Frederick County students will taste local flavors when they bite into apples, peaches and watermelon slices in their school cafeterias next week.

As part of the Homegrown School Lunch Week, running Sept. 12 through 16, Frederick County Public Schools will serve locally grown products and use them to teach students about healthy eating, as well as the dynamics of local food production in their area.

“This week is just a salute to local farmers,” said Judith Gordon, the school system’s food service manager.

All of Frederick County’s 64 schools will participate in the initiative and food service workers already have started stocking up on locally grown fruit, including 100 cases of peaches, 100 cases of apples and at least 150 watermelons.

All fruits are coming from the Catoctin Mountain Orchard in Thurmont and Baugher's Farm and Orchard in Westminster, Gordon said.

The homegrown school lunch initiative comes out of the Maryland Farm-to-School program — a statewide initiative that encourages schools to highlight locally grown foods and try to educate students about where their food comes from.

Established in 2008, the program aims to encourage school systems in Maryland to use local produce in their cafeterias, said state officials when the program was originally put in place.

While school systems try to serve local products, they have not been able to guarantee the fruits and vegetables they serve will be coming from farms in Maryland and not from the fields of California or the orchards of Washington state. This is a common problem for school systems throughout Maryland and it was driven by complex federal laws and a market where demand for low prices sometimes trumps support for local producers, state officials explained in 2008.

But the Frederick County school system has been making steps to change that, Gordon said. Frederick County cafeterias have served fresh produce in season for several years, she said.

This year, locally grown produce will remain on the school system menu even after the homegrown week is over, for as long as the fresh products are available, Gordon said.

In Frederick County, the biggest problem with buying locally is that growers cannot always provide the quantities that needed to feed 40,000 students, Gordon said.

“The volume is important to us,” said Gordon, who vowed to continue expanding the partnerships with local farmers.

But as a result of the push in recent years to build up good nutrition habits in students, more children in the county have started looking forward to filling their plates with fresh fruits and veggies, Gordon said.

“I was at a school yesterday and the fruit goes very well,” said Gordon. “Everyone is looking to eat more fruit and vegetables.”

mraycheva@gazette.net