Taste Washington Day

Taste Washington Day

Taste Washington Day

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

On October 1 farmers and ranchers will partner up with the Washington School Nutrition Association, the WSDA and schools around the state to once again feature Washington grown foods in school cafeterias for Taste Washington Day. Kaye Wetli, president of the Washington School Nutrition Association says that the Riverview School District has participated in the Taste Washington Day celebration for the past five years and the kids really look forward to sampling fresh local foods, as well as visiting with local farmers. In fact, Wetli says that one area farmer, Sarah Cassidy, has become a bit of a celebrity.

WETLI: She works a lot here locally from Oxbow Farms. She'll usually go to Carnation Elementary and they consider her a rock star because a lot of the classes there, because it's so close in proximity to the school, do field trips out there so they know her, so that makes it fun for them to see her in their lunchroom. Here for Riverview we're still a rural area, even though we're close to like Redmond and Seattle, so kids are familiar with farming, but I think it's still very beneficial for them to keep that connection.

Wetli says that she has worked to extend the message of eating healthy and eating local within her school district throughout the rest of the year.

WETLI: I met with some of the local farmers right here in the Snowqualmie Valley and we developed a calendar from September to June of products that would be available throughout the school year. So we're implementing that Harvest of the Month program for this school year - I'm very excited about that.

To find out more about Taste Washington Day visit WSDA's Farm to School Program website at www.wafarmstoschool.org.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.

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