For the past four years, local second and third grade teachers have taught the benefits of healthy food choices by bringing their students to the source.

An Oregon State University Extension curriculum, called Growing Healthy Kids , began by sending teachers soil, seeds, and toolkits to demonstrate planting and harvesting in a scaled-down model. Students planted bok choy or radishes to learn about stem and root vegetables.

Last year, students tasted produce from local farmers and visited farms to learn about the food grown in their communities. The majority of teachers agreed that the programming contributed to student knowledge of nutrition, and even more expressed a desire to participate in future years. In 2024, the program reached over 1,200 kids in 67 classrooms in Marion and

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