A Tough Assignment A tough assignment for Mariah Lorom, a student at Wiscasset High School who spent the morning picking apples for the harvest lunch, but it could turn out to be the most important thing she can learn - how to eat well.

Maybe it was Governor John Baldacci's decision to declare September 26 Maine Harvest Day to focus the attention of our schools on healthy eating that made the day such a success. Maybe our local schools and students are way beyond the need to legislate healthy, homegrown eating as smart eating.

"Whatever," as the kids would say, the proof was certainly in the pudding at school lunches in our neck of the Maine woods, and the results were way over the top!

Check out the menu at the Edgecomb Eddy School; vegetarian chili, corn bread, baked potato with cheese and broccoli, corn on the cob, apples and blueberry cobbler, homemade wheat bread and farm-produced jam.

Brady Hatch and Brendan McQuillan own an organic farm in Edgecomb and have worked with students at the school for the past two years to help cultivate educated eaters.

And, during the same time period, the farmers have involved Mrs. Garey's second graders in a squash-growing project. They visit the class in the spring, teaching the farmers- still-in-training overalls what squash needs to grow and how they differ from each other. Two weeks after that the class travels to the farm to plant their own squash.

Hatch said that the school nurse, June Finnegan, helps with the weeding during the summer and uses her digital camera to capture the growth during the season.

In the fall, the class that has then evolved into Mrs. Morrison's third graders comes back to the farm "to follow the long vines that their plants have produced to gather their bounty," Hatch said. Can you hear it? "Wow, look how great mine is!"

Hatch, Brady and their "third grade farm hands" scooped out the squash at the school Wednesday morning along with peeling apples to make a fabulous soup (I tasted it) that was served in a large Cinderella pumpkin that the students hollowed out.

"Their excitement was contagious," Hatch said. "It was truly a lot of fun."

Last year, the students made soup for their parents and put together a cookbook filled with squash recipes.

This year Wiscasset High School freshmen are involved in an expeditionary learning project that highlights the benefits of eating food grown locally and looking for healthy food choices. The idea germinated from the Student Council's concern about teen-age obesity and their hope to do something about it.

The freshmen went out to Applewald Farm in Litchfield to pick apples for their lunch, and helped shuck corn and chop native vegetables at the school.

All three schools were treated to a healthy selection of yummy foods provided by Morris Farm and Buckwheat Blossoms Farm in Wiscasset, and Applewald Farm in Litchfield.

The menu district-wide featured more vegetarian chili, roasted potatoes, corn bread, blueberry cake, coleslaw, corn on the cob, carrot sticks, tossed salad and apples.

Whoever gets the credit for the great eats from the governor on down deserves the thanks of many happy taste buds in our schools. Remember the child is father of the man.