 Some
of the produce grown in our gardens is served in the cafeteria. Carolyn
Morgan (far left), the head cook at the primary and elementary schools
and her staff goes out of their way to prepare and serve the fresh produce. Carol Marples, the district's director
of food service is a great advocate for serving tasty and nutritious lunches.
It is a challenge to get the produce
from the gardens and into the cafeteria in a form they can use and in a timely
fashion. Though the cafeteria staff is very willing to work with us they
are understaffed and faced with the responsibility of preparing lunch each day
for more than 1,000 students.
We routinely harvest and deliver
easy to prepare produce i.e. cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes and each year we
have a special day where the focus is on produce from the gardens.
Harvest Soup Day is a celebration of
all the students have learned from their time in the gardens in the last year.
It’s a sharing of the bounty of the different gardens. Imagine the school
cafeterias (LES, LPS, LECC) with colorful tablecloths and floral bouquets on the
tables, as well as classical music playing in the background. That’s the scene
we set on Harvest Soup Day. The soup is free of charge to all students, staff
and guests. It's a joint effort with Granny's Garden School
and Loveland Elementary PTA volunteers cleaning and prepping the produce to make
it ready for the cooks.
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