The Decatur County School System was recognized for its push to teach students about (and encourage them to eat) healthy, farm-fresh produce with a Golden Radish Award from the state.

The Golden Radish is an award that acknowledges leadership of school representatives in building farm-to-school programs. It is a partnership between Georgia Organics, Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

“It takes all of these people and even more,” Decatur County Schools Nutrition Program Director Debbie Purcell said at Thursday evening’s Board of Education meeting as she introduced a dozen or so educators who helped with the project. “It was definitely a Decatur County Schools project to be able to increase our farm to school programs and tie it in with STEM, and we are working on that more for this year.”

Decatur County Schools was recognized at the Silver level for their accomplishments during the last school year, which more specifically include:

• Students were served local food items 90 times during the 2014-15 school year, contributing to nearly 400,000 individual meals that included local fruits and vegetables.

• Six schools maintained edible gardens and incorporated farm to school into standards based lesson plans at these schools.  For instance, students at Bainbridge Middle School created a hydroponic system to grow collard greens with recycled milk cartons for a STEM lesson.

• Decatur County participated in at least 17 hands-on cooking and food activities. Second graders across the county grew pumpkins and prepared delicious recipes with their harvested pumpkins, including toasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin muffins.

• Students from John Johnson Elementary School sold produce harvested from their school garden on three occasions at the local farmers market.

The school district was recognized for its efforts to educate students on nutrition and agriculture by State School Superintendent Richard Woods, Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black, Public Health Commissioner Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, and Georgia Organics Board Chair Mandy Mahoney.

“Our programs, like Feed My School for a Week and the Georgia Grown Test Kitchen, inspire students to expand their taste buds and connect with the farmers who support the state of Georgia,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black in a news release. “We are thrilled to participate in the Golden Radish Awards and to assist in creating markets for farmers that also benefit our children’s health and education.”

“Eating fresh, locally sourced food at school is great for our students. When kids are healthy and energized, they’re ready to tackle their academic tasks,” said Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent, in a news release. “Farm to School also provides an opportunity for students to learn more about the role and impact of agriculture – Georgia’s largest industry – in our state.”

Last year, West Bainbridge Elementary planted a 40-by-20 yard garden behind the school and planted cabbage, zucchini and potatoes throughout the year, much of which produced food that was consumed in the cafeteria. This year, second graders are planting pumpkins, and principal Jamie Ard is determined to keep the program going, whether the garden produces pumpkins or not.

“I will do everything in my power to allow those students to have a similar experience we did last year,” Ard said. “If we don’t get any pumpkins, that can be a discussion the kids have if the crop fails, because that’s real life.”

Almost 40 state school districts were recognized at either a gold, silver, bronze or honorary level this year. Last year, Decatur County was awarded at an honorary level.

Districts were evaluated on their work in 10 different activities of farm to school.

Collectively, the school systems:

• Held 4,352 taste tests of fresh, local food to students

• Taught nearly 1,809 garden, food and nutrition lessons to students

• Tended 328 edible school gardens

• Hosted 725 hands-on cooking activities with students

• Incorporated farm to school into 182 staff professional development opportunities

• Championed and sustained district-wide policies or procedures into 19 schools districts

“It’s just a perfect example of really a team effort across the system,” Decatur County Superintendet Dr. Fred Rayfield said. “Some of it I got to be an active participant in. I’ve been the consumer of some potatoes from John Johnson. It is not possible for us to be recognized at the state level without what each one of you contributed and what other folks contributed.”