West Salem kindergarteners enjoy tacos, refried beans, Garden Bar, and grapes. (Photo courtesy of Sara Jeranek)

When it comes to local foods, it doesn’t get much fresher than vegetables direct from a school garden. In West Salem, Wisconsin, students are not only growing their own vegetables; they’re eating them – with enthusiasm — in their school lunches. Even more, they’re having fun planting, digging, and harvesting, while learning sustainable growing practices. Read more »

Marla Emery works in the agency’s Research and Development’s People and Their Environments unit in Burlington, Vt.

Marla Emery looks at plantain – an ordinary weed to most people – with an eye on how some people will use it. After all, her work with the U.S. Forest Service as a research geographer leads her to interesting conversations with people who forage in rural and urban forests. Read more »

Students at the Oconaluftee Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in Cherokee practice their choreography for a new student-produced fitness video. (Photo courtesy of Holly Krake/OJCCCC)

Pop music star Beyonce recently partnered with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to create the Let’s Move! Flash Workout.  The Oconaluftee Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in Cherokee, N.C. has embraced the Let’s Move! concept, and launched a Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyles program. Oconaluftee has gotten behind this national movement by producing a student fitness video using the music and choreography of the Let’s Move! Flash Workout.  Read more »

(From left to right) Daisy Hong of Ocean Spray, Chef C.K. Chen of Taipei’s Sherwood Hotel, Valerie Brown of USDA’s Agricultural Trade Office in Taipei, and Joyce Hong, who hosts the China TV program “King of the Happy Life,” showcase American Thanksgiving favorites on an episode of the popular TV show, which airs in Taiwan this week. Photo by A. Jay, Chun-Li Integrated Marketing and Communications Co., Ltd

Thanks to Foreign Agricultural Service employees serving at USDA’s 98 international posts, American Thanksgiving traditions – and food – are being enjoyed around the world this November. Read more »