Children choosing cucumbers—or any other vegetable, for that matter—can be a crapshoot. But through Edina Public Schools’ wellness program, children are clamoring to win seed packets to grow at home, to have farmers share their experiences during show-and-tell and to plant a garden at one elementary school.
“It’s about getting kids connected to nature,” says Peter Hodne, principal at Highlands Elementary School for 18 years. “Any way you can get kids connected to nature is a good thing because kids aren’t that connected these days.”
The goal isn’t about returning suburban kids to an agrarian society, but rather a hands-on—or green thumb—educational tool to express to students where their food comes from while offering healthy alternatives during school lunch.
Sodexo has operated the district’s food and nutrition services provider for the last 15 years, and in the last few years, it has begun to offer more locally grown foods. Apples from Pepin Heights Orchard in Lake City, Minn., were the first local item on the menu a few years ago. Last year, the local options expanded to tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and yellow beans when they were in season.
“It’s an exciting time for us and our business because of the emphasis nationally” on nutrition and local, sustainably raised food, says Mary Lombardi of Sodexo. “I think that helps us move forward to do more about it. And people are more educated about it.”
For middle school kids, the education comes in wellness fairs. As the kids tasted jicama—a cousin of a sweet potato—Food Alliance Midwest set up displays promoting its environmentally friendly and sustainable agricultural practices.
Representatives from Pepin Heights Orchard as well as Ed Fields and Sons Farm in Andover have also made visits to speak with elementary school students. They shared what they do and how it ends up on their lunch trays. Chris Fields gave away seed packets.
“We are only a couple generations removed from being an agrarian society,” says Chris Sandwick, director of marketing for Pepin Heights Orchard. “Yet I think very few young people understand how their food gets to their table. I think the local thing is very, very important.”
The crucial element, Sandwick stresses, is how unhealthy eating has led to the childhood obesity epidemic.
“We see the food economy getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” he says. “We are seeing more and more issues with mass-produced, unhealthy food being the most accessible, most affordable food … We’ve got too many people eating too much unhealthy food.”
Bix Produce Company of St. Paul supplies the district with vegetables, and if it’s from nearby farms, children are more inclined to put more fruits and vegetables on their lunch tray, Lombardi says. “I think it helps that they are both fresh and local,” she says.
But both Lombardi and Sandwick agree that getting an Edina student to pick a carrot over a cupcake or Coke is a difficult proposition.
“The reason that people eat all that stuff is because it tastes good, and it consistently tastes good,” Sandwick says. “Everyone knows that when they bite into a Snickers, that it’s going to taste a certain way. You are going to get a lot of sugar and fat and both of those things taste wonderful.”
Therefore, Pepin Heights’ competitors aren’t who you might expect.
“We think about our business as share of stomach,” Sandwick says. “We are competing not against another Minnesota or Wisconsin apple grower; we are competing against Frito Lay, M&Ms, Mars.”
To meet that competition, Pepin Heights is looking to get the attention of Edina students with unique flavors—either sweet or sour—that make students take notice of their University of Minnesota-developed Honeycrisp apples.
“The No. 1 way to do that is to find ones that taste good,” Sandwick says. “That sounds [simpler] than it is. If you bite into a Red Delicious apple—that you purchase for the lowest price possible—it’s not going to be the same eating experience that is going to bring you back.”
Instead of bringing students back to healthy foods, Highlands Elementary School is bringing the options to the students with the construction of eight raised garden beds in 2010.
“It was a bad area outside where kids went out to recess,” Hodne says. “It was muddy and we couldn’t get grass to grow there. Now, we have a beautiful garden.”
Last summer, the garden grew some herbs and spinach and went without much care during the summer months. This summer, classes are set to visit the garden about once per week to tend to the tomatoes and other traditional vegetables.
“They will learn about the plant life cycles and the growth and the caring for them,” Hodne says. “And the responsibility that goes with that.”
With responsibility comes understanding.
“The more people know about their food and how it was grown,” Sandwick says, “the better decisions they will make.”
