Uncategorized
BSSD implements farm to school programming
Published
7 years agoon
Posted By
Outlaw PartnersOphir to host family cooking night
By Sarah Gianelli EBS Associate Editor
BIG SKY – The Big Sky School District Wellness Committee got a reinvigorating shot in the arm in December 2016 when it was joined by additional members of the community who are particularly passionate about improving food and nutrition education in the district.
On April 4, despite bureaucratic and budgetary challenges, the committee of 13—comprised of parents, teachers, administrators, the current lunch program manager and local chefs—took two more small steps in the direction of incorporating the farm to school ethos in the lunchroom and classroom.
On May 4, 10 families will gather at Ophir Elementary for the committee’s first family cooking night and prepare a simple, healthy meal together that reflects what is in season locally, paired with an educational component.
The committee also committed to participating in Gallatin Valley Farm to School’s Harvest of the Month program for the 2017-2018 school year. The nonprofit’s flagship program provides cross-curricular educational programming surrounding a featured in-season, locally sourced vegetable, grain, legume or meat that also shows up in the lunchroom.
The nonprofit’s executive director Sam Blomquist was present at the April 4 meeting and suggested both initiatives as good ways to begin introducing the farm to school programming to the district.
Spearheading the family cooking night effort is Eric Walnum, a personal chef at the Yellowstone Club who has been volunteering his time to be on the committee out of a fervent belief in the long-term positive effects of fruits and vegetables and the importance of forming healthy eating habits at a young age.
“Allowing children to be part of cooking (and shopping, gardening, harvesting) empowers them to take a role and become actively engaged in the process of making something to eat,” Walnum said. “The result is having children more excited about tasting, trying and possibly devouring what they’ve helped create. We see this as an opportunity to help students learn about food and acquire skills to help their parents at home or to become competent to safely arrange a healthy snack at home.”Walnum’s hope is that family cooking night will become a monthly event.
These recent steps to bring healthier, more consciously-sourced and -prepared food to the district comes on the heels of a parent and child survey the committee conducted in late January to gain insight into why the current school lunch program sees low—if on par with most Montana schools—participation.
In response to results that suggested both demographics wanted to see more fresh, healthy options in the cafeteria, the committee conducted a two month-long experiment that ended April 13 to see if participation in the lunch program would increase with the addition of supplementary fresh fruits and vegetables.
For the duration of the “experiment,” committee members volunteered their time to prep and serve the additional fruit and vegetables, which were provided twice a week, free of charge to both hot lunch and brown bagger students.
“In the elementary school it was a huge win,” said Whitney Littman, wellness committee coordinator, school board member and parent of two Ophir students. “Every kid was so curious about what was available and to learn about it. It was so special to see these kids go for carrots and cucumbers when you offer them as a side option to what they’re getting in the hot lunch program.”
Littman said it was harder to determine the success in the high school, which could have been due to presentation constraints, or perhaps points to the need to hook kids on healthy eating at a young age.
“The mission for the wellness program is long-term,” Littman said. “It’s about educating kids now so they can make a lifetime of healthy choices when it comes to what they put in their body. I think we have a lot of the key ingredients—we have a lot of interest from the community in the food and nutrition component of the school lunch program, and interest from parents and teachers in the education component. And what we learned from Gallatin Valley Farm to School is it’s not hard to do a taste test once a month, and make food a topic of conversation, rather than just something you put on a plate.”
Food costs and labor availability are the tallest hurdles to sourcing and preparing the kind of quality, regional ingredients that the wellness committee would ultimately like to see in the school lunch program.
Big Sky School District Superintendent Dustin Shipman, who also sits on the wellness committee, said that’s why bringing farm to school practices to the district has to be supported by a grassroots community effort.
“What we’re trying to do is not like flipping a switch—it’s significant,” Shipman said. “We have a lot of champions for it which makes it easier, but it’s small steps towards a great thing. And that’s with everything.”
Big Sky School District’s next wellness committee meeting is Monday, April 24, at 2 p.m. in the Ophir Elementary conference room and is open to the public. The first family cooking night will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 4, and is open to the first 10 families to sign up.
The Outlaw Partners is a creative marketing, media and events company based in Big Sky, Montana.
Upcoming Events
april, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before 9/10/2024:
more
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before
9/10/2024: Kindergarten
enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year can be completed by following the
registration process now.
Children
born on or after September 11, 2019: 4K enrollment is now open for
families that have a 4-year-old they would like to enroll in our program for
the 2023-2024 school year. Please complete the 4K Interest Form to
express your interest. Completing this form does not guarantee enrollment into
the 4K program. Enrollment is capped at twenty 4-year-olds currently
residing within Big Sky School District boundary full time and will be
determined by birth date in calendar order of those born on or after September
11, 2018. Interest form closes on May 30th.
Enrollment now is critical for fall preparations. Thank you!
Time
February 26 (Monday) - April 21 (Sunday)
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm We will combine the heart-opening powers of cacao with the transcendental powers of breathwork and sound. Together, these practices will give us the opportunity for a deep
more
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm
Time
March 23 (Saturday) 6:00 pm - April 23 (Tuesday) 8:00 pm
Location
Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a
more
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a limited palette to create different color combinations? Are you tired of carrying around 15-20 different tubes when you paint plein air? Have you ever wanted to create a certain “mood” in a painting but failed? Do you create a lot of mud? Do you struggle to achieve color harmony? All these problems are addressed in John’s workbook in clear and concise language!
Based on the bestselling “Limited Palatte, Unlimited Color” workbook written by John Pototschnik, the workshop is run by Maggie Shane and Annie McCoy, accomplished landscape (acrylic) and plein air (oil) artists,exhibitors at the Big Sky Artists’ Studio & Gallery and members of the Big Sky Artists Collective.
Each student will receive a copy of “Limited Palette, Unlimited Color” to keep and take home to continue your limited palette journey. We will show you how to use the color wheel and mix your own clean mixtures to successfully create a mood for your paintings.
Each day, we will create a different limited palette color chart and paint a version of a simple landscape using John’s directives. You will then be able to go home and paint more schemes using the book for guidance.
Workshop is open to painters (oil or acrylic) of any level although students must have some basic knowledge of the medium he or she uses. Students will be provided the book ($92 value), color wheel, value scale and canvas papers to complete the daily exercises.
Sundays, April 14, 21 and 28, 2024
Noon until 6PM.
$170.
Time
14 (Sunday) 12:00 pm - 28 (Sunday) 6:00 pm
Event Details
Everyone is invited to join us in celebrating 2 years of arts education in the BASE Art Studio with us! Take a tour
Event Details
Everyone is invited to join us in celebrating 2 years of arts education in the BASE Art Studio with us! Take a tour of the studio, meet our instructors, and meet other artists of all levels in our community. We’ll be getting creative and you’ll have the chance to make your very own artful button pin.
Stick around for our Volunteer Appreciation and Social beginning at 6:30 p.m.!
Time
(Thursday) 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Location
BASE
285 Simkins Dr