KLIPSAN The locavore movement has taken root on the Peninsula in the form of several gardening projects for families and children. The first, called Healthy Beginnings, is a Pacific County project sponsored by the public health department.

There are 580 parents and children in WIC (Women, Infants and Children) and 150 families, said public health director Mary Goelz.  Our first objective was to try to get them involved in gardening at home. We were also sponsoring classes on canning and cooking healthy food.

Then we learned about the opportunity of using the garden plots behind Jimella and Nancis Market Café and we shifted to a gardening focus.

Tara Finch Hano, also part of the project, explained, We gave each of the families a garden bag with tools, a trowel and kneeling pad, gloves and seeds and Farmer Fred [Johnson] carrot starts.

The plots behind the Market Café have been tilled, planted and weeded by a combination of community volunteers and WIC families. An initial grant of $28,000 got the nutritional program started. Though these funds will soon be spent, it is hoped that the county can secure other funding to keep the program going.

Farm to School

At the same time there is a movement afoot called Farm to School (see the national website at www.farmtoschool.org) that involves teaching elementary school children where their food comes from by assisting them in the beginnings of gardening. The idea is similar to the Healthy Beginnings program in that local families, particularly school children, are being guided in the experience of planting, tending and harvesting their own food.

In many ways the programs are similar and there tends to be an overlapping of talent and community volunteers. Robyn and Bryan West with their daughters, Lauryn and Dayna, are supporters of the Farm to School program which has been meeting informally.

The West family was weeding in the Market Café community garden on last Fridays workday. Lauryn, who will be a second grader next year at Ocean Park Elementary School, pulled a ripe strawberry from its stem and remarked, Theyre not very sweet. But when asked about the gardening program offered, I got to plant a strawberry. Everybody in my class got to plant a strawberry and Mrs. Fletchers class got to do pumpkins too.

As Robyn put it, This is such a great opportunity to get the children involved with farming and get kids to understand where food comes from. Weve been working with Ray Millner at the Long Beach Grange, too there is some talk of putting a berry patch there behind the grange.

Healthy food in schools

The original Farm to School concept includes the idea that food grown in student-tended gardens will actually be served in the schools, though there have been some legal barriers to accomplishing this. The school food provider is called Chartwell and according to Bryan there are legal requirements that keep local organic food providers from being able to sell their produce in the schools.

There is so much bureaucratic redtape, he said. There is evidently a certification called Good Agricultural Practices or GAP that would be required of local producers. There are only a few school districts that have these cumbersome requirements but were one of them.

One option might be to ask the school board to consider revision of the annual [Chartwell] contract next spring, he added. 

But despite existing problems, this group of enthusiastic families, educators and county managers is moving forward, with many ideas in the works.

Wed like to get some greenhouses built at the school, said Bryan.

And weve got the promise of another garden spot, Robyn added. 

Social networking boost

Robyn, who has deep family roots in the community (My uncle lived where Green Angel Gardens is now), has been instrumental in spreading the word about the growing gardening movement on the Peninsula.

West is an avid user of Facebook and created a page Peninsula Farm to School Program for posting announcements, photos and information about the gardening programs. It has 53 members to date and is a very active site.

A related state project called Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network (http://wsffn.org/fresh-food-in-schools-project) is another resource for those actively working to educate youngsters about food. At the same time that the array of organizations involved in this healthy food movement is confusing, it means that there are a variety of funding sources for gardening and organic food projects.

Debbie Stotts, teacher at Ocean Park Elementary for the highly capable students and moderator for the Highly Capable Ocean Beach School District facebook site, has initiated a similar effort. Stotts said, I was teaching the HiC students and teaching nutrition classes at the school.  I would ask the K-3 students where carrots, spinach, jicama, etc., comes from and there were at least two to three students in each class who would answer Jacks or Okies! So I asked the HiC students if they would be interested in learning about growing our own fresh, local, organic fruits and vegetables.

Now HiC students have had their raised bed gardens on the ground for almost two months on the south end of the school and in the courtyard area on the west side, for a total of 13 boxes. Donated wood, topsoil, seeds and starts were used.

The beds are full of fruit and vegetable seeds and starts that were planted by K-3 students helping the HiC students. Sugar peas, radishes, strawberries, and several lettuces are ripening and being harvested already! Now that school is out students have volunteered to ride their bikes over to help with watering. This program is an excellent example of whats possible in just two months, and a great way to generate ideas for integrated lessons with the greenhouse.

Several of the parents and students mentioned that science teachers and others have utilized the garden as a basis for lessons on math and biology among other subjects.

Gardening collaborations

This Peninsula gardening effort to raise the awareness of how to grow your own food includes a wide range of volunteers and supporters.

Tara Hano said, Marc Simmons [Ilwaco High school co-principal] has been our biggest supporter of the garden to cafeteria idea. Our Farm to School team, also known as the healthy school lunch team, began with the idea of supporting our schools to create healthier lunches. The concept of local garden fresh fruit and vegetables in the lunches is one of the strategies to improve the program.

Another supporter is Rita Ordonez with a program called Fresh Food in Schools Project, Hano continued. She will be working in our community to support our school district and Washington state farmers in working together to ensure more state grown produce is offered in school meal programs.

Hano is excited about the possibility of constructing a passive solar greenhouse at either Ilwaco Middle/High School or at one of the elementary schools. Im thrilled by all the discussion and energy, she added.

Robyn also noted that she had the opportunity to meet with both Millner and Rick Haug of the Long Beach Grange. These gentlemen were thrilled to learn about our program. Ray is behind us 100 percent and offered to help in any way he can. Hes particularly interested in the greenhouses that Lee Knott looked into for us and he would like to know more. With Rays background in both education and agriculture, he wants to help to ensure that we get the most out of every dollar we spend, be it through contributions or grant money. 

For those interested in helping with these efforts, the next meeting of the Farm to School and community gardening program is Tuesday, July 19, at 3:30 p.m. in the basement of the Grange on 57th and Sandridge Road.