Organic dairy program doubles herd

The University of Minnesota organic dairy program is taking big steps to help farmers turn over their herds to organic dairy farms. The West Central Research and Outreach Center is converting half its dairy herd to organic production. By carefully recording the process, it can help Minnesota farmers move more easily into this growing and profitable practice.

Trillium Charter School Organic Food Program Documentary

This video, created by Jenny's intermediate (3rd,4th and 5th graders) class, seeks to document Trillium's new hot lunch program. The vendor, Organic Fresh Fingers, sources local, organic, vegetarian meals and delivers this food weekly. Upper school students in a nutrition class prepare the meals and serve food from the school's commercial kitchen. Intermediate grade students help with clean up and composting. Implementing this program reduced classroom waste, since compost is collected by the city and all plate and tableware is washed, not thrown away. Our food project this year also included a taste survey to give the vendor and meal preparation class feedback on student satisfaction. Simple changes, like delivering oranges whole, not precut, improve taste (the oil from the rinds was souring the fruit.) Organic Fresh Fingers also conducted a taste survey with a food science lab, seeking to improve on taste and texture of vegetarian pasta dishes. Students are getting the USDA requirement of protein and rate the flavor very favorably. With our rooftop garden design in it's final states, Trillium looks forward to fullfilling a long term mission of supplementing the school's food program with school grown food. We also look forward to a continued partnership with Organic Fresh Fingers in an effort to provide a high quality, nutritious food program for students.