C REATE P ERFECT P LATES FOR EASTER WITH EASE

“This is a true collaboration, and we are proud to be a convener,” said Kyla VanDeusen, Captain Planet Foundation’s learning gardens program manager. “With fresh initiatives from the APS superintendent, momentum from chefs at Sodexo and an understanding with the APS director of nutrition Dr. Marilyn Hughes and her team, the kids are motivated to try eating what comes out of the gardens at their schools.”

The CPF Project Learning Garden program launched the Garden-to-Cafeteria pilots at Beecher Hills Elementary School, Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and MJHS with funding partners Sodexo and Kaiser Permanente. There are already more than 50 school gardens planted in the district with the help of CPF, but these three schools’ plots are being beefed up, coordinating crops for their lunch room menus and showing students exactly where their food is coming from – land right outside their classroom windows.

Ashley Rouse, Farm to School Director for Sodexo Jackmont, is the garden guardian at MJHS and is equally as vigilant about food safety as she is passionate about the soil and engaging students in the process. She was onsite recently, dressed in a bright skirt printed with carrots, peas and cabbage.

Bagel Basket | Deviled Eggs | Quiche | Frittata

Garlic Rosemary Lamb Shoulder | BeefTenderloin

Orange Glazed Carrots

Duck Fat-RoastedYukon Gold Potatoes

Mini Crab Cakes | Pan Seared Salmon

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip | Beet Salad

Macaroons | Easter Pastry Baskets

One minute, she was explaining why it was important to plant sunflowers near the fence (for support), shorter pollinators like zinnias in the front (they need more sun) and in the next breath, she was encouraging club members, brothers Tate and Reid Rosbotto, not to give up in their task of repairing the tiller.

“Also, one of the more rewarding results of the project is teaching the kids about the importance of community partnerships to make all this happen,” Rouse said.

Love is Love Farm in Decatur is fermenting recently harvested cauliflower for tacos for one school event. The Preserving Place in West Midtown will help can tomatoes from the school garden for cafeteria lunches in the fall. Chef Linton Hopkins will be bringing cooking demonstrations to schools, and he named CPF as his charity of choice this year.

Bang Tran has been working with young APS gardeners for FoodCorp, a nationwide team of AmeriCorps leaders who connect kids to real food and help them grow up healthy. He and garden clubbers from Maynard Jackson recently cooked up eggs and bright green spinach from their garden for Burgess-Peterson Elementary School students on Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

“These students have made so much progress and the excitement is growing,” Tran said of the Garden-ToCafeteria program. “With Captain Planet’s classroom curriculum kits, tastings and infrastructure is now in place with a few of the schools, the movement is viable.”

Rouse says Sodexo wants more meal participation in schools, and this program is one way to make that happen.

“We took spinach from the garden to D.H. Stanton Elementary School for a taste test. Of the 262 kids who ate the raw spinach, only seven said they didn’t like it, and most had never even tried fresh spinach!”