TCAPS' 2011-2012 Farm to School Program TCAPS' Food Service Department is working with local farms to provide fresh, tasty, and healthy foods to all students in the district.  This year gala and mcintosh apples, pears, and butternut and acorn squash will be coming to our schools from Silver Lake Farms in Elk Rapids.  Cherry Capital Foods of Traverse City will be supplying locally grown tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, watermelon, broccoli, onions, strawberries, green peppers, zucchini and frozen cherries while supplies last.  Farms working with Cherry Capital Foods include but are not limited to:  Zenner Farms (tomatoes), Urka Farms (strawberries) , and Bardenhagen Farms (potatoes).  Springtime brings us asparagus from the Norkonk Farm in Empire. Suttons Bay Schools, now operated by TCAPS Food & Nutrition Services will be receiving apples from Kohler Farms. Last spring our TCAPS Food and Nutrition Department froze 2300 lbs. of strawberries to use during the 2011-2012 school year.  This is more than twice the amount that we processed last year!  Our efforts to provide local foods are constantly evolving.  Much of this fresh produce is featured daily on the salad and food bars present in each of the school cafeterias.  If you are interested in knowing what your school has to offer on a given day that is local, ask your kitchen leader anytime.  Entrees featuring local foods will be marked as such on your school's menu. View a short video from the National Food Service Management Institute called "Cooks for Kids - Healthly Cooking Across America." This video features Traverse City Area Public Schools' Farm to School Program and local asparagus farm, Norconk Farms, located in Empire, Michigan.   In addition to foods served, the Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI) has been working with TCAPS and other area schools to offer resources for locally-based food fundraisers, classroom-to-cafeteria educational curriculums, and guest speakers to visit schools. Check out their farm-to-school Web site at :  http://www.localdifference.org/farmtoschool/ or contact Diane Conners at the MLUI for information about these efforts at:  diane@mlui.org  C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University            Michigan Farm To School link:  www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu/