Valley View has new raised beds

Valley View Elementary students will notice a major change when they return to school this fall.

Where there once was a lawn of grass, there now stands raised beds and a tilled area for cover crops.

These are the first visible signs of the Boundary County School District’s Community Kitchen and School Farm Project.

The goal is to have a sustainable program that supplies the schools with local food.

“We have no business not growing our own food,” says Randy Tremble, Food Service Director. “We are going back to what they use to do around here.”

The first seeds will be planted next week along with transplants from the greenhouse at Valley View.

There are enough raised beds for each classroom at Valley View, along with one for a giant pumpkin patch. Raised beds will be constructed at Naples Elementary also.

School board trustee and volunteer Gil Hagen said that this will be “the future home of the Great Pumpkin Patch.”

Students will have the opportunity to plant, care for, harvest and cook vegetables and fruits.

They will grow produce such as carrots, lettuce, broccoli, onions, potatoes, green beans, squash, herbs and berries. Teachers will have the opportunity to incorporate the different aspects of gardening and farming into their curriculum.

Other projects happening soon include moving the greenhouse from Evergreen Elementary to Valley View Elementary and preparing a site at the high school.

The plot at the high school will be planted in a cover crop for winter and harvested next year.

A quote favored by the project’s Steering Committee is: “The only way that you can change the way kids think about food is to introduce real food to them. The single most powerful tool that you have is giving a kid a seed. The seed grows into something that they can harvest, cook and serve to their peers. In this way, food is no longer just consumption. It’s stewardship, responsibility.”

“This opens up a whole new world that students may not have,” said Breanna Booth, High School Cook.

“By the time the students are in high school, they might want to go into agricultural science or a culinary career.”

“This will be a teaching tool to show kids what they can do,” said Hagen. “It is a win-win for everyone.” Students and parents will know where their food comes from. FFA members will have the opportunity to do more projects.

“This is how we live. We need to take pride that we are an agricultural community and are kids need to take pride in that also,” said Booth.

“Let them plant it, raise it, harvest it and eat it. Kids will be so proud of it.”

While it may seem like an ambitious project to some, but Tremble says “It’s OK to dream big in Bonners Ferry.”

The plan is that within five years there will be a community kitchen located next to the high school and a school farm supplying produce to the school lunch program.

The Food Service staff have already reached the milestone of baking 95 percent of their bread goods by scratch.

A community kitchen would solve the issue of there not being enough space at the high school for serving meals and for students to eat.

 Currently, breakfast and lunch are served in the hallway and students overflow from the commons area into empty classrooms and hallways to eat. The envisioned community kitchen would alleviate that issue by having the capacity to seat 600.

The community kitchen would also be available as a processing facility for local business entrepreneurs who need a USDA approved facility.

At 10,000 square feet, the 7,000 square foot kitchen and food processing facility would provide ample room for the National School Lunch Program operations along with classroom space for students to practice culinary skills. The remaining 3,000 square feet would be a cafeteria/event center.

The community kitchen would be able to handle the foods grown on the school farm in accordance with USDA rules.

The School Farm Project’s plan is to grow food based on what can be consumed at harvest time, what can be frozen for later use, and what can be sold without competing with local farmers.

Students would be able to grow and sell produce or other farm commodities as funding for school activities or events.

“We want to work with local markets, not compete with them,” Tremble said of  what will be grown.

Part of the Farm to School Program is to incorporate locally grown foods into the school menus.

By buying locally, there would be fewer costs associated with transporting food.

Tremble estimates 25percent of the cost of food is trucking. “We truck in 95 percent of everything we consume. We would save $120,000-$150,000 if we didn’t have trucking.”

Tremble gave the example that the Food Service could serve local apples and pears all the way into February and support local growers in the process.

The project could also support local companies doing biomass operations. With plans for year-round greenhouses, renewable heating sources are a necessity. “We are sitting on a gold mine of biomass,” said Tremble.

“In the community, for the community, by the community,” is the motto.

Community is what it is all about.

Numerous community members have already donated time, resources and knowledge to help get this project started. This project is relying on grant money and in-kind donations in order to be self-sustaining.

“We are trying to stay away from the general budget. This is all volunteer, with material and time donated,” said Booth. “Our plans are to be self-sustained with advanced means such as solar power and wind power.”

For the raised beds, donations came from across the community. An anonymous individual donated the dirt, American Materials hauled the dirt, Gary Neumeyer donated the manure which was hauled with Dennis Fitch’s truck, and Gary Regehr and Brandon Regehr of TNT donated the beams at milling cost.

The initial layout plan for the raised beds was drawn by the drafting students at the high school. Moose Valley Farms donated plants for the raised beds and the FFA will be helping with preparing and planting the raised beds this week.

The money left over from the Food Service’s Catering Fund has paid for any expenses so far, such as the lumber. No taxpayer money is being utilized according to Booth.

The committee is open to suggestions from the community, along with donations of any kind, including time, materials, plants or technical assistance. The committee readily agrees that there is phenomenal skill and talent around Bonners Ferry waiting to be tapped into.

“There are a lot of members in the community with knowledge,” says Booth. “We are more than open to discuss ideas, coordinate help or answer questions.”

Breanna Booth can be reached at 290-3513 and Randy Tremble can be reached at 267-3796.

They will also have a booth at the fair with information on the School Farm project, the summer food program, the nutrition program and applications for Free and Reduced meals.