Fresh Bites

 Fresh Bites are sent out to all Fresh Snack schools at the start of each week. They are used in different ways as each school sees fit.  Some are read over the announcements, some are shared in classrooms, and some are added to newsletters.  

Fresh Bites are an educational tool for the school community. They share the names of fruit and veggie ingredients, the farms that grew the food (when local), and kid-friendly facts about the nutritional value, history, and production of the foods. These facts include fun trivia as well as easily digestible bites of nutrition information.

Here are some examples:

​Apples  

• Apples have some B-Vitamins in them.  B Vitamins help your body break down and rebuild as you grow and
  also help turn your food into energy.
• The apple is the state fruit of New York.  These apples were grown at Eddydale Farms in Ithaca, NY.  
• Apples are full of fiber, which helps digestion happen properly, and also binds to toxins in your body.  Fiber protects your body like a superhero by keeping toxins from hurting you.

Sweet Turnips

• ​Turnips are loaded with Vitamin C, which is great for keeping our bodies well. Turnips have more vitamin C than oranges.  In fact, one serving of turnips gives you about half of the recommended Vitamin C for your body for the whole day!
• These turnips are white like milk, and that isn't the only thing they have in common with milk.  Turnips contain calcium.  Calcium is great for your bone strength.  
• These white turnips were grown at Stick and Stone Farm in between Ithaca and Trumansburg, New York.
• Turnips contain a good portion of a mineral called Manganese.  Manganese also helps us build bones.  Manganese is also good for our skin, and helps control blood sugar levels.

Celery

• This organic celery is from our own Youth Farm Project in Danby, NY.  Danby is just South of Ithaca.  Young people, maybe even people you know, grew this celery!  The farmers told me they had a lot of fun growing celery. So, maybe if you eat it you will have an extra fun day.
• Celery is refreshing, with no fat and hardly any sugar.  It is all crunch and flavor!
• Celery has a lot of water.  It is hydrating.  We can think better when we are hydrated, and get fewer headaches.

Carrots

• These crunchy organic carrots were grown at Sweetland Farm, in Trumansburg, just West of Ithaca.
• These carrots have an orange color because they have lots of beta-carotene, which magically transforms into Vitamin A in our bodies. Vitamin A is important for our eyes, bones, teeth and skin.
• People were eating wild carrots thousands of year ago.  They were not as sweet as these carrots.  They were bitter back then.  We have it pretty good now, when it comes to carrots.

​
Plums

• These plums come from North of us, on Lake Ontario, right near Niagra Falls... from a place called Singer Orchards.
• Singer Orchards is in Appleton, New York.  I think that's funny because they are plums, not apples, and actually, Singer Orchards grows apples too.  I wonder how many apples there are in Appleton...
• Plums come in different colors. Have you seen a plum before?  Which color plums have you seen?
• Plums have a juicy, creamy pulp and a sweet, tart taste.  Plum rhymes with "yum".
• Plums are loaded with vitamins and minerals, and have good amounts of vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, and copper.  Copper helps you stay strong and keep energy in your body.