MEXICO – Ben Plourde chomped into an ear of corn grown just a few miles from Mountain Valley Middle School late Thursday morning during the eighth-grade lunch period. Seventh-grader Katelyn Robinson did, too.

Other youngsters feasted on Maine blueberries baked in cakes, salads made with tomatoes and cucumbers grown behind the school, and fresh beef ground into hamburgers that was also raised just a short distance from the school.

It was local foods day at all SAD 43 schools.

Nutrition director Jeanne LaPointe said students and teachers have actually been enjoying locally grown foods all month.

“There’s just too much product to serve in one day,” she said.

Students from Lindsay MacMillan’s seventh-grade science class have been harvesting the vegetables that were started this past spring in anticipation of a frost expected Friday morning. Others are expected to begin composting.

Robinson and Ella Bishop, also a seventh-grader, are among the students who are helping with the school garden.

“We worked so hard and now we’re getting something out of it. It’s the fruits of our labor,” Bishop said.

“It’s really cool. The veggies are so good,” Robinson said.

Eighth-grader Mariah Haggan said she liked the school meal because the foods were grown close to the school and were fresher. She and her family also grow a garden so they get to enjoy fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans.

Middle school Principal Ryan Casey said the lunches give students a chance to experience locally grown foods.

Next week, another healthy food-related event will be launched when middle school students enjoy fruit and yogurt parfaits thanks to an $18,845 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, LaPointe said.

The funds are earmarked for the purchase of fruit to be consumed as snacks, not with regular lunches or breakfasts, she said.

Casey said individual teachers have control over nutrition education and will provide the fruit as it fits into schedules and curriculum.