AUBURNDALE (WAOW) -
One
thousand miles. That's how far some studies say the average food product
travels from the farm to your table.
That's why some area students
are considerably shortening that distance.
It's called the Farm to School
program, and it has Auburndale students learning about healthy eating by
growing their own food, that heads straight to their cafeteria.
"They're putting the work
into making the food that they eat," Auburndale High School student Josh
Ertl said.
The Farm to School program
started at Auburndale High School last year. Ever since, students have been
helping get food from the greenhouse to the cafeteria.
"It's a program that was
set up to promote healthy lifestyle and home grown food in school,"
Auburndale Agriculture Instructor Mark Cournoyer said.
Students are growing everything
from lettuce and radishes to apples and apricots, and it all ends up on the
cafeteria table.
"We know where our food is
coming from, we know that it's coming from our greenhouse, not that it's just
coming from a business," Auburndale High School student Jackie Bruch said.
The students say getting to
work with their food from the beginning is a rewarding process--from planting
to cultivating and harvesting.
"A lot of classes in other
areas don't have this kind of stuff. It's all book work. It's nice to be able
to come out and do it by hand," Ertl said.
"If we can show them that
they can grow something delicious and healthy right here and it being 100 yards
away from their cafeteria, I think it's a really cool concept," Cournoyer
said.
Those involved say the Farm to
School program is just another reason they love their community.
"We have tons of people
throughout the school that either live on a farm or work on a farm. There's a
lot of people that are involved in agriculture and they enjoy this stuff,"
Ertl said.
The students say they will
harvest lettuce in the next few weeks, and hope to see apples on these trees
this summer.
The Farm to School program is part
of the initiative Get Active Wood County, where local schools receive funding
for these projects.
Other participating schools are
Wisconsin Rapids, Port Edwards, Pittsville and Marshfield.
