Shikellamy Middle School students visit farms, harvest lettuce
May 21—LEWISBURG — Evangelical Community Hospital's fourth annual Farm to School program's culminating experience was an all-day field trip bringing 180 Shikellamy Middle School students onto two farms, Dreamcatcher, in Lewisburg for lessons in produce harvesting, and Mapes Dairy Farm, in Mifflinburg.
The Shikellamy students were divided into two groups, said Justin Petrovich, a fifth-grade math teacher, who was there to help with the kids. One group went to Dreamcatcher in the morning. At the same time, a second group went to Mapes Farm, where they learned about and saw demonstrations of milk production and pasteurization. After a noontime break, the two groups rotated so that all students visited both farms.
The Farm to School program is meant to introduce children to local farming, said Ann Dzwonchyk, wellness educator, Evangelical Community Health and Wellness. "They see items in the grocery store's produce section, and where some of them come from."
In February, students planted a seed at Dreamcatcher Farm, Manager Leah Bingaman said.
"I took the seeds to the greenhouse and grew the lettuce for the students," she said. "When the lettuce was ready, I planted it in the ground. Today, the students returned to Dreamcatcher to harvest the green-leaf variety of lettuce."
As students pulled the lettuce from the ground, they placed the produce in a bag to bring home.
"I'm not sure what I am going to do with it," said Makenna Camp, 12.
Ava Neidig, 11, said she loves eating salads, "and I think I'll have this tonight with my salad."
Farm owner Joe Detelj gathered students together and explained how compost helps farming. The lessons learned were about gardening and farming.
At Mapes, the kids saw how the farm creates milk through the use of the pasteurizing machinery. They saw the calves and walked through the milking parlor to see how the cows give milk.
This is the first year that two districts are involved in the program. Shikellamy has participated every year, but today, Milton School District middle school students, weather permitting, will go through the same agenda as the Shikellamy kids.
The program started in 2020, "and it was originally called the Dreamcatcher Farm Fresh Local Project," said Ryan McNally, director, Miller Center and Community Health Initiatives, Evangelical Community Hospital.
"The vision was for the hospital to collaborate with local farms on three things," McNally said: Production of fresh, local produce for hospital employees; fresh local produce for those in need in the community; and educating youth on local farming, nutrition and health education.
"We've hit on all three of those objectives over the last four years," McNally said. Much of what is grown at Dreamcatcher Farm is available to Evangelical employees to take home from work, and enjoy throughout the growing season, he said.
"We also have a produce stand that will take place once a week at the hospital where employees can purchase the produce and take home from work," McNally said. "Our goal is to serve as many people as we can.
"We direct the program strategically based on what our findings are of our community, through a health needs assessment."
McNally said there is less access to these kinds of programs in Northumberland County.
"Obesity in our youth is on the rise, so hopefully this drives a health education initiative in the shool districts and improves the health of our youth, and their families," McNally said. "We hope to excite kids about shopping in the fresh food produce area in a supermarket, as opposed to the processed food aisle."
The Farm to School program is also about supporting local agriculture, McNally said.
"There are farms wherever you look," he said. "It's important for kids to know that these farms are in their backyard."
The cost of the program is made possible by Evangelical employees participating in the program.They get the benefit of fresh produce every week, which they can buy. Those funds support the youth program.
