“I want to get the students excited about where real food comes from. This is 360 degree learning - they are able to use all their senses, be outside in nature, and see adults who are excited about growing food and working on a farm.”

- Stephanie Boka, Principal, Pleasant Valley Elementary School, Parma City Schools

Corn, beans, squash, rutabaga, kale, peppers, tomatoes, onions, greens, and leeks. Last fall first graders at Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Parma did not know much about, and possibly had never heard of, many of these vegetables that are grown locally in northeast Ohio. But through a yearlong partnership with farmers, chefs, and educators from Spice Acres Field Kitchen (SFK), they now can tell you where they grow, how they get from farm to store to table, and even how to prepare them so they taste good.

“Understanding Our Community Food Systems” began in fall, 2019, with funding from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. The program’s first objective was to restore a neglected 7,200 sq. ft. garden that had once thrived outside the students’ classroom windows. Staff from SFK worked together with Pleasant Valley educators to re-establish the beds, which would then be maintained by trained volunteers. They purchased needed row covers, ground cover, soil and amendments, tools, seeds and other building materials to make that happen. The goal was to involve students in planting and growing vegetables - such as spinach, kale, and beets - on site to serve in the “Healthy Options Salad Bar” in the school cafeteria.

“The idea is to expose kids to fresh, nutritious food and teach them where their food comes from, so they begin to back away from the Cheetos and start eating more nutrient dense foods,” explains Robert Gorman, Supervisor of Food Service for the Parma City School District. “It’s all about the farm to school movement — when kids are shown how a product’s grown, how to cook it, and how to serve it; they will try it. And often they will like it.”

While the school’s garden space was used as an anchor for the project, lessons from Cornell University’s “Discovering Our Food System” curriculum was embedded in the first grade STEM program, merging culinary arts, agriculture, language arts, social studies, math, and science concepts through class presentations, and hands-on experiences.

Last October, as the program was just beginning, students were treated to a daylong field trip to SFK’s farm, which is located in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Steve Baker, a licensed educator and staff member of SFK, led the students on a tour of the fields where they discovered why soil in the area is sandy, which crops are grown in a green house and which sprout in a high tunnel, the role bees play as pollinators, and why farmers plant “cover crops”. They picked, tasted, and compared the flavors of red and golden raspberries and spotted shitake mushrooms emerging from holes drilled into stacks of logs.

SFK’s founder, Ben Bebenroth followed the tour with a sensory-filled culinary demonstration set up in the property’s barn. Students watched as the chefs sautéed a mixture of ginger, garlic, oregano, and cilantro that would dress a salad of kale, sweet peppers and corn - fresh produce all sourced from the local area. Small plates were passed around the room allowing students to smell and taste the various flavors and describe if they found them salty, sour, bitter, or sweet.

“We had the pleasure of coming to the SFK field trip. It was hands down the best. We literally used all of our senses during the culinary demonstration! And my kids ate a plate of KALE…food is truly magical!

- Pleasant Vally Parent

“We are trying to orient the kids to the shapes, smells, and textures of foods,” remarks Mr. Bebenroth, who encourages the children to taste, smell, and touch ingredients throughout his cooking demonstrations. “I’ve found that kids are amazed at the intricacies of things. They will say they don’t like mushrooms, but if you give them a shitake mushroom to play with they are amazed at the gills and the stem structure. As they become familiar with it, then they think it’s cool.

“Our main mission is to educate them about nutritious foods and healthy eating,” he continues. “But mostly we are just trying to introduce them to vegetables. Kids can identify a french fry but they don’t know what a potato is. So we are trying to get them reoriented to the real source of their food — and that’s plants and animals.”

“I want to get the students excited about where real food comes from,” adds Pleasant Valley Principal Stephanie Boka, who accompanied the children to the farm. “This is 360 degree learning - they are able to use all their senses, be outside in nature, and see adults who are excited about growing food and working on a farm.”

How Food Gets Here

Mr. Baker planned to visit the three first grade STEM classrooms each month with a “mobile kitchen” that would allow him to intertwine a cooking demonstration with lessons such as “Global vs. Community Food Systems”, “Food Miles in Your Breakfast”, and “Nutrition, Health & Food Guides.” In January he brought fresh ingredients to Debbie Woodworth’s class to make Garlic and Ginger soup. He introduced students to radishes, cabbage, ginger, and garlic and explained where each ingredient originates.

“I liked the soup that had things in it I don’t like.”

-Pleasant Valley First Grader Survey Response

His objective, always, is to encourage students to “touch, hold, smell, and really feel” each ingredient to become more accepting of unfamiliar foods.

“We have to use all our senses,” he explains to the students as they take turns sniffing cloves of garlic and handling knobs of ginger root. Menus from other sessions included sautéed brussels sprouts, whole wheat pancakes, and herbs and greens.

Learning Continues Despite Pandemic

While the pandemic interfered with plans for a spring field trip to the farm and caused in-school sessions to be canceled, Mr. Baker organized a Zoom meeting from the school’s Land Lab in May. Students and their families were able to see mature garlic, chive, potato, and kale plants that grew from seeds they had planted months before. They estimated the pounds of kale harvested - approximately 65! - which was donated to the school district’s Nutrition Services. During the zoom session, Mr. Baker also described the vegetables he would plant to replace the spring varieties. These would grow in the school garden throughout the summer and be ready for harvest come fall. Among them would be the “3 sisters” — corns, beans, and squash.

“I wanted students to take away a better understanding of where their food comes from, to gain a greater appreciation for fresh fruits and vegetables, and to learn the importance of buying as much as you can seasonally and locally,” says Mr. Baker, who was thrilled to learn that several students and their families were inspired to create and tend their own home gardens this summer. “I know they are just first graders, but the post assessment surveys I received back from students showed that the majority did pick up just that.”

With an additional grant from the Jennings Foundation, Mr. Baker and Principal Boka plan to continue “Understanding Our Community Food Systems” at Pleasant Valley during the 2020-21 school year, expanding their reach to both the STEM 1 and 2 classes. As the school year begins with virtual learning only, teachers helped distribute planting kits that held ingredients for the first hands-on virtual lesson students could enjoy with their families at home.

Hoping to begin in-person sessions soon, Mr. Baker adds, “Considering the impact of COVID-19, teaching stewardship of the land and our community food system couldn’t be more important. Everyone seems excited for another year of programming.”

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