Local food in schools?

Edible Missoula mentioned school lunches on another forum and with two school age children of my own, I thought it was an important topic. My kids go to Lowell, which does have a cute little garden, but I'm pretty sure it's not up to supplying lunches for all the kids. Not yet anyway. Do any other schools in town have gardens? Do any of the other schools use local food in their meals? I think it would be a good idea to expand the garden at Lowell so that it could be an source of produce for meals. I might even send an email to the lady who runs the garden if she's not on here already. What about the private schools or preschools?

A few resources...

Don't know how current this page is, but the University implemented a Farm to School Program in 2005.  Here's a link with some contact info. 
http://www.umt.edu/cfa/farmtoschool.htm

The University has a Farm to College Program (it predated Farm to School, starting in 2003)
http://life.umt.edu/uds/name/Overview

CFAC (Community Food and Agriculture Coalition) has some more info too.  Paul Hubbard is a great guy. 
http://www.missoulacfac.org/

this topic is something that I know far too much about and it is not as simple as using a school garden to enhance the food served in school kitchens. All of the food served in MCPS comes from ONE central kitchen which is incredibly limited in its resources and ability to produce.

this is a HUGE conversation and would be better served in a different forum.

I seriously can't comment here about some of the things going on with the Farm to School program and the dealings with MCPS. If you are truly interested in the down and dirty and want to make a difference and have your voice heard - contact me at info@ediblemissoula.com

Will do. Didn't realize that getting healthy food to our children could be such a contentious matter.

... oh wait, I guess I did.

edibleMISSOULA wrote:
this topic is something that I know far too much about and it is not as simple as using a school garden to enhance the food served in school kitchens. All of the food served in MCPS comes from ONE central kitchen which is incredibly limited in its resources and ability to produce.

this is a HUGE conversation and would be better served in a different forum.

I seriously can't comment here about some of the things going on with the Farm to School program and the dealings with MCPS. If you are truly interested in the down and dirty and want to make a difference and have your voice heard - contact me at info@ediblemissoula.com

Is this something someone should be writing an article on to inform the public?  Like the Indy or the Missoulian.  Erika Fredrikson at the Indy writes about food a lot? 

we are in the process of writing an article.

Great, I'll keep an eye on it.  Edible missoula is a nice publication. keep up the good work. 

I think Chef Boy Ari is more the food guy at the Independent. Doesn't Erika write more about music?

Greg M Peters wrote:
Great, I'll keep an eye on it.  Edible missoula is a nice publication. keep up the good work. 

Thanks Greg - We really need more overall support in order to survive. A HUGE labor of love (as most things that are worth promoting are.)

Kristen

Destini Vaile wrote:
I think Chef Boy Ari is more the food guy at the Independent. Doesn't Erika write more about music?

Ari moved to New Mexico and writes from there now.  Erika does a lot of food writing in addition to the cultural/music stuff.  She wrote the big article on local food options last summer.  She spent some time doing the WOOFF thing in europe and knows a lot about food.