The New Hampshire Farm to School Program started with apples, branched out to vegetables and continues to grow.
Some of its newest growth is in Windham, where farmer Scott Johnson is now readying rows to plant corn, squash, cucumbers and lettuce among other produce in a field next to Golden Brook Elementary School.
The vegetables will end up on the plates of Windham elementary, middle and high school students next school year, fulfilling goals of the farm program: healthy eating, a healthy local economy and teaching students about farming.
That's fine by Windham High School sophomore Haley Mallette.
Mallette, who recently abandoned a two-week foray into vegetarianism, nonetheless thinks she and others would eat more salads at school if they knew the vegetables came from Johnson Highland View Farm, a familiar place in town.
"Everyone knows about it," she said.
Terri Pimentel, the food service director for the Abbey Group, which prepares food at Windham schools, said the company already takes part in the New Hampshire Farm to School program.
They get apples from Mack's Apples in Londonderry, yogurt from Stonyfield Farm in Londonderry, and other products from New Hampshire and New England sources, she said.
But Pimentel looks forward to bringing in Johnson's produce for school salad bar selections, soups and zucchini bread.
Local food is unprocessed, providing better nutrition and taste, she said.
"Anything freshly grown tastes better than canned or frozen (food)," she said.
Pimentel said the Abbey Group negotiates with local farmers and buys produce within the food budget.
Johnson is especially excited by the program's education component.
"It's not about growing tomatoes, it's about kids," he said.
He envisions students learning about plants and food in science lessons. A private group even has plans to build a greenhouse at the school.
Johnson regularly introduces school kids to life on the farm, where they get their hands dirty and see plants take root and grow.
By seeing where their food comes from, they will be more likely to eat fresh and healthy local food as adults, he said.
Already, schools in Windham, Salem, Pelham and Londonderry participate, to varying extents, in the statewide Farm to School Program.
Nationwide, the program has grown from a few participants in the late 1990s to 400 schools in 2004, 1,000 schools in 2007 and more than 2,000 schools in 2009 in 40 states, according to the national office.
New Hampshire's Farm to School program is overseen by the University of New Hampshire's Office of Sustainability. It started as a three-year pilot program to get New Hampshire apples into as many schools as possible.
By 2006, New Hampshire apples and cider were in more than half the state's schools, said Elisabeth Farrell, a coordinator with the UNH sustainability office.
The program has grown to include vegetables and other fruit. Recently it introduced local fish and shrimp to seacoast schools, she said.
There are 302 schools in the state that participate in the program. The extent of participation varies, she said.
"We would like to see all the schools in the state integrate local food," Farrell said.
Area farmers would like that, too. The program gives farmers and economic boost.
Greg Donabedian of Donabedian Brothers in Salem said, as wholesalers, they try to buy local produce for Salem, Pelham and Windham schools.
It preserves local jobs and keeps costs lower because there is less distance to ship the produce, he said.
"It's advantageous for everyone," Donabedian said.
Mike Cross, orchard manager for Mack's Apples in Londonderry, said the orchard delivers 20 bushels of eating apples to Londonderry schools every 10 to 14 days from September until April.
That's a lot of apples since there's about 140 to the bushel, he said.
"It helped us move some apples," Cross said, "and, hopefully, it's better for the kids, better for them than potato chips, candy bars and soda."
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