FARMS in Our Community: The Farm to School Connection

On Thursday, May 3 , 7 pm, “FARMS, in our Community” will be presented at Great Salt Bay School in Damariscotta.” The program will feature a short presentation by Karen Kleinkopf, F.A.R.M.S.’ founder, followed by a sampling of the kinds of healthy, tasty foods F.A.R.M.S is bringing to our local schools.
Since 2004 FARMS (Focus on Agriculture in Maine Rural Schools) has been educating students, many of whom have only a vague idea of where their food comes from, about good nutrition and the role of local farms in promoting healthy sustainable communities, by collaborating with kitchen staff, teachers, students, farmers, parents and community members, and bringing local foods into the schools’ weekly cafeteria through farm-to-institution purchasing and the annual Harvest Lunch event. Through the connection between nutritious food and local farms, students learn about the health, environmental, and economic benefits that come from supporting local agriculture.
FARMS regularly visits every K-8 classroom in the five schools in AOS #93, having reached more than 1000 children during the 2010-2011 school year. Morris Farm Educational Center recently received a donation from the Allegis Foundation to expand the work of F.A.R.M.S to a sixth school, Wiscasset Primary School.
Activities in these schools include taste tests (see the surprising results at mefarms.org), “Healthy Snacks,” which the kids help to prepare, and which are also served at the monthly “Miles of Friends” gatherings, and providing each school with a “cooking outfit”- a bucket of cooking supplies, FARMS also offers teachers curricula and mini-grants to purchase foods for using the program in their classes.  FARMS is developing curriculum for taste tests, farmer visits, and seed- to-table discussions as an integral part of student learning, and has started an after-school Culinary Club reaching 40 students and 38 families.
As reported in a front page article in the 4/11 issue of the Lincoln County News
Karen Kleinkopf was just awarded the Kathryn Musgrave Public Service Award by the Maine Nutrition Council.
The program, which is presented by FARMS and CONA (Citizens Offering New Alternatives) is free, though donations are always appreciated.
To learn more about FARMS go to mefarms.org. FMI: dbalant@roadrunner.com, 563-1216 and www.conamaine.com. Great Salt Bay School is on the south side of Bus. Rte 1, (Main Street), just east of the traffic light at McDonald’s.