Farm-to-table school garden a delicious lesson in Arlington Hts.
For the fourth straight year, students at Windsor Elementary School in Arlington Heights enjoyed a farm-to-table dining experience during their regular Friday lunch hour.
Beyond what they brought in their lunch buckets, students tasted kale salad and freshly made tortilla chips with salsa.
"This is the second time that the entire school gets to taste," says Principal Shelley Fabrizio, "and everyone is so excited."
But they had extra incentive to try these new dishes: Many of the students helped to pick the vegetables that went into them during a recess period last week.
They filled two bushel baskets with all types of peppers and more containers of different varieties of tomatoes, all from the school's vegetable garden, tucked behind the building and adjacent to its playground.
Second-grader Angel Reyes wanted to know how soon they could sample the dishes after he helped to pick the peppers and tomatoes.
"I love all of them," he said.
Likewise, fourth-grader Emma Letzig said she had developed a love of vegetables after having helped with the garden since kindergarten. She has even convinced her family to begin gardening.
"My brother and I planted broccoli and lemon cucumbers in pots at home this summer," she said.
Hooking students and their families on nutritious food choices was at the root of the garden from the start.
Chef Tom Leavitt, owner of White Oak Gourmet in Arlington Heights, who prepared the schoolwide taste testing on Friday, has been involved since the beginning.
Leavitt approached the school when he learned of their educational garden initiative, pointing to first lady Michelle Obama's campaign to end childhood obesity and promote school nutrition.
"Planting their own seeds, watering the plants and harvesting vegetables," Leavitt says, "is a beautiful way to connect kids to the food they eat."
A core group of parents now leads the school's Green Team, which is made up of students from the ecology club and garden committee.
"The students are able to participate in every step of the process of growing food and bringing it to the table," says Heidi Boesen, who works with Andrea Gadson, Beth Klicker and Stephanie Wolford, all of Arlington Heights.
In all, it took 20 pounds of vegetables from the garden to make enough salad and salsa for the taste testing, but the garden produced far more produce this year.
"It's been the year of the peppers," quipped Gadson, crediting wet and unseasonably cool weather with their bumper crop.
The school will donate the rest of the harvest to area food pantries, including ones at CEDA Northwest in Mount Prospect and Wheeling Township based in Arlington Heights.