Somerville Farm to School Project

This week at the East Somerville Community School we tasted the difference between the green and very tart Granny Smith apple and the red and very sweet Fuji apple. Twenty-nine percent (183 out of 666) students participated in the taste test.   In yet another close race, the Fuji apple came out on top with fifty-six percent of the students choosing it over the Granny Smith which received forty-four percent of the votes. Content and photos provided by Lauren Mancini, FNS Director and Charlotte Stephenson, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grant Coordinator.

Have you seen this?   Where did it come from?     It’s a lime green MyPlate backpack and one may be lying around your house somewhere.   The backpacks were an incentive students received last year as part of the UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program .   Nutrition educators from UMass Extension have been found in classrooms across the Somerville school district since 2007.   Rotating to schools throughout the school year, a nutrition educator visits each classroom once a week for 5 weeks, teaching students from kindergarten to eighth grade about the importance of eating healthy.   Does nutrition education make a difference?   Go ahead, ask your 4 th , 5 th , or 6 th grader to tell you the nutrient found in the grains group and how it helps your body.   They will likely raise their arms like they are driving a car and show the actions for the word ‘carbohydrate’ and shout ‘it gives you energy!’ (You can ask your 7 th or...

A lot has been happening this year in the garden in the Benjamin G. Brown School. In this post we shared some of the first garden activities of the season. Parent volunteer and gardening guru, Shawn Szturma has been heading up the planting, maintaining, and harvesting in the garden. Below Shawn shares a few special entries from his garden journal. July We have mesclun/lettuce mix, basil and radishes ready to pick. Mesclun Radish August I just did some final cleanup yesterday on the Brown School garden before the school year.  When I stopped by, there were some local boys (5th graders) snacking on the tomatoes and pole beans in the garden.  As the garden steward, I thought that was perfect.  I told them to come back and graze anytime they saw something ripe and ready-to-eat. Cherry tomatoes   Pole beans   September Today, I brought some bok choy seedlings to the 2nd grade class at the Brown School (Mrs. Jaspe...

Our latest taste test was the closest yet!  Students tried the Spencer and Cortland varieties.       Seventy-nine percent of the students participated in the test. The students preferred the Spencer (51%) to the Cortland (49%).        Thank you to our volunteer, Jen Capuano for helping with the taste test!   Content provided by Karyn Novakowski, Farm to School Project Director 

For our third taste test we went to the Dr. Albert F. Argenziano School. We sampled Macoun and Cortland varieties.     Fifty one percent of the students participated in the taste test. Macoun apples won with sixty-nine percent of the students preferring it to the Cortland variety.    Content provided by Charlotte Stephenson, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grant Coordinator

On Thursday, October 23, the Somerville Food Security Coalition hosted Come to the Table—an exciting Food Day event at the Winter Hill Community Innovation School.   More than 150 kids and adults gathered for an evening of food and fun that included a raffle, fun activities, dinner provided by the Tufts Food Rescue , and a wealth of information about food security resources in Somerville. Enjoying a yummy dinner!   Activities for all ages were ample! SomerVIVA tested guests’ palates with a side-by-side taste test of bottled and tap water. To the surprise of many, the tap water was the clear favorite! Tap water taste test Attendees also marked their favorite grocery stores and markets on a map of Somerville, creating a unique view of food in the city. Our youngest guests enjoyed a coloring station that stressed the importance of eating plenty of fruits and veggies. Dot survey There were food samples, too! Community Cooks handed out tastes of their yu...