Sprouting Healthy Kids is just one of the many programs that the Sustainable Food Center offers here in Central Texas.

This program brings locally grown and highly nutritious food into neighborhood schools. With the help of school staff, the program provides an additional outlet for farmers to sell the food they grow. Fresh fruits and vegetables arrive weekly to 16 Austin area school cafeterias.

One of those schools is KIPP Elementary. This program is something KIPP Executive Chef Kirsten Eadie can get excited about.

“You can either do it one of two ways, you can through the website you can order it and the farms deliver it directly to you which is amazing. Or if available I can go to the farmers market and pick it up from those farmers as well.”

In the week I visited KIPP, she picked up tangerines so the students would have fresh fruit for their lunch. The program also teaches students about the benefits of having this in their school.

Sprouting Healthy Kids has three main components. The first is providing locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables to school cafeterias. The second component is afterschool gardening and cooking activities to show where the food comes from and how to prepare it. The last part of the program provides in-class TEKS aligned lessons teaching healthy food and food systems in core curriculum classes.

Another way the students learn about the locally grown food they are eating is by promotional signs posted in the cafeteria. These tell the kids exactly where the food they are eating comes from and helps complete the circle of education.