Summer harvest makes tasty fall meals

his summer, Amanda Brown helped put up 10 bushels of peaches, 160 dozen ears of corn, 10 cases of blueberries, and too many green beans to remember. “The last box was like Mary Poppins, it just kept refilling,” she recalled.

Brown, a member of the Attica Central School Non-Teaching Employees Association, and her four-member team were hired by the district for the summer to capture the bounty from local farms and make it usable for cafeterias. Their jobs included unloading fresh fruits and veggies, and then cleaning, husking, blanching, flash-freezing, dehydrating and canning them — all the tasks needed to ensure that locally grown crops are preserved at the height of their freshness. “I think students will taste the difference. The corn alone. It stands by itself!” she said.

The program, which also includes an educational component, is funded through a $100,000 Farm to School Grant from the state Department of Agriculture & Markets. The program is just one of the ways the state is supporting farm fresh school meals.

“We’re developing a pretty deep toolbox at this point,” said Tim McBride, school food program manager for the state agency. This year’s state budget included $50 million to be administered over five years to help schools aggregate, store, process and prepare farm products.

Brooke Schery, president of the Attica Central School NTEA, hopes that more districts will take advantage of the Farm to School programs. Visit agriculture.ny.gov/farming/farm-school for more info.