Several area school districts participating in a ' farm to school' project

Four Oklahoma school districts started a new mouth-watering project Tuesday. And its connecting students back to their Oklahoma roots or in this case, vine. <br/><br/>News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson

Tuesday, August 31st 2004, 10:31 am

By: News On 6

Four Oklahoma school districts started a new mouth-watering project Tuesday. And its connecting students back to their Oklahoma roots or in this case, vine.

News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson has more on the new farm to school project. Hundreds of Oklahoma students got a taste of farm life Tuesday. It's part of a new project to increase fresh fruit options in Oklahoma schools and boost business for Oklahoma farmers.

The Oklahoma Food Policy Council is rolling out the program in four school districts in the state. 57 schools in Shawnee, Tahlequah, Edmond and Broken Arrow are taking part in the program. They all got a special delivery Tuesday, 1,400 farm fresh watermelons. These melons are right off the vine, grown by an Oklahoma farmer near Hinton.

It's part of a push to get locally-grown food on school menus and open new markets for farmers. Maura McDermott with the Oklahoma Food Policy Council: "The kids have been loving eating this watermelon because itâ€™s so fresh itâ€™s grown about 100 miles away and itâ€™s brought in right after being picked.â€

Along with the watermelons comes a nifty little book, in this case, about watermelons. It's filled with classroom activities.