P.S. 107’s second annual Harvest Day, an event that is part of a special DOE SchoolFood and NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets program called Garden to School Café, was a rousing success. Foodplay, a live theater production focused on nutrition and health education, started the day. Students then made their way to the cafeteria to first play some fun food-related games and sing some original songs about healthy food.
Then, they passed through the ever popular food expo. There, students sampled an array of fresh vegetables and homemade dips, finely toasted pumpkin seeds, freshly squeezed juice, and apples from Vermont and New York. But the best part was the tasting of three specially prepared dishes — babaghanoush, potato salad without mayonnaise, and a roasted winter squash medley. The winner? The quite appetizing babaghanoush, which was closely followed by the potato salad.
Lunch, eaten in the big yard, contained herbs that came from the school’s very own Sunshine Garden. And that lunch was fantastic: herbed chicken and rice, fresh green beans, and a super tasty salad bar that included pasta pesto (the basil came from our garden) and a yummy chick pea salad. Blurred student faces due to DOE regulations.Thank you to PS 107 parent and Garden Committee Co-Chair Michle Israel for the photos below. Kudos to Garden Committee Chair Michele Israel and Wellness Committee Chair Randi Roberts for thier tireless effort and hadrwork.
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Ms. Holton for her invaluable support of Harvest Day and time and assistance with planning all of the complicated logistics of the day; Simone Clarke, Lucy & Angela, our fantastic school food team, for their support in planning, prepping and serving Harvest Day lunch; Chef Anthony Conio & the rest of the SchoolFood executive chef team, for prepping and cooking the delicious Harvest Day Meal; Jana Keith Jennings, our wonderful chef from Wellness in the Schools, for planning and helping prepare the delicious Harvest Day meal and dealing with way too many emails from us; Peter & Frank & the rest of the 107 custodial staff for setting up the 4th Floor FoodPlay assembly, moving the lunchroom tables outside & back and clean-up afterwards; Christina Grace, from the NYS Dept of Agriculture & Markets, for the Harvest Day produce; Meserete Davis, School Food Garden to Cafe Coordinator, for her help with obtaining greenmarket produce; Denise von Sternberg, for the beautiful Harvest Day artwork; Mr. DeFranco, for the kids' amazing Harvest Day songs; Ms. Sherri and the many other teachers who created Harvest Day artwork with their students; Mary Vines, for her valuable feedback and support for Harvest Day lunch; Vanessa Russo, for her Excel expertise and critical assistance in scheduling all of our volunteers and planning the Harvest Day game; Aisling Wharton, for helping plan the Harvest Day game, various Food Expo events and helping out on Harvest Day; Jonathan Blumberg, for planning and shopping for the Food Expo produce table, coordinating with produce prep volunteers beforehand, creating a beautiful Harvest Day poster and helping out all day; Karen Kane, for helping create a beautiful Harvest Day poster and helping out on Harvest Day; Amanda Aaron, for coordinating and planning the smoothie table, all of the prep work beforehand and helping out all day; Louise Hert-Radwell, for produce shopping at the Food Coop (along with Kevin Malcahy) and helping out on Harvest Day; Helen Darroch for soliciting and arranging apple donations; Kathryn Koegel, for buying, transporting and storing delicious Vermont apples and heading up the Food Expo apple tasting table; Meredith McGuiness, Julie Rosenberg, Stacey Petruzella & Tracey Agerton, for prepping produce beforehand; Tracey Agerton & Tim Cross, for storing apples at their home & schlepping them to school; Maria D'Albert, for coordinating pumpkin seed donations and roasting them beforehand; Carol Duguid, for prepping produce beforehand, making delicious hummus for the produce table and creating voting ballots so students could vote on their favorite Harvest Day dish; Jane Walsh, for making delicious tzatziki dip for the produce table; David Johnson and Susan Fox for their juicer donations, Daniel Paterna, for his amazing photos & willingness to pitch in at the last minute; Stuart Miller, for organizing students for the 4th Floor FoodPlay assemblies; and for their help on Harvest Day, Victoria Guisinger, Claudia Viera, Christina Cox, Sally Gosper, Marci Weisler, Ethan Levine, David Kim, Michelle Amoroso, Kay Papvassilliu, Candace Luckman, John Howell, Emma Howell, Maria D'Albert, Haleh Nazeri, Deborah Iarussi, Lauren Young, Melissa Vaughan, Irma Schreiber, Brendan Vaughan, Jessica Cohen, Shiri Levi, Desiree Cassese, Julia Tarro, Stacey Petruzella, Faye White-Willinger, Siobhan Harren, Simone Procas, Tracy Gosein, Susan Tang, Tim Philo, Gabriela Rendon, Cathryn Rich, Sascha Alper, Jill Novatt, Laura Assmundson, Iven Walters, Susan Hawk, Justin Osborne, Janet Barad, Tracy Philips, Mari Renwick, Barrett Heaton, Pati DeVries, Jennifer Vega, Susie Pervis, Jodi Kantor and Brad Lander. If there is anyone who helped out whom we missed for any reason, please know that we really appreciated your help and support in making the day a huge hit for everyone.
Also, the FoodPlay Productions assembly was great fun and the students thoroughly enjoyed learning about nutrition in a lively and interactive way. Here are some materials, including tips for making fruits & veggies fun for kids, for you to take advantage of at home. For more information about FoodPlay, and more materials that you can use to encourage your kids to eat more fruits & veggies, see http://www.foodplay.com/.