Farm to School program grows students' love for food

If you ever had mystery meat in the school cafeteria, you likely wish you could've known where your food came from. A Farm to School program, through Americorps, is in its first year in the Monona Grove School District. It's taking out a lot of the guesswork when it comes to what students are eating. We talked with a student about how a garden is letting his food curiosity grow.

If you ever want to know about raspberries, just ask seven-year-old Max Smith.

"Oh, they taste kind of sweet and they're also kind of sour at the same time," Max said.

Really, the second grader at Winnequah Elementary School knows a lot.

"Don't eat raspberries after your brush your teeth. They taste... (They don't taste good?) Mmmhm. They taste sour," Max said.

It's pretty sweet how much this kid loves fresh fruits and vegetables.

"I used to not like carrots that much. Now I really like carrots. Also the same with peppers and cucumbers and lettuce," Max said about his expansive list of go-to produce.

He learned all of this from gardening. Some of his gardening experience comes from at home with his family, but the other part of his expertise stems from a garden at Winnequah Elementary School in Monona.

"It looks a little different in a few months," Wes Broske, Americorps Farm to School specialist, said.

Broske was referring to the fact the garden is obviously not in peak form thanks to our usual winter weather. Come spring, though, you can bet on a pretty robust planting season to green things up. The garden is part of the Monona Grove School District's Americorps Farm to School Program. It lets students learn about locally-grown foods and what they can do with them.

"Our students can actually get out in the garden. They can pick a fruit or vegetable they plant, they can eat it, they can see where it's coming from and can take pride in being part of the process of growing a fruit or vegetable," Broske said.

Another part of the program incorporates food from local suppliers into school lunches. Broske says that's important because it's not just something to eat; it's also food for thought.

"The main thing is instilling a curiosity of where their food is coming from. If you understand where food is coming from to understand why it's important to buy things local," Broske said.

Broske says the foods they incorporate into lunches still meet federal nutritional guidelines. Speaking of curiosity...

"I never tried a beet. I kind of want to try a beet," Max said, the wheels turning in his head about everything he wants to try.

Max says he likes watching something go from a seed in the ground to a meal on his plate. Having a school garden is planting new ideas, and Max already is thinking about what will bloom in his future.

"I'll probably cook for myself and grow my own food. I'm going to probably live in a house that has a garden, but I'm going to have a job still," Max said.