Students at two Madison Metropolitan School District (WI) elementary schools have benefitted from local partnerships to help grow their garden program, with an added bonus of more fresh food for school lunches. The students started lettuce crops in their classrooms and finished growing them in a community garden to enjoy at lunch.
“The first time we served the lettuce as part of a side salad, it was great to hear the students say they could taste the difference,” said Chef Joshua Perkins, Director of Food Nutrition Madison Metropolitan School District.
When Perkins came to the district, he knew there were many school gardens already working and wanted to develop one of the bigger gardens to grow enough produce to feed the district’s 25,000 students. Perkins went to work on building partnerships with some local non-profit community groups to make it happen.
The school district works with the Wisconsin non-profit Rooted to bring more student-grown produce to school lunches. Rooted has a goal of supporting community gardening and providing collaborations rooted in food, land and learning. This upcoming school year, students will begin growing lettuce from seeds in their classroom and those plants will be transplanted to a plot at Goodman Youth Farm, which is managed by Rooted.
Another garden that will be providing locally grown produce for the district is being planted and tended to by youth participating in Grow Academy. The Wisconsin Department of Correction transitional program offers an alternative to juvenile incarceration and engages youth with agricultural education.
The Wisconsin climate forces a shorter growing season, meaning outdoor gardens can’t be planted until late April. That isn’t deterring Perkins from building on the success from last season though.
“We are looking forward to serving more produce grown in our gardens at lunch,” said Perkins. This school year, students in Madison will also be served more meals made with locally grown fresh herbs, including a marinara sauce recipe with basil.