Local food sourcing keeps students eating healthily

HARLEM VALLEY — Facing  hundreds of hungry — but sometimes picky — children needing healthy, tempting school lunches every day, food service directors are upping their game by looking to local food sources to fill their plates.

Millbrook Central School Lunch Director Holly Peters Heady, a 26-year veteran of the push to include local sourcing, said, “I just love the fact that it’s happening. It’s been years and years working to make that part of school food service, and I’m glad that we’re seeing the fruits of our labor.” 

She lauds local farmers for produce such as fruits and vegetables, which come through a local supplier and milk, which the district began obtaining through Hudson Valley Fresh about three years ago.

Supervising the district’s four co-ordinating cafeterias, Peters Heady is particularly enthusiastic about the Middle School Garden Club, which was created with funding from Farm On. Club members, mainly faculty advisors and middle school students, work the garden with help from community members who sign up at the Millbrook Farmers Market to donate time, effort, seeds and equipment. 

She added, “The kids get very excited when they come back in September and we are still getting some of the harvest in, so we do some interesting stuff on the line and market it as such. They seem to be more willing to try it because they know it came from the garden.”

That includes elementary school students. With the help of middle school gardeners who visit their schools in the spring and help the younger students create “starter pots” that are then planted in the garden.

Peters Heady said, “because of the nature of the garden, the bulk of our product comes in during the summer.” As a result,  the staff has already made refrigerator pickles and processed tomatoes — pureeing and freezing them for dishes such as meat marinara sauce to be served during the school year. They  processed, shredded and froze zucchini for muffins and breads and pureed pumpkin to add to chili and other recipes.

She also noted that during the past three years, Walbridge Farm has donated “a significant amount of beef.”  

In the case of Webutuck Central Schools, produce is also picked steps away from the school garden, which is managed with the help of the school community and volunteers, including some from Millerton’s North East Community Center.

The garden work begins in the spring with planting and continues throughout the summer.  

With school opening coinciding with the garden’s harvest, food service manager Sheila Moran speaks happily of freshly sliced tomatoes, peppers and other “home grown” vegetables bringing a special touch to the meals that also feature local milk and eggs.

Pine Plains Food Service Director Larry Anthony works with multiple local suppliers for everything from eggs to yogurt, produce and even beef. Milk comes from Hudson Valley Fresh’s 11 Dutchess and Ulster County farms. He said, “When I say local, man, it doesn’t get more local than that.” 

He believes using locally sourced products has multiple benefits. He said, “It’s using the local stuff that is right here. It’s a heck of a lot fresher. It  doesn’t have to be picked three or four weeks or a month in advance and be shipped across the country.”

He added, “It’s providing a  revenue stream for the local farmers as well. And with these kids living in this area, they can see it’s coming from right across the street in a lot of cases. It’s a benefit all around.”

To spread the details about local sourcing, he advertises it on the menu, at open houses and on the Facebook page and social media, “so the word does get out.” 

Believing “going local is the best way to go,” he is solidifying the connection by planning a staff trip to one of the dairies on the next Superintendent Conference Day and is working with classroom teachers to arrange similar field trips for students in the spring. 

For more information about cafeteria offerings and for information about free and reduced meal programs, contact local schools.