Triumph, Wyoming, High School: Farm to Table

Triumph High School is taking advantage of the growing culinary movement known as “farm to table” and is stretching their culinary students to think about how they might source their own food items. The students operate a school-based enterprise that provides catering for their local community. The students cater on average 100 events a year. They utilize products grown in their classroom for their culinary labs as well as catered events.

The Cheyenne School Foundation awarded the culinary program a grant three years ago for a vertical garden. The garden was manufactured by Bright Agrotech in Laramie, WY and allows the culinary students to grown a variety of lettuces, kale, chard and herbs. Last spring the Wyoming Art Educators Association enjoyed fresh grown greens from the vertical garden as part of their state conference luncheon.

This year the culinary instructor, Dr. Michelle Aldrich, wrote a grant to fund a bee apiary so that the culinary program can produce its own honey and honey comb eventually. Local beekeeper, Michael Jordan, from A Bee Friendly Company has been hosting workshops to help prepare students and the community for starting and maintaining bee apiaries. The bees have just been ordered and the hives are being built with the goal of being in place before April.

The next step according to Aldrich is to create a product that will utilize fresh herbs and honey, which can be sold locally and featured on local restaurant menus. This will allow students to understand the process from seedling to finished product; this isn’t your mom’s home economics class anymore!

–Wyoming Agriculture Department