CONWAY — Each month at Conway Grammar School, students are treated to a pop-up tasting event inspired by local farm products with offerings ranging from potatoes to kale.

The effort is tied to the new farm-to-school initiative, which seeks to connect the students with the local farming community. Conway Grammar School and Sunderland Elementary School have served this year as the pilot buildings for the program, which will soon be extended to each of the three other schools in the Frontier Regional and Union 38 school districts with help from a $27,372 Farming Reinforces Education and Student Health (FRESH) grant.

In expanding this program, district Farm-to-School Coordinator Theresa Carter said the focus is on “cafeteria, classroom and community” at Frontier Regional School and the four elementary schools. The grant money will allow the district to hire three part-time farm-to-school staff members, purchase locally grown food, and provide stipends to teachers and farmers.

With the monthly “Harvest of the Month” pop-ups serving as one of the first farm-to-school initiatives, Carter said the goal is to broaden that work to the classroom and other aspects of the school community.

“Now, we’re pivoting,” she said. “We’re going to continue to do that, but we’re also adding classroom content. … In the fall we’re planning on doing the Harvest of the Month in all five schools, doing more garden programming and part of the grant also allows stipends for teachers.”

Alongside the school staff, Greenfield’s Just Roots is also creating a partnership with the school district. Community Support Coordinator Kyle Zegel is fostering a relationship with the schools to see where food literacy and other programs might be able to be implemented.

This partnership, at least in the first year, will be somewhat limited — Just Roots is also working with Greenfield’s public schools — but Zegel said work may pick up in the fall, with a retreat for the school’s food service staff in Greenfield, where they can talk about food and education.

The Harvest of the Month pop-ups bring local produce to the forefront, with the school working in new foods for kids to sample and then collecting feedback to determine how best to work those items into future meals, all while connecting kids to the local food system, according to district Food Service Director Patrick McCarthy.

“We’ve been using local product for a while and it has increased over time,” McCarthy said. “From our standpoint, it’s an educational piece to inform the students and the parents that this is going on. … I think it will also increase the visibility and availability for us of local products.”

A recent example is kale chips, which might seem a little out of place on a school food menu when compared to the classic school lunch.

McCarthy added that the increased awareness of local food can show students the importance of the local food economy, while also providing the health benefits that come from eating these foods.

The goal of the expanded program, he said, is to try to instill these habits early, so the program can sustain itself over the years.

“Those sixth graders that were part of that tasting will now come to middle school next year. … It’s really foundational. There’s going to be some baby steps in the beginning and we’re really looking long range to sustainably have these programs in place,” McCarthy said. “That’s kind of our ultimate goal, is to make this part of the fabric of the district.”

Also tying into the farm-to-school initiative, Conway Grammar School hosted its third annual Spring Fling earlier this month, with the focus on local agriculture. Eight local farming organizations attended, including Just Roots and Natural Roots Farm.

“This is an extension of that, really getting to see the farmers and learn about how they bring the products to us. It’s kind of a full-circle event,” Carter said. “We’re so spoiled in this area. We have just an abundance of great farms.”

She added that the event was well-attended, with 250 people showing up to chat with farmers, play with goats and watch Conway’s own Tom Ricardi show off birds of prey.

“We had a really good showing of our kiddos and family members,” Carter said, “and had quite a few community members come.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.