COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JULY 5, 2017
11A
Farm to School program gets kids eating (and growing) veggies
USDA funding helps farmers bring students to the fields and vegetables to the table
Over the last
two
school years
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
the South Lane
School
District
has received funding from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) and the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education (ODE) for the district’s farm
to school program. This program works to edu-
cate students about local healthy food options and
even gives them a chance to grow food in their
school garden.
In January of 2016 the school received $99,000
in funding from USDA for this program that last-
ed until the end of the 2016-2017 school year.
Shortly after they received $38,000 from the
ODE. With these two grants, the district was able
to focus on curriculum around farm to table, start
gardens at schools throughout the district and
bring in farmers throughout the year to assist in
the learning process.
“Farm to school is a way to engage students
and encourage them to eat more fruits and veg-
etables,” said Melissa Fery who has worked in
agriculture for past 20 years and helped write the
grants that got the schools this money.
One of the highlights of the program was get-
By Zach Silva
ting students to be able to garden and grown
their own fruits and vegetables while at school.
Schools paired this with a curriculum titled ‘Eat,
Think, Grow’ that was developed in Portland to
help students think about what they were doing in
an academic lens.
“We were getting them tuned in to the seasonal
rhythms of our environment and getting them to
explore and think about how plants and gardens
are tied into the other things that they are learning
in school,” said Taylor Larson who is a farmer in
Creswell that helped with the program.
Another element of the program that especial-
ly grabbed students attention was the tasting ta-
bles. Once a month a particular fruit or vegetable
would be featured and brought to each classroom
and then served at lunch. Foods that were featured
included watermelon, kale, kohlrabi and beets.
At the conclusion of the program, teachers said
on a scale of one to 10 they saw 7.8 students will-
ing to try new things and six out of 10 teachers
observed a difference in student preference.
“I would try and make it seem like an adven-
ture,” said Larson. “The kids have pretty open
minds when it comes to trying new things they
just don’t want anything forced on them.”
SOUTH LANE COUNTY
FIRE & RESCUE
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FOR EMERGENCY DIAL 911
Serving South Lane County.
Farmer Taylor Larson, from Creswell, participates in the Farm to School program in South Lane. Courtesy photo.
Fire chief outlines restrictions
The following restrictions ap-
ply within the City of Cottage
Grove, City of Creswell, and
any lands within the SLCFR
District boundaries, not protect-
ed by the Western or Eastern
Lane Districts of ODF.
Smoking is prohibited while
traveling, except in vehicles
on improved roads, in boats
on the water, and other desig-
nated locations.
Open fi res are prohibited, in-
cluding campfi res, charcoal
fi res, cooking fi res and warm-
ing fi res, except at locations
where fi re pits are present.
Portable cooking stoves us-
ing liquefi ed or bottled fuels
are allowed. Briquette use
is allowed in barbeques, but
is restricted to use on hard,
non-fl ammable surfaces such
as patios, driveways, gravel,
or green irrigated lawns.
Power saw use is permitted
all day during low fi re danger
(GREEN), before 1:00 p.m. and
after 8 p.m. during moderate
fi re danger (BLUE) and before
10 a.m. and after 8 p.m. during
high fi re danger (YELLOW).
The use of power saws is pro-
hibited during extreme fi re dan-
ger (RED). Each power saw is
required to have one shovel and
one fi re extinguisher of at least
8 ounce capacity. A Firewatch
of at least one hour is required
following the use of each saw.
Cutting, grinding and weld-
ing of metal is permitted all
day during low fi re danger
(GREEN), before 1:00 p.m. and
after 8 p.m. during moderate fi re
danger (BLUE), before 10 a.m.
and after 8 p.m. during high fi re
danger (YELLOW) as long as
it is conducted in a cleared area
and has a charged garden hose
or one 2 ½ pound or larger fi re
extinguisher immediately avail-
able. This activity is prohibit-
ed during extreme fi re danger
(RED).
The mowing of dried, cured
grass is permitted all day during
low fi re danger (GREEN), be-
fore 1:00 p.m. and after 8 p.m.
during moderate fi re danger
(BLUE), before 10 a.m. and af-
ter 8 p.m. during high fi re dan-
ger (YELLOW), and is prohib-
ited during extreme fi re danger
(RED). The culture and harvest
of agricultural crops is exempt
from this requirement.
Motor vehicles, including
motorcycles and all-terrain ve-
hicles, are only allowed on im-
proved roads free of fl ammable
vegetation, except for the cul-
ture and harvest of agricultural
crops.
Illegal fi reworks is prohibited
at all times, and in any location
within the District. Legal fi re-
work use is permitted in areas
free of dried, cured grasses,
brush, or trees unless prohib-
ited in areas jointly protected
by SLCFR and the Oregon De-
partment of Forestry (ODF).
Generally and where permitted
fi rework use is only permitted
on asphalt, concrete, or gravel
and a charged garden hose or
one 2 ½ pound or larger fi re ex-
tinguisher is immediately avail-
able.
Coast Fork
Continued from A1
applied to take part in the fi eld-based program.
“Lincoln was the guinea pig school,” Gilbert, executive director for Coastfork, said.
Students accepted into the program met at Row River National Park at 9 a.m. to complete two to three
hours of stewardship; rain or shine.
“It was 30 degrees some days,” Gilbert said. “And it was rain or shine. If school was open, they were
out there working.”
Students removed invasive species, completed trash pick-up, planted 100 trees and took part in turtle
surveys as part of the program’s goal of enhancing the watershed and making restoration a priority. In
total, Lincoln students completed 500 hours of stewardship at Row River Nature Park.
According to Gilbert, students were asked questions concerning restoration and general watershed
knowledge prior to beginning the course and again when they had completed the work. At the start, 18
percent of the students passed.
That number soared to 90 per-
cent at the program’s end.
“We had 100 percent of the
seventh-graders who were in-
volved this year, apply to be in-
volved again next year,” Gilbert
said.
Coastfork has funding sched-
uled to continue the program
through two more cycles. Cur-
rently, funding is divided with
40 percent going to staff, 40 per-
cent to the South Lane School
District, 10 percent to educa-
tional supplies and 10 percent to
stewardship supplies.
According to the council’s
website, the Willamette wa-
tershed, “is the southernmost,
low-elevation watershed in the
Willamette Valley. Mt. Pisgah
and Spencer’s Butte defi ne the
drainage basin in the north, the
Coast Range in the west, the
low-elevation Cascades to the
east, and the ‘Calapooia Di-
vide’ to the south separates the
Willamette and Umpqua Rivers.
Located in Lane and Douglas
Counties, our 667 square mile
“Brightening Lives One Smile at a Time”
watershed is 6 percent of the
entire 11,400 square mile Willa-
mette River watershed.”
The Coast Fork Watershed
council is charged with preserv-
ing and restoring wildlife while
educating the community on
ways to be better environmental
citizens. The group monitors ac-
tivity in the area and is part of
a 60-council network spreading
across the state of Oregon.
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Fire Danger Adjective Class
is as follows:
Low= Green: Activity permit-
ted all day
Moderate= Blue: Activity
permitted until 1:00 p.m. and
after 8:00 p.m.
High= Yellow: Activity per-
mitted until 10:00 a.m. and after
8:00 p.m.
Red= Extreme: Activity pro-
hibited
The Fire Chief or an autho-
rized representative of SLCFR
may, in writing, approve a mod-
ifi cation or waiver of these re-
quirements.
These restrictions shall re-
main in effect until replaced,
suspended, or terminated by an
additional proclamation of the
SLCFR Fire Chief or an autho-
rized representative.
For more information or
clarifi cation on any of these
restrictions or to ask questions
concerning fi re safety, please
contact the South Lane Fire and
Rescue non emergency line at
(541) 942-4493.
Douglas
uglas G.
G Maddess,
M ad
d d ess DMD
DM
914 S. 4th Street,
Cottage Grove
541-942-1559
www.douglasgmaddessdmd.com