Agri News
Thursday June 17, 2010
http://www.agrinews.com/ridgeway/cultivates/farmtoschool/program/story-2667.html
Ridgeway cultivates farm-to-school program
By Janet Kubat Willette
Agri News staff writer
jkubat@agrinews.com
RIDGEWAY, Minn. — It was the second-to-the-last day of school and excited elementary students worked in the school garden.
Fourth grader Ben Maynard took charge of pounding in the stakes for the tomato and cucumber cages while fellow fourth grader Emma Iremonger used a hand cultivator to take care of pesky weeds. First grader Julia Maynard displayed the plum purple radishes just picked from the garden and set to be served on the last day of school by garden club students.
The garden at Ridgeway Community School is part of a larger wellness effort by the school, said school director Jodi Dansingburg.
The school's wellness committee, made up of staff, parents and grandparents, put together a comprehensive wellness plan that included serving more fruits and vegetables, Dansingburg said. An added push was to source more of those fruits and vegetables and other menu items locally.
A kitchen renovation was essential for the lunch program to use local foods. The renovation was paid for by a federal grant received through the Minnesota Department of Education. The grant was targeted for charter school renovation projects, Dansingburg said.
Ridgeway has been a charter school since 2001. It is sponsored by the Winona Area Public Schools, Dansingburg said. The school has 82 students in kindergarten through fifth grade and 23 students in preschool.
Prior to the kitchen renovation, school lunch was prepared in Winona and delivered to Ridgeway three mornings a week.
With the renovation complete, the school needed help to find producers with food to sell. They received a $10,830 grant from the University of Minnesota Experiment in Rural Cooperation to set their farm-to-school program in motion.
About $8,400 was dedicated to staffing the program, said Erin Meier, director of the University of Minnesota Experiment in Rural Cooperation in southeast Minnesota. Caroline van Schaik, a Land Stewardship Project community based food systems organizer, worked as a forager for the school and also did educational outreach efforts.
Another $2,400 or so was devoted to food purchases, handouts and classroom supplies, Meier said.
The idea was to see how farm to school could work at a small, rural school, she said. Van Schaik used the University of Minnesota Farm to School toolkit for resources and offered feedback, Meier said. That feedback will help improve the toolkit for other users.
"It's a great thing she's doing there," Meier said.
Dansingburg said the farm-to-school program would not have taken off at Ridgeway without van Schaik's presence because the staff wouldn't have had time to take on the project.
Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum hopes to help expand farm-to-school efforts with a bill she introduced on May 28. The legislation, dubbed the National Farm to School Act of 2010, would provide competitive grants for schools to establish or expand local food options in school lunches or snacks.
Rep. Tim Walz, who represents the Ridgeway area, is a co-sponsor of the legislation.
"As a father and teacher, I believe that ensuring our children have nutritious foods to eat is critical to their productivity during the school day," Walz said. " I believe this legislation will help put our kids on track to be successful, healthy adults and can help create jobs in our communities. The farm to school program will help to create additional opportunities for our farmers and ranchers and spur economic opportunity in southern Minnesota."
Ridgeway plans to continue its farm-to-school efforts next year. If they get a grant, they will do more. If they don't, they hope to carry on to some extent, Dansingburg said.
Some ideas tossed about include plant a row for Ridgeway where area residents are asked to plant an extra row in their home garden for the school and having volunteers come in to help snap green beans.
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