Here at the farm, we equate summer with a limitless abundance of tomatoes, and kids running free from their usual weekday scholarly obligations. We got to thinkin’ about our community’s kiddos, especially as one of our wholesale managers, Mike Mosley, recently participated in Baranoff Elementary Health and Wellness Day. While he taught the second graders about farming, diet, farmer’s markets, and unfamiliar veggies, we wondered... so many kids rely on their school lunch regimen for steady and reliable nourishment, but what happens during the summer?

Baranoff Elementary. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

A student with his veggie loot. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Not surprisingly, when we looked into this summer lunch conundrum, two food champions in town, Austin Independent School District (AISD) and Central Texas Food Bank (CTFB) have the situation covered. AISD is truly revolutionizing the way people think and feel about cafeteria fare, and we can speak from experience, these lunches are truly delectable. They not only source vegetables for salad bars from local farms, but they also showcase produce from Austin farms in their Farm Fresh Fridays series. They really have students ruminating on how and where their food is grown. Through their federally funded Summer Food Service Program, they will serve breakfast and lunch to local youth, age 18 and younger, regardless of if they attend an AISD school during the school year or their economic situation. The program will start in early June and take place at more than 50 of the AISD schools. Pretty cool, eh? Kids just show up and enjoy a nutritious meal without any sort of registration or identification prerequisites. Find the specific locations and times here.

Central Texas Food Bank (CTFB) is also participating in the Summer Food Service Program. CTFB will be using our produce to provide for 18 and under youth in our community at these participating sites. We love our partners, and thoroughly enjoy working with them throughout the year. Whether AISD is trucking out the noms for our Spring Potluck in their Nacho Average Food Truck or sourcing ingredients from us for the most recent Chopped competition atop the downtown Whole Foods, we cherish these integral food players in our fair city and are filled with gratitude to have passionate folks like them changing the Austin food-scape for the better.

Courtesy of the Texas Department of Agriculture website.

CTFB side note: In 2016 we donated 26,100 pounds of fresh vegetables to the Central Texas Food Bank, which provided 31,320 meals. Yeehaw! That’s a lot of meals!

CTFB certificate. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Speaking of kids roaming free and wild in the summer, have you heard about our upcoming U-Pick event? We are planning on having two weekends of tomato pickin’ fun in June complete with a tomato canning workshop with the inimitable Kate Payne! Come out and stock up for those salsas, sauces, and plain ole tomato sandwiches that scream summertime. We can’t wait! Check out our comprehensive events page here.

Tomato U-Pick. Photo by Scott David Gordon.