Fresh food mixer set for school dining services, local farms

DOUDS ? School food service staff and teaching faculty are invited to Douds Elementary School Monday afternoon to meet with Farm to School maven Sue DeBlieck, area farms and Jefferson County Horticultural Specialist Kim Keller.

The event is one of many Farm to School initiatives that are reshaping the way school lunches look and taste, as well as the health of kindergarten thorugh 12th-grade students. The event will be held from 2-4:30 p.m. in the Douds Elementary School cafeteria and music room.

The event begins at 2 p.m. for food service staff with an introduction from Farm to School pioneer DeBlieck.

Afterward, local producers will be present to talk and work with the food service directors to determine what produce the school would like to procure locally for the 2012 school year and set up delivery dates and times as well as prices for the produce.

At 3:30 p.m., school faculty is invited to visit with DeBlieck and learn about the benefits Farm to School programs have to offer for K-12 education, and Keller will give an overview of a School Gardens 101 course that she is considering teaching in the winter of 2012.  Keller is working with the Iowa Area Education Agencies to have School Garden 101 approved for teacher continuing education credit.

Farm to School programs are cropping up across the nation as Americans look to improve health and wellness for the up-and-coming generation. With school meals accounting for a large portion of the number of meals students eat between kindergarten and graduation, healthier school meals are a low-hanging fruit on the tree of health and wellness. Students get an opportunity to learn about where their food comes from, which encourages them to try foods they normally would not try and which are often a healthier option to processed foods.

For more information on southeast Iowa Farm to School programs, contact Elisabet Humble, Local Food coordinator at 472-6177 or elisabet@pathfindersrcd.org.