We are so fortunate to live in a community that is always striving to be better.  Folks around these parts care about our kids, our community, our environment, and our future; I know not every community can boast that fact! A wonderful organization called Apple Seeds, Inc. teamed up with the Fayetteville School District to bring Farm to Table lunches to all our elementary schools at least once this year.  I don’t exactly know how it all came to be, or how often this will be possible with pricing and such, but it was pretty great.

I went to be a “lunch buddy” at the girls’ school today, and to explain to the kids that everything they were eating was grown locally.  My kids, of course, understand all of this, visiting the farmers’ market all the time and having a mom who talks about food a lot, but not all of the kids know about who grows their food.  The food was excellent, too!  I didn’t eat the chicken, but I got extra salad, and it was soo good. I also want to point out that I think we have one of the best nutrition directors in the country.  He’s a chef, not a lunch lady!!

They had local chicken (only drumsticks, that’s why I didn’t eat it), salad with some sort of light and creamy homemade dressing, sugar snap peas (the kids were pleasantly surprised at how good they were), and delicious strawberry shortcake with locally grown strawberries. I’ll add that, perhaps, the ladies who serve the lunch could work a little bit on their presentation….I digress….

Here’s my sweet kindergartener, Abby, chowing down on her drumstick.  She said, “mommy, why don’t we ever get to eat this at home?”  That’s the sign of a good lunch.

Here are Kate and her friend, Henley.  This 3rd grader wouldn’t even LOOK at sugar snap peas at home.  At school, she ate and liked them.  She typically brings her lunch from home every day.  *Please* bring more fresh, properly cooked, and well seasoned food to our schools!!

And this first grader, I don’t know his name, but he’s a little foodie.  He was adorable!  He asked if there was basil in the salad, and said he liked the texture of the sponge cake.  He also said the lunch was “amazing”.   I had to give him a high five when he asked if the chicken was free range.  Love this boy.