Ruhlig’s Cherry Tomatoes on the Salad Bars

Throughout September 2014, we partnered with Dexter Food and Nutrition to source 60 pints of cherry tomatoes from Ruhlig’s Produce in Dexter, MI for use on the salad bars in all 6 Dexter schools!

Cherry and grape tomatoes from Ruhlig's Produce in the Creekside kitchen!
Cherry and grape tomatoes from Ruhlig’s Produce in the Creekside kitchen!

The tomatoes represent a partnership that came full circle from school to farm and back to school! Last spring, students at Creekside Intermediate school started tomato seedlings for their annual Plant Sale Fundraiser, and when they had extra cherry tomato seedlings after the sale, they donated the plants to Ruhlig’s Produce. The farmers at Ruhlig’s planted and cared for these student-grown seedlings over the summer and this September those same tomato plants produced fruits that came into the school cafeterias!

Marty Ruhlig delivering the cherry tomatoes.
The farmer, Marty Ruhlig, delivering the cherry tomatoes.

Some of the salad bars they were served on are new, and students are still getting used to the expanded fruit and vegetable offerings, which included summer squash coins, butternut squash, edamame, and broccoli on the days the tomatoes were served. Cherry tomatoes are a regular item served on the salad bars, but these tomatoes were something special, and some students tried them specifically because these ones were locally grown.

This student went back for seconds!
When told that the cherry tomatoes were special, some students went back to the salad bar to try them.
Staff in some schools helped promote the tomatoes by putting up flyers.
Cherry Tomatoes on the salad bar at Cornerstone.

Our Farm to School Coordinator took pictures of students’ trays after going through the lunch lines at 4 schools to get a sense of what students were choosing. Here are a few of the results:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We hope that this represents the beginning of a longer partnership with Ruhlig’s Produce!

Farm to Freezer

Cherry Capital Foods has been an important partner in Dexter Food and Nutrition’s path to increase their local purchasing. One of Cherry Capital’s source vendors is the Farm to Freezer program featured in this gorgeous and touching video. This community based job training program flash freezes produce from farms in Northern Michigan, providing locally grown food direct to customers, restaurants, schools, and hospitals. Simple and inspiring!

Summer crops wind down in the SMLGarden

August was a fruitful month in the Sullivan Memorial Learning Garden. The students’ CAS projects wound down just as many of the summer crops were reaching their last legs. Tomatoes became blighted and the zucchini and summer squash fizzled out after producing loads of juicy fruits over the last two months. The CSA family came to garden for the last time to get their box of produce, and then sent this lovely thank you note to the students who grew their food:

Dear Claire and Ben –

I wanted to thank you for all your hard work this summer in taking care of the Sullivan Memorial Garden for the CSA Pilot.  Your ownership and leadership over the program was impressive, and you should both be very proud of yourselves.  You took on a huge responsibility this summer in taking care of the garden, and it flourished under your care. My family and Faith In Action benefited greatly from the bounty of vegetables that resulted.

This was the first CSA my family has ever participated in.  My purpose of joining the CSA was to:

1) Try new vegetables/produce that I would not have normally purchased at the grocery store.

2) Introduce my picky daughters (ages 4 and 6) to the gardening process in hopes they would be more willing to try different vegetables.

3) Learn new recipes  to prepare the vegetables for my family.

4) Learn how to prepare the vegetables for storing over the winter (freezing).

I feel I have met all 4 of my goals!

My family has learned a lot this summer, and I know you both have too.  The lessons you are learning about gardening are life skills that are so important and will be able to be used for the rest of your lives.

Thank you for allowing my family to participate in the learning process with you.

Take Care and Happy Gardening,

Jennifer

Here are some of the great moments from the last month of the summer in the DHS garden . . .

Summer squash and tomatoes still going strong at the beginning of August.
Romanesco squash!
Broccoli!
Green tomatoes, about to ripen.
Claire gives that week’s harvest to the CSA member family.
The harvest!

 

Smarter Lunchroom Video

During our May 2014 Farm Fresh Food Day, some folks from the Michigan Department of Education School Nutrition Programs joined us at Mill Creek Middle School to film the radish sampling, in their series on “Smarter Lunchroom” techniques that Dexter Food and Nutrition has been exemplifying. Here’s the video that resulted!

July in the SMLGarden at DHS

Summer has been treating the school gardens in Dexter well so far, with lots of rain and relatively mild weather lately.  At the Sullivan Memorial Learning Garden at DHS, two IB students have been maintaining the vegetable garden, installing a new irrigation system, and harvesting produce for their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) member family and for donation to people in need through Faith in Action.

Here’s a sneak peak into how the garden at DHS is looking mid-summer and what our harvest has been lately (click on the photos to see captions):

The garden has really made progress this year!
Sunflowers are starting to bloom.
Baby summer squash.
Come on tomatoes! We’d love to eat you any day now!
broccoli, cauliflower, and tomatoes are coming along
This bed is packed with peas, carrots, salad greens, cucumbers, radishes and more!
The snow peas are being harvested in big numbers and taste delicious!
Some of the baby carrots that were ready this week were donated to Faith in Action.
The sugar snap peas are being harvested, and two kinds of kale both for loose salad greens and bunched for cooking.
Sunflowers making their way to the sun.
Soy beans, squash, and flowers surrounding the garden’s new sign.
A tiny frog protecting the garden key.
Banana peppers are starting to come in!
In this shot, we donated the peas, bunched mustard greens, tri-colored lettuce, radishes, and chives.
The baby carrots we donated set up at Faith in Action.

Want to taste some of this produce for yourself?  Sign up to volunteer in the garden over the summer, and you can take some of the harvest home with you after helping out!