Lunch Lady

I have never entertained the thought of being a lunch lady. In my mind, the job holds no glamor or fun, but only long hours and limited budgets. The past couple of weeks, though, have helped me see it differently.

First, the kitchen is the only place at school that can blast music during work hours (always a plus for me). At lunch time, we come up with crazy and creative names for what we’re serving in an effort to get the kids excited about eating healthy. “Superhero Veggies” were a hit along with “Muscle Plums,” I heard requests for seconds of “Cowboy Beans” and even the high school students were willing to try “Eyeball Berries,” better known as Kiwi berries. I’m starting to get to know the students and their preferences, like the one third grader who makes a dramatic and painful show of eating his fruit before I will give him seconds of the entrée, and the high school boy who asks every day if we have more kohl rabi.

Elementary students have been helping to serve lunch, and extra hands and enthusiasm are always appreciated. Lately several boys have taken to volunteering even when it isn’t their turn to work! The one day I didn’t get the compost bin set up I was severely chastised by multiple students, and I get regular reports on the status of our compost collection throughout lunch time. Our compost worms are in the mail this weekend, and teachers are lining up for the chance for their classes to meet them, and eventually get their own class vermiculture projects (in exchange for garden labor!).

On Tuesday afternoon the cafeteria was full of 24 weeping fifth graders. Responsibility for the tears fell not on me but on the onions that several kids were dicing which filled the small room with their potent smell. Students peeled boiled eggs, cut up celery and pickles and I helped others peel forty pounds of school-garden potatoes for the potato salad we will serve at Open House. High school students in shop class made coleslaw (and a mess), and finally started to make a dent in the enormous amount of garden produce we’ve been struggling to dispose of.

Cooking with kids is turning into my favorite thing to do; my ideal schedule would consist entirely of playing in the kitchen or the garden. The brilliant thing about North Powder is that this is entirely possible! Next week- students and I hope to make a quinoa carrot salad, we’re already scheduled to make bean salsa, and in our free time play with worms!