When I was little, my mom would take me grocery shopping.  As we navigated the store, the aisles towered above me, lined with row upon row of colorful jars and boxes. I would shiver in the produce aisle, puzzled by why my mom spent so long deciding which carrots to buy. As I grew older, she instilled in me the importance of fresh, local produce, emphasizing the need to only buy foods with readable nutrition labels and reasonable costs. Now, I think about the food I eat, considering where it comes from, who labored to create it, the pesticides it may have absorbed, and the distance it traveled. 

When I transitioned from homeschooling to public school, I expected to eat ultra-processed foods. However, unexpectedly, when I started attending Blue Heron Middle School, I was able to enjoy creative, delicious, healthy, and locally sourced meals.

Port Townsend has had a farm-to-lunch program for approximately 15 years. Our program is incredibly robust. Fifty percent of our beef is organic and locally raised at West Valley Angus Farm. One hundred percent of our pork is organic, sourced from One Straw Ranch. Fifty percent of our wheat comes from Chimacum Grainery. Honey, used in breads, barbecue sauce, salad dressing, and a variety of breakfast items, is sourced from Bee Works Farm.  The cheese topping on our pizzas is from FernDale Farm and is organic. Additionally, PT gleaners donate 4,500 pounds of apples to Port Townsend Schools every fall. 

Our school gardens are even older. The high school garden was established 20 years ago, and the Salish Coast production garden began four years ago. Port Townsend is part of the 14% of high schools nationwide that have school gardens. (The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program.) In 2024, the Salish gardens produced 5,000 pounds of food, and they aim to produce 7,000 pounds in 2025.  

All of this is in jeopardy. 

The current administration is in the process of cutting federal funding, including funds for local farm-to-school programs. The USDA has announced a $1 billion cut directed specifically at local food for schools. These cuts are already affecting us. We receive 54% of our funding for school lunch from the USDA.  An order placed for next year’s food supplies had to be cut by two-thirds.  Federal funding cuts do more harm than good. 

A report from The Rockefeller Foundation found that while school meal programs cost $18.7 billion per year to run, they provide nearly $40 billion in human health and economic benefits.  (True Cost of Food: School Meals Case Study.) When schools buy local, they support farms, creating more jobs and strengthening the community. 

I’ve come to rely on our school lunches.  A $3.75 healthy, delicious meal (free at Salish Coast) is rare. Our lunches enrich my life. I’m friends with our head gardener, I say hi to the lunch lady, and I lick my lips every day before digging into my meal. If this program is eliminated, it will destroy a part of our community.