Yosemite Unified partners with local producers to provide healthy school lunches 

MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Through partnerships with section farmers, ranchers, and beekeepers, Yosemite Unified School District is providing students with fresh, steadfast food sourced straight from section producers. 

"It's truly what's amended for kids. It's going to assistance them successful their learning. It helps with attendance, and erstwhile they permission school, it volition assistance them with making amended nutrient choices," said Dyann Eckstein, Yosemite Unified's nutrition services manager.

Through assistance money, Eckstein created this inaugural erstwhile she archetypal started astatine the territory 3 years ago. Since then, she and the café ladies have whipped up caller recipes that incorporated locally sourced products. "It is throwing further work. It takes a batch much clip to marque a caller sandwich oregon a caller crockery than it does to instrumentality retired a packed burrito and propulsion it successful the oven," she added. 

Eckstein besides added a grab-and-go station, adding adjacent much nutritious options for kids. It's also decreased the luncheon lines significantly. "We person entrée salads made daily, and we usage nutrient from Worman Mill erstwhile we can; we'll usage it. And past we person sandwich kits that person a assortment of sandwiches. Now, the ladies marque the breadstuff caller each day. It's fundamentally the aforesaid arsenic Subway. Our parfaits are made caller each day," she shared.

Adam Mclane, proprietor of the workplace astatine Worman Mill, provides astir of the district's vegetables. "We turn astir 40 antithetic types," helium said. The territory works with 3 different producers. Mariposa Ranch raises grass-fed beef and free-range chickens, the Ugly Fruit Company dries and packages fruits, and Madera's Queen Honey provides, well, the honey. "We usage a batch of that successful recipes, arsenic a earthy sweetener," Eckstein explained.

Currently, the territory is looking to expand its farm-to-school luncheon initiative. Eckstein is in the process of adding locally sourced fruits, similar blueberries from Porterville and Mandarin oranges from Madera. The territory precocious received a assistance to commencement a schoolhouse plot astatine Coarsegold Elementary. They anticipation it volition flourish truthful they tin harvest that nutrient to besides service astatine lunch.