Connecticut-area school partners with local farmers for nutritious foods

NORWICH, Conn.— Incorporating that leafy greens known as Swiss chard into the lunch menu at Norwich Public Schools was a failed experiment, according to Food Services Director Erin Perpetua.

But students have been more accepting of produce that includes beans – green, purple and yellow – as well as corn, kale and cabbage.

The district has forged partnerships with local growers including Provider Farm in Salem, LoPresti Farm in Preston and OUR Acres Farm in Lebanon to purchase seasonal vegetables. Perpetua said the capacity to serve them year-round stems from a $49,999 state grant the school system received two years ago to convert an underused kitchen into a processing hub and to purchase a van to transport the produce from local farms.

She said fruits and vegetables are washed, chopped and blanched before being portioned out into vacuum-sealed bags for freezing so that they can be delivered to schools. 

While Perpetua wasn’t sure how many students actually choose to eat the vegetables, she said that’s not the most important thing.

“We’re exposing them to it. The younger the kids are, the more apt they are to take it as grow older,” she said.

Kerry Taylor, co-owner of Provider Farm, said most of her produce is doled out to local shareholders through the community-supported agriculture framework. When a crop grows in particular abundance, that’s when she reaches out to the Norwich schools as well as some in

Colchester, Franklin, Waterford and New London to share the bounty.

Taylor estimated that the farm sold several thousand pounds of produce to schools last season.

“Norwich by far has most embraced buying from farms,” Taylor said.

Both Perpetua and Taylor credited former Norwich Food Services Director Roberta Jacobs with providing the motivation for the change.

“I think it’s really hard for schools to transition to the buying local mentality,” Taylor said. “It’s a very different structure to buy from individual farmers. I don’t think it can happen unless there’s a lot of interest from the community.”