Farm-to-School Program provides meals for Lind students

Students have the opportunity to advance their agricultural knowledge and skills in Amanda Klindworth’s Farm-to-School Program at the Lind-Ritzville Middle School. The focus of the class is to not only educate students on agricultural activities, but also to teach them how to grow their own crops to encourage a nutritious diet.

The students plant a variety of crops throughout the year in the school garden and the greenhouse. The students are educated on the appropriate types of soils to be used for the crops and how to tend to them.

When ready, the students are responsible for harvesting the crops and loading them into wheelbarrows, which they learned how to put together themselves.

The crops are then sent to the school cafeteria where they are prepped to be included in the school lunches.

Klindworth said she first thought of the idea for the Farm-to School Program while attending college at Washington State University. She noticed a lot of students did not know where their food came from or how it is grown, she explained.

After developing a passion for agriculture and nutrition, she graduated from college with a Bachelor’s of Science in agriculture and food systems with an emphasis in agricultural education. Her post-graduation mission is to teach students about farming and provide them with the skills to grow their own crops.

Before accepting a full-time position at Lind-Ritzville Middle School, Klindworth was a long-term substitute at Connell Middle School.

She discussed her idea to the interview committee who expressed their support and excitement for the program. In her first year teaching sixth grade, she said her students had the idea to start their own farmer’s market in order to raise money for a class trip to Mexico.

Inspired by their enthusiasm, Klindworth ensured the students they could make their wish possible with the proper funding and effort.

After receiving approval from the school board to move forward, Klindworth began the program in 2015.

Last year, the class received a $91,227 grant from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Home Economics room to be remodeled into a prep kitchen in the near future. The current kitchen does not allow the cooks enough room to properly prepare the meals, said Klindworth.

The class also received $250 from CF Industries to purchase irrigation equipment and plastic to reduce water evaporation in the greenhouse.

The Northwest Farm Credit Services Rural Community Grant of $2,000 and Lind-Ritzville FFA Alumni’s contribution of $500 supplied the class with farm supplies such as a rototiller, shovels, rakes and seeds.

The class also prepared dinner for the Lind Lions Club, which included carne asada tacos and homemade tortillas. The dinner raised $500 for the program, which will be used this year for additional supplies.

Aside from funding, the class needed to locate an appropriate space for harvesting. Originally used for animals in the Ag barn, the current garden proved to be the perfect location for growing crops.

Klindworth said the students spent weeks weeding the area and preparing the soil for planting. They then drew a map of the garden and planned where they were going to plant seeds

An additional space used for growing crops is the school’s greenhouse, which in previous years, held the FFA plant sale. Last year, Justin Palmer’s classes installed new siding on the greenhouse due to the existing exterior beginning to fail.

Due to lack of funding available in the school budget, nutritious meals are often compromised for the less expensive options, explained Klindworth. The program allows the school to provide healthy options for lunches, as well as give the students’ who grew the crops, credibility on the lunch menu.

The first seeds the class planted were sugar snap peas seeds, donated by Palmer.

The crops included in school lunches last year were cucumbers, radishes, sugar snap pea and tomatoes. Klindworth said the cucumber salad proved to be a big hit for the entire school.

Recently, the class finished harvesting a variety of potatoes from their garden to be included in the lunches during the week of Sept. 26.

The students expressed their appreciation for the program for giving them the opportunity to grow their own food and learn about agricultural land. Although a handful of the students have taken the class last year, the entire class agreed they took the class because they wanted to contribute to the school while learning about global food and agriculture.

Eighth grade student Mireya Huitron said she enjoys being able to provide nutritious foods for the students eating hot lunch in the cafeteria and takes pride in knowing she can contribute to her school.

Brynne Nelson added she enjoys the learning experience of growing her own crops and gardening and would encourage other schools to begin a program like Farm-to-School.

Out of the 12 students in the class, eight of them said they eat hot lunch at school at least once a week. This means a majority of kids in each classroom consume school lunch every week.

The Farm-to-School program has allowed those eating school lunches to receive a more balanced diet because of the efforts of Klindworth’s class. Annika Holland explained she loves being able to help the school provide nutritious meals to the students in a cost free manner.

When the weather begins to become too cold to harvest, the class will be building a compost to recycle organic matter to be used for fertilizer and improve soil quality.