• Visit our new BLOG PAGE on this web site and keep up with little bits of news and conversation around our great program!

•  Our F2C logo was created in 2007 by two of our students, Dana Sabine and Ursula Pamatian, which depicts the heart and soul of our Island F2C program.

•  The school lunch program has made giant strides toward improving the quality of the lunch program by buying local from Island farmers. We are implementing more “scratch” cooking of fresh products, and the students are being encouraged to make better nutritional choices. The cafeteria has seen a 40% increase in lunches going from approximately 190 lunches served per school day to sometimes more than 300.  This can be directly attributed to the fact that we are now serving more wholesome, healthy, and fresh lunches.

•  One of the cornerstones of the Farm to Cafeteria Program is that good nutrition is a key to successful learning, and that the quality of the product improves the closer to home it’s purchased. F2C does not ask farmers for a discount, but gives back to the local economy by paying the same prices for the fresh tomatoes, onions, potatoes, greens, and all items purchased from our Island farms as any other food service business.

•  In August, 2009, we held our first "5th Season" event where fresh, organic summer produce (Walla Walla onions, summer squash, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, plums and raspberries) from local farmers were processed, bagged and frozen to be used in cafeteria lunches during the school year.  In August 2011 we will be holding our third 5th Season - this time boosted by a very generous Lowe's Toolbox Grant that will enable us to double the amount of food we can process plus purchase some very much needed equipment for 5th Season and processing foods in our cafeteria all year long.

•  The Orcas Island School District is supporting our endeavors by implementing a Farm to Classroom project taught by Orcas Island School District teacher Mandy Randolph. Mandy, along with the assistance of our Garden Keeper, Chelsea Cates and fellow teacher, Bruce Orchid, leads kids in grades K-6 through the joys of food and cooking in weekly classes promoting healthy and nutritious foods, picked and prepared by the children, and sampled by them as well. Until recently, these children turned their noses up at fennel. But let them pick it, prepare it and cook it up into a freshly made apple fennel soup, and you now have die-hard fennel fans! This project was expanded from K-4 to K-6 in 2010 and we hope to fold in higher grades in the coming months and years ahead. We also want to entice older students to learn more about food and nutrition by helping in the school kitchen, and look forward to creating a culinary arts program.

•  Students, teachers and community volunteers are working in the school garden located just west of the District Office, making it more productive and important as ever as an “outdoor classroom.”  See our web page about our garden for a complete story of how it came about and how it's doing.

•  In our quest for an orchard, our student F2C Committee member, Iris Parker-Pavitt spearheaded the project where three fruit trees were planted in an area next to the Elementary School. We now have our orchard...stop by and take a look!

•  A very popular monthly event is our Celebrity Chef lunches where F2C invites well-known professional and amateur chefs to make lunch in the school cafeteria once a month. Charles Dalton of The Kitchen, Christina Orchid of Red Rabbit Farm, John Steward of Maple Rock Farm, Abigael Birrell of Doe Bay, Orcas Hotel,  and Geddes Martin of Ship Bay, to name a few, have treated the entire student body to these special lunches alongside our ever so enthusiastic school cafeteria staff.  The 2010-2011 line-up includes Lisa Nakamura of Allium, Everett Brooks of Fire Smokehouse and Grill, and Bobby and Bev Olmsted of Cafe Olga.

•  In February of 2011, we will held our Second Annual Student Chef Competition where students in all grades cook up their favorite recipe to win prizes and have their recipe become a regular school lunch menu item.  Go to the "Student Chef Competition" button on the left to read about this fabulous day and view a gallery of photos from the day of our first competition.

• In November of 2010, we were able to make our first purchase of locally raised beef.  This was an anticipated milestone for the Program and we are truly grateful to the farms and individuals that made it happen!  In May, 2011 we won an generous grant from the Orcas Island Community Foundation that will ensure our purchase of local beef from our beloved Coffelt Farm for the entire next school year.