Feb. 20—The increasing number of farmers' markets in Western Washington has led to local produce finding its way onto school lunch menus. Of the 10 school districts in Western Washington that have formally joined the Fresh Food in Schools Project, a statewide effort to get Washington-grown produce in schools, four are in Snohomish or Island counties: Arlington, Lake Stevens, South Whidbey and Northshore.
Students in the Arlington and Snohomish school districts can eat apples recently plucked from the branches of Marshland Orchards in Maltby. The salad bar in the Lake Stevens School District can include offerings of celery sticks from Fife, sweet red peppers from Wapato and cucumbers harvested from the fields of nearby Carleton Farm.