Lunchline Lunchlady: Where This Is Leading

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Where This Is Leading

An effort that is almost two years in the making is underway to bring New Jersey grown produce into New Jersey schools. This blog will serve as a resource for people to communicate throughout the state about this potential program. What better way for New Jersey farms to remain viable than to sell to the state's local schools who feed children every day?

Here in the Garden State, we are communicating with food processors who understand the importance of good food and who are willing to help us develop products that will sell to kids in the lunchroom, but will taste good!! We are developing recipes that will highlight New Jersey's premium crops, using the best of our season and making products the lunchrooms around the state can use as is or turn into mouthwatering soups, sauces and other items.

If you have a recipe you think can be turned into a food service size quantity product that kids would like, and it has vegetables that New Jersey farms grow, please contact us and let us know about it. We'll even name it after you!

If you're a farmer thinking of growing for this program, contact us to talk about what crops you grow, your pricing, distribution issues and thoughts. There are farmer grants available that we are looking in to for value-added production.

If you're a food processor who already has relationships with farms, we want to hear from you about how you purchase your produce and what products you make value-added.And if you're a food service director in any New Jersey school district, contact us now to help us help you understand your school's ability to work outside the confines of your food service contract.

We are striving to move away from the food service company control of school lunch choice and we promise to bring more local food options back into the school lunch programs in the state. Eventually, we hope to set up a B2B link here that will list farmers, processors, school districts, food service companies and distributors for a system that will be established through this program. It can only be a win-win situation for the local agricultural economy, the schools, the kids and the evolution of school food back to a more basic place where real food rules.

There is a lot to be done and it won't change overnight. But stick with us as we make these changes happen and help us along the way with your comments and suggestions.

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2006 Princeton Packet Editorial--Farm markets fill the void of Jersey past

June 16, 2006: Back in the days when New Jersey really was the Garden State, you couldn't drive more than a few miles without coming upon a friendly roadside stand offering corn, tomatoes, blueberries and other fresh produce in abundance. Even today, there are pockets of farmland around the state, particularly in South Jersey, where passers-by can pick up fresh fruits and vegetables straight from the source. In some cases, the roadside stand sits right on the farmland — and customers are encouraged to head out into the fields themselves, baskets in hand, and gather their own bountiful harvest. But here in Central Jersey, much of the farmland that once graced the landscape has given way to suburban sprawl — and what little agriculture is left doesn't readily lend itself to a bustling roadside business. Instead, many of the remaining farms have transformed themselves into boutique businesses, specializing in organic products — which, loosely translated, means they're generally healthier (and more expensive) than what you get in the supermarket. If the days when one could pick up a couple of dozen ears of sweet Jersey corn for a buck are long gone, the opportunity to shop for farm-fresh produce here in the heart of suburbia has, fortunately, come knocking in recent years. First in West Windsor, and then in Montgomery, one of the region's least attractive sights — an idle parking lot — has been turned once a week into a thriving farmers' market, offering a wide array of fresh goods to a steady stream of satisfied customers. The West Windsor Community Farmers' Market began its third year of operation about a month ago. Open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the market is located in the southbound Vaughn Drive parking lot of the Princeton Junction train station off Alexander Road. This year, the West Windsor market features 10 farms selling conventional, organic and specialty Asian vegetables, bedding plants, fruit, fresh-cut flowers, grass-fed beef and pork, eggs, poultry, pot pies and other farmer-produced products. Also available are fresh and locally made breads, pastries, tarts and croissants from an area bakery, as well as hot coffee, cold drinks and sandwiches. The Montgomery Friends Farmers Market opened Thursday. Now in its fourth year of operation, the market is located in the parking lot of the Princeton North Shopping Center, just south of Route 518 on Route 206. It is open from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays, and will run through Oct. 26. The Montgomery market features fresh fruits and vegetables — both organic and conventionally grown — as well as flowers, honey, bread and baked goods, poultry, organic popcorn and sweet and savory pies. The market plans a number of special events throughout the summer, including Kids Celebrate Summer, Red White and Blue Barbecues, special recipe days, special guest days, coupon days and more. These markets do more than turn acres of unsightly asphalt into fertile fields of fresh food. They promote New Jersey agriculture, which helps keep farms in business — which, in turn, helps keep farmland out of the hands of developers. Perhaps more important, they help provide a sense of place, a communal island in a sea of subdivisions, a spot where friends and neighbors can come together — or just bump into each other — and share a few moments in a pleasant outdoor setting. Fast-growing suburban municipalities like West Windsor and Montgomery have too few such places, which is a large part of the reason West Windsor is seeking to redevelop the area around the Princeton Junction train station, and Montgomery has similar designs on the former North Princeton Developmental Center, now known as Skillman Village. But those projects are years away; in the meantime, these seasonal farmers' markets are a welcome enterprise — doing their part, in a small way, toward building a sense of community. And doing so, we might add, most tastefully.

Lunchline Lunchlady

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Where This Is Leading

1 comment:

Links Worth Looking At

Check out New Jersey's seasonal chart for what's in season

2006 Princeton Packet Editorial--Farm markets fill the void of Jersey past

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