Vernon County Farm to School

by Bjorn Bergman, Americorp Farm to School Member

Viroqua Area Schools Farm to School Program

The Viroqua Area Schools Farm to School Program has been very busy! Local veggies like beauty heart radishes, sweet potatoes, beets, spinach, and asparagus were featured in the cafeterias for Harvest of the Month Tastings. Also, the Vernon Area AmeriCorps Farm to School member taught numerous classroom lessons about various topics like local root vegetables, maple syruping, new fruit and vegetable tastings, wild rice harvesting in Wisconsin, and vermicomposting. Interested in getting involved with the program? Contact Marilyn Volden, Viroqua Area Schools Food Service Supervisor.

5th Season Training- August 24th, 2010

On August 24 from 8:45am to 3:30pm, Viroqua Area Schools is hosting a 5th Season Program Training for food service workers from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa to learn about their local foods purchasing and processing program. The training features Chef Monique Hooker, Marilyn Volden, Food Service Supervisor for Viroqua Area Schools and Bjorn Bergman, the Vernon Area AmeriCorps Farm to School Member. The training includes sessions on local produce purchasing, processing equipment, roasting, freezing and storing, menu and recipe ideas for using local produce, and Farm to School activities ideas for introducing the new foods to students. It will be held in the Viroqua HS Cafeteria; the cost is $25 per person (includes materials and lunch). Limited space is available. Contact Marilyn Volden for more information or to register at mlvolden@viroqua.k12.wi.us or (608) 637-1645.

The 2nd Annual Harvest Challenge

The Harvest Challenge is a menu planning and cooking contest for Vernon County high school students highlighting the benefits of including fresh and nutritious local foods in school lunch programs. For the contest, each team is paired up with a chef mentor who advises them as they design a school meal that meets the National School Lunch Program nutrition guidelines, includes locally produced foods, and, most importantly, tastes great. On October 15th, 2010, teams will prepare and serve their meals for a judging panel, students and community members at the Harvest Challenge Tasting Gala in the Viroqua High School Cafeteria. As of early June, the Challenge will feature a team of students from Viroqua, Laurel, Westby, De Soto, and Hillsboro High Schools. Interested in being on the planning committee or volunteering the night of the event? Please contact Marilyn Volden, Viroqua Area Schools Food Service Supervisor at mlvolden@viroqua.k12.wi.us or (608) 637-1645.

Westby Area School District Farm to School Program

The 2009-2010 School Year has been a great year for Westby Area School District Farm to School Program. In the Fall of 2009, the Westby food service purchased hundreds of pounds of produce (potatoes, tomatoes, sweet corn, winter squash, green beans, cucumbers) from Sun Valley Gardens in Cashton and served them in the school lunches. Also, throughout the spring they featured Harvest of the Month cafeteria tastings of a variety of local vegetables, like roasted beets (Keewaydin Family Farms), creamy spinach dip (Snow Goose Farm) and asparagus (Slattery Family Farm). The local veggies in the cafeteria are a huge hit!

A group of parents is currently working on starting a school garden at Westby Elementary in the spring of 2011. The program is seeking more volunteers to help out with projects for next year. Interested parents or community members should contact Nicole Jones, the Westby School District Food Service Supervisor at jonesnic@westby.k12.wi.us or (608) 637-0180.
Westby School District students sampled Creamy Spinach Dip as part of the Farm to School Harvest of the Month taste testing. The spinach was grown and donated by a local farmer and prepared in the school kitchen.

Viroqua Middle School 5th Grade Garden hosted an open house on May 28th. The garden  exists to connect children with fresh, healthy, home-grown food, teaching the “garden-to-table” cycle and is part of Mrs. Berg’s 5th grade curriculum in science and language arts.  

5th Season Program Expansion

In late August of 2008 and 2009, Viroqua Area Schools purchased around 1000 pounds of local produce from area farmers (Organic Valley, Keewaydin Farms, and Ridgeland Harvest) and processed it into a variety of products for the school lunches, including Ratatouille (a roasted vegetable dish) for pizza, calzones, wraps and grated carrots and zucchini for Harvest Muffins. This August, the program plans to process more produce for Ratatouille and muffins, while expanding on their program to include a couple new foods that are currently under development.