October Newsletter

With cooler temperatures and a colorful display of leaves everywhere you look, fall has definitely arrived! For us at Freshampton, that means taking advantage of the fall harvest by sourcing from local farms, wrapping up outdoor garden education, and gearing up for winter programming. Keep reading to get the latest on what's happening in the cafeteria, classroom, and community!

This month, we celebrated the apple Harvest of the Month by taste testing Apple, Ham, and Spinach Wraps! The recipe, which is adapted from the John Stalker Institute, is delicious in it's simplicity! With only four ingredients, the local apples from Pine Hill Orchard shine! We are still in the process of taste testing, but you can find the results of the September taste test, Local Tomato Salsa, below!

September Taste Test 🍅 Results:

Loved it 💟 : 297

Liked it 👍 : 112

Tried it ✅: 46

Pine Hill Orchards, located in Colrain, MA, is a family owned and operated orchard on over 80 acres! Their trees provide apples, peaches, and plums, not to mention their blueberry bushes and pumpkin patches! Pine Hill Orchards sells wholesale to people like us at Freshampton, but are also open for Pick-Your-Own and have a deli that is open 7 days a week! Northampton Public School students are lucky to enjoy apples from Pine Hill Orchards daily!

Each October, school districts across the country celebrate National School Lunch Week! This week recognizes the delicious and balanced meals that our passionate professionals serve our students every day. The federally funded National School Lunch Program (NSLP) has been fueling students for success for 77 years. The “School Lunch Pirates: Find Your Treasure” campaign, this years NSLW theme, is made possible by the nonprofit School Nutrition Association. Parents and students can follow the fun on social media using the hashtags #NSLW24, #SchoolLunchPirates and #SchoolLunch.

Freshampton is the School Nutrition Services of the Northampton Public School District. We are responsible for providing NPS students with breakfast and lunch each school day, as well as organizing farm to school programming for students in the classroom through connections with community organizations. Our goal at Freshampton is to provide delicious and nourishing meals to students everyday. Our dedicated kitchen staff prepare breakfast and lunch daily to provide students with fresh meals that will keep them full throughout the school day. This involves sourcing almost 30% of our produce from local farmers to get quality ingredients that support the larger Northampton community!