On June 1st, all ICCSD schools will serve fresh, locally-grown salad greens for lunch for the first time! The greens will be served as salads and sandwich fixings for student and staff lunches.
During Spring Greens Day students will find educational materials on their lunch table that tells them about the farmers that grew the salad greens and provides interesting facts about lettuce. Volunteers will be visiting schools during lunch to talk to students about fresh, local foods.
Farm to School has been working with ICCSD food services director, Diane Duncan-Goldsmith, and three local growers to coordinate this event. Derek Roller of Echollective Farm in Mechanicsville and Andy and Melissa Dunham of Grinnell Heritage Farm in Grinnell are growing a total of 330 pounds of lettuce to serve to approximately 6400 students. James Nisly of Organic Greens in Kalona will be washing, cutting, and packaging the greens in his licensed processing facility so that the greens can be served “ready-to-eat” in the cafeterias.
The salad greens are being purchased with an Iowa Farm to School Grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS).
The ICCSD Farm to School chapter, a project of the Johnson County Local Food Alliance, is one of several Iowa Farm to School chapters across the state. The goals of Farm to School are to get kids thinking about where their food comes from and how it’s grown, help kids make healthy food choices, connect local farmers with schools, add local foods to school lunches, and provide students with hands-on activities such as school gardens and in-class cooking demonstrations. More information about the ICCSD Farm to School chapter is available at http://sites.google.com/site/iccsdfarmtoschool/
