submitted by Brian Bushner
You’ve heard of farm to table, but how about farm to school? Students at Hoosick Falls Central School are enjoying locally grown foods for their lunches, thanks to the dedicated cafeteria team.
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Hoosick Falls Central School is located at the heart of an agricultural community, and serving local food is one way to connect students to their community. Not only does this promote a healthy lifestyle and diet, but it helps promote the idea of shopping local, which helps build a healthy community.
Cafeteria Manager Heather Brooks picks vegetables at Moses Farm in Eagle Bridge on her own time. The tomatoes and bell peppers she picks are served on the deli line daily, and in menu items for the elementary and JR-SR high school. Ms. Brooks explains, “our locally sourced vegetables are consumed within three days of being harvested.”
In addition to the fresh produce from Moses Farm, apples are purchased from Perry’s Orchard (also located in Eagle Bridge) and picked up by Mary Bettis, who brings them to the school. According to Brooks, “most years we get them through the end of November.”
Another locally sourced food item that is always a real treat is Moses Corn. Paul Baker, Superintendent of Building and Grounds at HFCS, picked up the corn and delivered it to the kitchen where staff shucked, cooked and served the corn within 48 hours. The same will happen for the elementary school, with the corn coming from Hand Melon Farm in Greenwich.
The connection to the agricultural roots, local businesses, and fresh food is an important one to make for the students. Brooks added, “our growing season is short in this part of the country, and we are out of school for the peak, but we take advantage of as much of it as we can.”
Fresh, local food is an important addition to the school experience and has the full support of the administration. Superintendent of Schools Ken Facin said, “farm to school is a very important program to bring fresh, local food into our school and support local family farms. Agribusiness is, in northern Rensselaer County, a multimillion dollar microeconomy, and it’s important that we support the industry.”
Hoosick Falls students also appreciate that their food is from someplace that they can visit in person, right here in their school district. Senior Madison Taber said, “it is nice that our school cares enough to go pick fresh vegetables for us.” Another senior, Noah Conety added, “we appreciate that our food is fresh.”
Hoosick is a great community for many reasons, especially when there are so many ways people support one another, and the school providing local food is one way to mirror that support.[/private]