Freshly picked lettuce, ripe cherry tomatoes and crisp carrots in shades of yellow, purple and orange were on the menu for about 60 students who were eager to eat their veggies this week.
Students from kindergarten to Grade 2 gobbled up their greens during the first Farm to School luncheon on the Coast, held June 15 at West Sechelt Elementary School (WSES).
Volunteers prepared salads and veggie trays, eggs, fresh bread and rhubarb crisp from locally sourced food for the luncheon. Some of the veggies served were grown by nearby farmer Jon Bell of West Sechelt Farm Produce, and some of it was grown by the students themselves at the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden.
"Our school is so lucky because the botanical garden is so close and they have been so good to us. The kids grow stuff there every year," said Genevieve Pierre, a WSES Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) member who helped organize the luncheon.
What couldn't be found on the Sunshine Coast was sourced from within B.C. in an effort to show students what is available close to home.
Students came back for seconds of their favourite foods, with the purple and yellow carrots from Roberts Creek an obvious front-runner. But the biggest smiles came when kids tasted the lettuce they grew themselves, with some exclaiming, "It tastes so much better when you grow it yourself," and "It's so good. Did you know we grew this?"
The purpose of the luncheon was to help teach students where their food comes from and encourage them to eat locally and make healthy food choices, while creating partnerships between all groups involved.
The luncheon was co-ordinated by Catherine Atchison, a community nutritionist for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), in collaboration with the WSES PAC.
"We have a working group that's met since October 2010, and as a group we've been working toward getting this accomplished in the school district," Atchison said.
The unnamed group includes members of School District No. 46, the One Straw Society, the Sechelt Community School, a local nurse and farmer Bell.
The group also sends out their minutes to interested teachers, the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden Society and various growers who have asked to be kept in the loop.
Atchison said the group's goals are to increase the amount of local food that is offered to students in schools, to offer another way for farmers to become known in their communities and to encourage partnerships around local food.
She heard about the Farm to School program through other health professionals who were implementing it in their health districts.
"When people work on really neat projects, often they like to tell everybody, so that's how it started," she said.
The Farm to School program is not a new idea. It was first introduced in California in the late '90s, but it didn't catch on in B.C. until 2007. Over the years various Farm to School programs have slowly been implemented in schools throughout the province.
How it looks can range from occasional luncheons to weekly Farm to School hot lunch programs, depending on the commitment of volunteers who must drive the program.
Farm to School is sponsored by the Public Health Association of B.C., and although there is a small cost to run the luncheons, Atchison's group has received $2,500 from VCH to run pilot projects locally.
She hopes the idea will catch on in more schools.
"The goal is to just expand as people become interested and express interest and hopefully another school would like to participate. We'd like to be part of that," she said.
If you would like to know more or want to participate in a Farm to School luncheon, you can contact Atchison at the Gibsons Public Health Unit at 604-886-5600.
