School harvest lunch spotlights local food

WEST PARIS —  As more people become interested in locally-produced food, SAD 17 is looking to keep up with the trend – on Wednesday, local food was showcased during the district's annual Harvest Lunch, held at the Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris.

Martha O'Leary, SAD 17 food services coordinator, says she's been organizing harvest lunches for the past several years, but hopes to make this year's event a little bigger and more special.

Although the main course of beef tacos doesn't sound too Maine-made, the blueberry crisp dessert certainly does. 

More importantly, 75 percent of the ingredients are sourced from Maine producers, O'Leary says.

The West Paris students drank milk from Oakhurst Dairy, and ate beef and veggies from West Paris' own Coopers Farms, topped off with blueberries from Wymans of Maine.

In advance of the event, Kate Goldberg, from Healthy Oxford Hills, has been teaching Agnes Gray students about their local food system through a curriculum developed by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.

Goldberg says the curriculum reaches all grade levels, from basic lessons about different vegetables with younger students to conversations about transportation and nutrition with older kids.

According to Goldberg, the curriculum reinforces seven core components –  freshness, taste, safety, nutrition, community, variety, energy conservation and regional identity.

O'Leary hopes that by spotlighting the Agnes Gray lunch she can drum up some enthusiasm for the idea in other schools – in the years she's held the event, there has been a lack of buy-in from teachers, administrators and parent-teacher organizations, she says.

Although the harvest lunch specifically highlights local food, O'Leary says the district is including more locally-produced food in its daily meals.

O'Leary says that she has been receiving salad greens from LolliPapa Farm, also in West Paris, and has a good relationship with Coopers Farms. She is also looking forward to receiving more produce from the SAD 17 garden at Robert's Farm Preserve.

"This is the day we showcase it, but it's not the only day we use local food," O'Leary says of the Harvest  Lunch. "We try to utilize local food as much as possible."