Corn-shucking kids learn fresh, local lesson

Students ripped the husks from ears of corn Monday, flicking the silk from their fingers.

“Farmer Mark grew the corn and brought it here,” Washington State University Food Sense manager Terry Perry told the students at Orchard Center Elementary School in the West Valley School District.

The WSU Food Sense program is bringing corn to all West Valley schools and one school each in Central Valley, Spokane and Mead districts. In West Valley schools, the corn was delivered to the high school to be cooked and brought back to Orchard Center for students’ lunches on Tuesday.

Perry hopes the corn will teach students about fresh, regional foods.

Food Sense is a nutrition program that visits schools during the year to teach students about healthy eating choices and how to make their own snacks.

“Our program is in schools that are more than 50 percent free and reduced lunch,” Perry said.

Perry said Food Sense classes are often coordinated with the local harvest and local foods are highlighted. Students can learn an easy recipe in class and when they see the ingredients in the grocery store, they might encourage their parents to take some home.

Principal Barbara Knauss said Food Sense comes to Orchard Center and visits every class.

“It’s outreach to work with the school as a community,” Knauss said.

Perry brought along a couple of stalks to show students how the corn grows. She explained that farmers remove the ears using a machine. She showed them the silk that peeks through the top of the husks and told them there is a strand of silk for every kernel.

The Food Sense program purchased the corn from LINC Farmers, a cooperative of farmers and ranchers in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, using funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Shucking corn and eating it wasn’t the end of the lesson: Orchard Center students will continue to talk about corn in class. Students will learn it is in popcorn, cornmeal, cereal and other foods.

“Some of them have never seen corn grow,” Perry said. “They’re not used to seeing food in its natural state.”