TURNIP THE BEET! Celebrate Rogue Valley Farm to School’s 15th anniversary with the Eight Dollar Mountain Trio and Friends, dancing, a rousing raffle, food, wine, and beer.
Join us from 4-8 p.m., June 29, at Fry Family Farm, 2184 Ross Lane, Medford. Click here to buy tickets: bit.ly/3wZnjUa.
HANLEY FARM — “Don’t yuk my yum!” Rogue Valley Farm to School educator Meghan Murphy reminds a bushel of third graders from Central Point as they gather for lunch at Hanley Farm, just outside Jacksonville. On the menu today: radishes.
Started in 2009, Rogue Valley Farm to School (RVF2S) is part of a national network that connects schools, local farmers, and communities, cultivating healthy kids and local economies alike.
In this enormously successful program, students gain access to healthy local foods, to be sure. But they also gain educational opportunities that include weekly classes — taught by a member of the RVF2S staff — about living and eating healthy, school gardens, cooking lessons, and farms visits, two per year.
Each month, school-based educators also serve samples of a local, seasonal fruit or vegetable to students in their own cafeteria. This month, the featured vegetable has been — you guessed it — radishes.
“Everything we do is about building a culture of health, about forging relationships and connections around growing food,” says co-executive director Rebecca Slosberg. The economic benefits are real, too. A recent study by the nonprofit Ecotrust found that for every dollar allocated through Oregon’s Farm to School program for procurement of Oregon grown and processed foods, two dollars of economic activity is generated in the local economy.
