Somerville Farm to School Project

We’ve had a busy Fall season in the gardens! This week will wrap up the final, yet very important, chore of “putting the garden to bed” ! Parent volunteers, students, and educators have been hard at work since the beginning of school, harvesting and tasting a variety of vegetables, saving tomato seeds, and planting garlic! Now it’s time to say goodnight to the gardens, as we learn about the importance of cover crops, mulching, and how some plants survive during the winter. Lower elementary school students have been engaged and directly involved in making sure our gardens stay healthy over the winter until we wake them up in the Spring! We also celebrated our annual Corn Shucking and Local Harvest Day ! With the help of community partner volunteers (Groundwork, Shape Up, UMass), parents, and students we shucked over 3,000 ears of corn before school even started! The children enjoyed the fruits of their labor with a local beef burger for lunch! Corn Shucking is always a favorite day ...

It's October and that means Farm to School Month! We have a busy month of real food activities planned from Salad Bar Day coming up on Thursday, October 8 to School Garden week. We kicked off our celebration with our annual Corn Shucking event. Three thousand ears of corn were shucked during an intense 30 minute time frame. Corn was sourced through our produce vendor, Russo's and grown at Taveres Farm in South Dartmouth, MA. With hands and husks flying, students, staff, community partners and parents all helped to get the job done quickly. At the Capuano Early Childhood Center, our youngest students took their jobs very seriously. Some peeling on piece at a time. Over at the Brown School, the chilly weather didn't deter the volunteers and students from shucking outside.   Even our leaders, Superintendent Mary Skipper and Assistant Superintendent Vince McKay lent a hand at the East Somerville Community School. At ...

We are still celebrating Food Day and National Farm to School Month! Today we held an apple taste test at the Winter Hill Community Innovation School. Students tried the ubiquitous Gala apple alongside the rare Macoun variety. Students took varied approaches to choosing their favorites. Some chomped on small bites of each apple and thought carefully about their selection. For some it was a tough decision. "Both of them are amazing," said 6th grader Luiz. Other students knew their favorites immediately, yelling out "Definitely this one!" pointing to the Gala. Principal Chad Mazza let his favorite be known by voting for the Macoun. Vote for your favorite! It was a very tight race, but in the end the Gala inched out the Macoun for the win! It was clear that the students enjoyed tasting both apples. As a 3rd grader named Luis told us, "These apples are soooo yummy!!" Content provided by Karyn Novakowski, Somerville Farm to School Proj...

In celebration of Farm to School Month and Food Day, we held the first of seven school wide apple taste tests this past Monday. We call the event A Tale of Two Apples. Each week we will visit a different school cafeteria and share two unique apple varieties with the students. Students will taste and vote for their favorite apple. The results will be shared with the students and here on the blog. We will also share apple variety facts with students and teachers. The West Somerville Neighborhood School tried Gala and Honeyscrisp apples.  Over 200 students participated in the taste test with 72% of the students choosing Honeycrisp as the clear winner!

Somerville Food and Nutrition Services celebrated Massachusetts Farm to School Week with our annual Corn Shucking at Breakfast tradition on Thursday, October 2nd. Massachusetts Farm to School Week is an opportunity for schools across the state to celebrate the local harvest season. Students at all Somerville elementary schools and Capuano were hard at work early in the morning to get 3,500 ears of local corn from Verrill Farm in Concord, MA shucked so that fresh corn on the cob could be served at lunch that day. Hundreds of students as well as countless volunteers, parents, teachers and staff members joined together to get this mammoth task achieved before the first bell!   This event brought together students from all grades as well as students with varied corn shucking experience. Older students enjoyed the task equally as much as the younger students, and were able to help younger students get the first difficult husk off the corn. Many students have participate...

On the heels of Food Literacy Month, comes National Farm to School Month , Mass Harvest for Students Week , and Food Day (October 24). So many food holidays! Check out these posts about Food Literacy Month and how we celebrated . For more on our  National Farm to School Month , Mass Harvest for Students Week , and Food Day  celebrations keep reading! CORN SHUCKING On Thursday, October 2 we will be hosting a Corn Shucking Event at every Somerville Public School. Parents and students are invited to shuck a few ears of corn during morning drop off.  The corn will be served, later that same day, to all students who receive the school lunch. Volunteers from Groundwork Somerville , UMass Extension , Shape Up Somerville , and Somerville Public Schools will be generously donating their time to help with the success of this event. A TALE OF TWO APPLES For seven consecutive Mondays, beginning on October 20, we will be hosting a lunch time apple taste test...