PHILADELPHIA, N.Y. — Indian River High School will receive a special visit from Assemblywoman Addie Jenne on Thursday, October 12 at 2:30 pm to celebrate the district’s new grow trays, purchased with funding from Ms. Jenne’s Drive for 25 Initiative. This initiative has provided area schools additional funding to purchase food from local farmers, as well as purchase equipment and supplies to grow their own food! The district recently purchased the growing trays from a company called 24/7 Organic so that middle school and high school students can grow a variety of produce throughout the schoolyear in their classrooms and utilize that produce in new and existing menu options in the cafeteria. Each tray can hold 12 flats of plants. They plan to grow salad greens, basil, cilantro, spinach, and kale, rotating plantings to allow a continuous cycle of harvestable produce. Some of the produce will be harvested as early as next week and used in the cafeteria! The students are already brainstorming new recipes like cilantro salsa and pesto pizza that they’d like to see served. In addition to the grow trays, Food Service Director, Ann Easter, has been procuring other locally grown foods such as apples, yogurt, tomatoes, organic potatoes, and most recently, watermelon.
Indian River Central School District was also recently awarded a Farm to School planning grant through the USDA, allowing them even more opportunity to create a comprehensive farm to school program throughout the district. Through a partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, they plan to not only purchase additional local ingredients but provide taste tests and hands-on nutrition and agriculture related lessons in the classroom. This year the District Wellness Committee, led by Assistant Superintendent Mary Anne Dobmeier, will focus on farm to school.
“The District is excited”, exclaims Dobmeier, “with funding from the USDA Farm to School Grant, to be able to partner with Cornell Cooperative Extension, and specifically April Bennett, as our part-time coordinator, in order to bring all of our Farm to School efforts under one umbrella to better meet the needs of our students and the community.” There is tremendous support for the initiative from teachers, administrators and the school board. They’ve also invited students, parents, and area growers to join the committee. With a strong FFA program, Health Education across the district, Family and Consumer Science classes at the middle school and high school, and newly renovated cafeteria spaces, the district already has a strong foundation for this type of programming. Over the next 14 months they plan to build on that foundation to create a robust district-wide farm to school initiative. For more information, please contact April Bennett at 315-788-8450 ext. 265 or aln48@cornell.edu.
–CCE of Jefferson County
For more articles out of New York, click here.