Park County has partnered with a nationwide program which involves students with healthier foods called Farm to School, but what do they do for Livingston? The program teaches kids how to garden, cook healthy foods, and it provides free, healthy lunches to all kids at local parks during the summer months.
Junior Isaac Ramirez said that when the school implements Farm Fresh food he enjoys and eats the food. Ramirez also said, “I think that most students have a positive experience with the program.”
Ramirez also said he believes that the Farm to School program has had a great impact on kids in his class and in the younger classes. He said he believes this because it offers kids healthier options when eating, and this program taught his junior class how to garden when they were younger, which he thought was a skill all kids should have. Ramirez also said that he thinks he would eat school lunch more often rather than going to Town and Country if there were more Farm Fresh foods.
Lead Cook at Park High School Joe Colvin said that Farm to School brings local produce to the school lunches to make each lunch healthier. Since Colvin serves lunch every day he gets to see the impact it has on the students, Colvin stated that Farm to School gets students to try new foods that are healthier and broaden their palates.
Colvin said that this year so far they have been putting at least one piece of Farm Fresh food from the program in most lunches, such as local cucumbers or kale as a side dish. Lastly, Colvin stated that this year they are trying to put this Farm Fresh food in every meal as a push towards the school lunches being less and less processed foods to more healthy foods.
Shelby Gores, food service director for Livingston Public Schools, said that this year the school will not be having Farm Fresh Fridays. Instead they will be having fresh foods from all over the state in every meal. Gores said that Farm Fresh Friday’s goal was to see if the school could do fresh foods at least once a week, and since they had such good results they can do Farm Fresh everyday.
Executive director for Farm to School Park County Rachael Jones said that Farm to School’s main goal has always been for school lunches to be nutritious, delicious, and affordable. Jones also shared about all the opportunities Farm to School offers to high school students like independent studies, pre-apprenticeships with the Department of Labor, and paid internships over the summer for students.
Farm to School has been around in Park County since 2008 but it didn’t really start to expand until 2015. By 2020 Farm to School became an official non-profit and continued to help grow food for the school and sell it for half of the market price. Last year Farm to School grew 3,100 pounds of produce that mostly went to Livingston schools. Both Gores and Jones firmly believe that Farm to School has a great impact on Livingston schools by teaching the students how to grow food and where their food comes from rather than them having no idea. Many studies show that kids eat more farm fresh foods rather than processed foods when they have an idea of where their food is coming from.
