{"id":2023,"date":"2010-09-01T19:14:45","date_gmt":"2010-09-01T19:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=2023"},"modified":"2012-10-10T19:18:32","modified_gmt":"2012-10-10T19:18:32","slug":"back-to-school-lunches-fresh-local-food-for-maryland-students-maryland-homegrown-school-lunch-week-is-september-13-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2010\/09\/01\/back-to-school-lunches-fresh-local-food-for-maryland-students-maryland-homegrown-school-lunch-week-is-september-13-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to School Lunches: Fresh, Local Food for Maryland Students; Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week is September 13-17"},"content":{"rendered":"

New YouTube Video Contest on Local Food for Students<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

ANNAPOLIS, MD (September 1, 2010) \u2013 For the third year, many Maryland schools will offer locally-grown products in school lunches for Homegrown School Lunch Week, Sept. 13-17.\u00a0 In some cases schools will continue to incorporate local foods in school meals throughout the year.\u00a0 Maryland farmers grow and produce a wide variety of food including fruits, vegetables, bread, cheeses and meats for lunches and snacks that are available from farmers\u2019 markets, grocery stores, and community supported agriculture farms (CSAs). This year all 24 public school systems are participating in the Farm to School Program and Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week.<\/p>\n

\u201cProviding students with local food for lunches and snacks as well as associated lessons helps to educate them about where their food comes, how it is produced, and the benefits of a healthy diet,\u201d said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. \u201cAt the same time, when you buy local products, you are helping to keep farmers in business and the land open and green. Buying locally-grown food is good for you, and good for Maryland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Governor Martin O\u2019Malley has declared Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week as September 13-17.\u00a0 The following are ways to ensure students can eat local all year long:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Find out what your children\u2019s schools are doing to educate students about healthy, local eating.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frequent the Farmer\u2019s Markets to purchase fresh, local products (try apples, peaches, pears, vegetables, meats and cheeses).<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Incorporate locally grown and produced foods into family meals.<\/p>\n

New this year is a YouTube video contest asking students what buying local means to them. In a video lasting no longer than three minutes, students must thoughtfully and creatively answer the question, \u201cWhat does \u2018local food\u2019 mean to you?\u201d The first place winner(s) will receive an Apple iPod Touch, a Maryland State Park Pass, and a school lunchtime visit from MDA Secretary Buddy Hance.\u00a0 The deadline to submit the video is September 20. Visit www.marylandfarmtoschool.org<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n

Linking to the old custom of bringing an apple to the teacher, Maryland\u2019s Best is promoting apples in September.\u00a0 Apples are in season and tasting great so it is the perfect time of year to take a trip to an orchard or a farmers\u2019 market to try all of the delicious varieties our state has to offer and to savor fresh cider, pies, and other treats.\u00a0 Crisp, juicy Maryland apples can also be found in many local grocery stores.\u00a0 For a fun, family activity, visit a pick-your-own orchard and spend an afternoon gathering apples to make your favorite dishes. According to the Maryland Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the state\u2019s apple production in 2008 totaled 33 million pounds with a value of $8 million. Almost every county in Maryland has at least one active commercial orchard.<\/p>\n

For additional information about Homegrown School Lunch Week and Farm-to-School efforts in Maryland, log onto www.marylandfarmtoschool.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To find Maryland apples, pick-your-own orchards and other ag-tourism activities, visit www.marylandsbest.net<\/a>.\u00a0 Video profiles of apple farmers are also available at www.marylandsbest.net\/soundbooks.php<\/a>.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Follow MDA on Twitter @MdAgDept. <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New YouTube Video Contest on Local Food for Students ANNAPOLIS, MD (September 1, 2010) \u2013 For the third year, many Maryland schools will offer locally-grown products in school lunches for Homegrown School Lunch Week, Sept. 13-17.\u00a0 In some cases schools will continue to incorporate local foods in school meals throughout the year.\u00a0 Maryland farmers grow  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2024,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023\/revisions\/2024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}