By Jessica Wilt, The Journal
SPRING MILLS, W.Va. — The final group of kids shuffled into the cafeteria at Potomack Intermediate on Tuesday afternoon, a buzz coming from the Berkeley County Schools summer program students as they eyed the colorful vegetables and fruits perched on the tables in front of them.
As the students waited excitedly at the tables, and the adults in charge finished refilling the baskets with fresh produce, West Virginia Department of Agriculture Planning Coordinator Nathan Bergdoll commented that those smiles were what it was all about, his face giving away the pleasure in connecting the students with healthy food from local farms.
“These pop-up markets give our youth the opportunity to learn about fresh, nutritious produce, where and how the food they eat is grown and a chance to meet the producers that grow it,” he said.
The farmers market was one of seven, at each intermediate school in the district that hosted summer programming, the initiative coming from a collaboration from BCS, the Department of Agriculture, United Way of the Eastern Panhandle, WVU Medicine and several local farms, including Spring Valley Farm & Orchard, Powder Keg Farms, Town and Country Nursery, Orr’s Farm Market and Young Harvests…