Love Local Lunch

Feb. 7 at Second Street School | Feb. 8 at Frankfort High School

free, as always, for all students

Menu:

  watch this video to learn more

  • Baked Potatoes: Happy Jack’s Farm (Franklin County, KY)

  • Thyme Roasted Carrots: Salad Days Farm (Woodford County, KY)

    menu tested by SSS Farm to Table PEP students during Fall 2023 with thyme from the FHS garden

  • Butternut Squash Cornbread: made by FoodChain (Lexington, KY)

    with butternut squash grown by FIS students at the Jane Julian Farm and cornmeal from Happy Jack’s Farm

  • Salad with Microgreens - Microgreens grown by SSS Garden Club

    onions from Cedar Ring Greens (Franklin County, KY) & radishes from High Five Farm (Woodford County, KY)

This special lunch supports local agriculture and brings some of the best food available in central KY to the SSS and FHS cafeterias where it is free - just like breakfast and lunch are every day - for every student in our district.

It is an occasion to celebrate 3 years of farm to school work:

  • Much of the food, including the steak, is purchased with Local Food for Schools funding from USDA and KY Dept. of Agriculture.

  • The thyme comes from the FHS garden that we installed with the generous help of Inside Out Design and Kentucky State University through our USDA Farm to School Planning Grant.

  • SSS Garden Club which provided the microgreens and lovely table decorations for this meal is supported by our USDA Farm to School Implementation Grant and:

    • A 4-H agriculture mini-grant which provided additional funding for garden club to grow microgreens

    • Yes Arts which provides arts education and programming support 

    • Additional grants and support from the Kentucky Native Plant Society and Capital Area Extension Master Gardeners along with Eagle Scout projects led by Sam and Kaleigh Curry have helped grow our school gardens at Second Street School.

  • We have grown butternut squash at the Jane Julian Farm for the past three years thanks to Jane Julian and funding from a KY Dept. of Agriculture and USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant. This grant has also funded the forging of a relationship with FoodChain who has processed butternut squash for use in school meals and prepared the butternut squash cornbread for this meal.

  • Franklin County Cooperative Extension and Kentucky State University Extension have supported us every step of the way. They provide programming support for SSS garden club and agriculture opportunities that our students wouldn’t already have. For this meal, Keenan Bishop, Franklin County Extension Agent, and Nat Colten, KSU Community Sustainability Coordinator, are grilling our steaks with the help of the Franklin County Cattlemen’s Association.

  • One of the goals of our Farm to School Action Plan is to honor and justly compensate the work of feeding each other. This meal - and so much of our work over the past 3 years - wouldn’t be possible without FIS food service staff going above and beyond to feed our kids - and working to make meals more nourishing and appealing - even when that is the harder path.