Seed to Table planning harvest dinner

The Seed to Table program has been going strong in Sisters for the last three years, and director Audrey Tehan is excited about moving into the fourth.

Seed to Table started with support from the Sisters Science Club and Sisters School District as an opportunity to connect students to farm- and garden-based education. This year the local program has been recognized at the state level, with Tehan as a Farm-to-Table speaker at the State-wide Oregon School Gardens Conference in September, as well as the Environmental Education Conference.

Seed to Table aims to increase health and wellness of students and families - specifically decreasing obesity - in the Sisters community through providing equal access to nutritious foods and offering opportunities in garden-based wellness education.

The farm provides fresh produce to each of the three schools in the Sisters School District including items for the salad bar, radishes, tomatoes, squash and potatoes.

This last year Tehan and the program hosted over 1,300 students on the farm, which is located on East Black Butte Avenue in Sisters. Students from the Sisters School District as well as Cascades Academy, the Waldorf School in Bend, and Heart of Oregon Youth Build have all gotten a chance to come to the farm and get their hands dirty.

The program in all aspects is designed to encourage creativity, problem-solving and the sheer love of health foods, and the learning that comes with hands-on experiential learning on a farm and garden.

In addition to Tehan's work in the garden, she has been contracted to manage the greenhouse at Sisters High School and teach a sustainable-agriculture class.

"The greenhouse will offer a four-season living laboratory," said Tehan.

This past spring and summer Seed to Table offered a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) where local community members purchased a share of vegetables once a week throughout their growing season.

Seed to Table also provides food for both of the Food Banks in Sisters: The Sisters Kiwanis Food Bank and the food bank at Westside Church. The production from the local garden has been so great they have been able to feed close to 150 families per week with fresh vegetables. Tehan estimates it will be close to 10,000 pounds of food this season.

Along with Tehan, there is one full-time college intern provided through the Rogue Farm Initiative and several high school internships; all internships are paid for through scholarship funding.

To learn more about Seed to Table visit http://www.SeedtoTableSisters.org or plan on attending their Harvest Dinner on September 24, from 4:30 to 8 p.m.

"The event is designed to gather community around food," said Tehan. "It will be a unique farm setting, long-table format. We just want people to celebrate good food."

The cooking at the event will be done by Bite of Bend finalist Chef Anna Witham.

Tickets start at $20 and are available at http://www.seed

totableharvestdinner.com.

There is still plenty of time to get out to the farm and look at all of the produce being grown right here in Sisters. Tehan encourages the public to stop by the farm during the week between the hours of 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.