Taste of an Equitable Food System at School Farm Stands

The FRESHFARM farm stand just outside of the school garden at Whittier Elementary has been a highlight of our spring season. A variety of fruits and veggies including sweet strawberries, crunchy cabbage and carrots, and intriguing kohlrabi are sourced for the farm stand from Barajas Farm and Mickey’s Orchard – two Mid-Atlantic farms in the FRESHFARM network. As Whittier students burst through the school doors at the end of the day to meet their parents and high schoolers and neighbors make their way home, the community arrives to check out the farm stand.

Connecting Families to Farms and Fresh Food

Alongside the seasonal produce for sale to customers, our farm stand operators hand out samples of FRESHFARM recipes, which incorporate fruits and vegetables being sold at the stand. “I know this ABC salad!” say a few students that ran from dismissal to the farm stand. Recipes students are familiar with from FoodPrints classes are connected to the affordable, local produce for sale at the farm stand.

While Whittier families chat about what they plan to cook with the fresh produce, other community members adopt a similar enthusiasm for the recipe samples. “This is good because it’s also something new!” a customer said as he tried ABC Salad for the first time. He then went back for seconds and thirds before buying some apples, beets, and carrots to make the salad for himself at home.

FRESHFARM sells local produce to families and neighbors at school-based farm stands to work on its goal to foster an equitable food system:

• Students gain cooking skills and food knowledge to make informed food decisions
• Students bring these skills and knowledge home, and families have opportunities to access fresh produce and cook nutritious recipe
• When families have access to and shop at local farm stands, they support local farmers

At school-based farm stands, we get a taste at what an equitable food system can look like.