school has also been integral to the garden’s success by giving out advice and loaning equipment.

It truly is a community effort from start to finish, and this school deserves all the recognition it receives!

In the end, Friends Academy, and other schools doing similar projects, are promoting healthy eating habits simply by teaching kids where their food comes from. In my opinion education is the answer to just about everything. Kids are sponges. They need guidance and structure and someone willing to make good decisions on their behalf. This includes choosing the right kinds of foods.

Lucky for me, I’ll be spending a few weeks at Friends Academy this summer and look forward to getting my hands dirty alongside some hard working kids. In the meantime I’ll be watching Jamie Oliver kick some butt in the lunchroom.