A relatively new initiative spreading through Adirondack towns,
called the Farm to School Initiative, has already proven to be a huge success.
The goals of this initiative are to bring students closer to the environment
and to teach students the process of growing food through hands on activities
and lessons integrated into the curriculum. The initiative will bring the
community closer together by promoting the consumption of local food, which in
turn will boost the local economy. Lake Placid High School is one school where
the program has really taken off and is quite popular among the students and
staff. The Farm to School Initiative is the perfect program for the Adirondack
Park. Not only does it provide a boost for the meager economy, but it connects
both students and teachers to the land, the history of food, and the community
as a whole.
The Farm to School Initiative, which really just began this past
fall, is already a big hit among the students, teachers, and local communities.
The students are learning how to grow food and safely process it, the
environmental impacts of producing food, food’s impacts on human health, and
the history and culture behind different types of foods. Through school gardens
and farm visits, students learn the actual production processes, various
cultural beliefs and how to cook different types of food. The topic of food is
integrated into the normal school curriculum, so as not to take away from the
more traditional learning (“Home”). So far the only two school systems
participating are Lake Placid and Saranac Lake, but after seeing the success of
these two, hopefully more schools will join in.
 |
| ("Lake Placid") |
The Lake Placid School System is very invested in its Farm to
School Initiative exhibited by its curriculum guides for elementary, middle and
high school students with detailed lists of library resources for each school.
Teachers can follow these guides or develop their own food based lesson plans,
and the committee meets once a week to discuss these guides and other aspects
of the program. Lake Placid’s specific goal with this program is to “rebuild a
healthy food system in the Adirondacks” by teaching children about healthy
eating habits, raising awareness for the importance of local produce, and by
serving the food grown in the school gardens in the cafeterias (“Lake Placid”).
In November, Lake Placid High School held a program in conjunction with Saranac
Lake High School and Tupper Lake High School called Fall Harvest 2015. Here
students showed off their harvests of beets and potatoes and learned about
maple sugaring from a representative from The Wild Center. This was a very
popular event that bodes well for the future of the Farm to School Initiative
both in Lake Placid, and surrounding Adirondack towns.
Works Cited
"Home."
Adirondack Farm to School Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.
"Lake
Placid Farm to School." Lake Placid Farm to School. N.p., n.d. Web.
23 Apr. 2016.
I think this is so cool! I wish I knew more about growing food and how to garden, which is something I have never been taught in school. I think this is a great way to get more people interested in food development. Even if it leads to one person becoming interested in sustainable and local food, that is one more person interested than before.
ReplyDeleteThe farm initiative is such a good idea! I actually write about it for my website too. I think its such a great way to connect students with the land, and that it works so well in the Adirondacks where nature is much more present in their lives.
ReplyDeleteI really really like this idea. At my elementary school, we had a garden that taught kids about where food comes from and even helped serve the lunch everyday. I think this kind of education helps kids feel more connected to food and learn why its important to care about what we put in our bodies.
ReplyDelete