Kiski Township apples brighten Apollo-Ridge's daily menu

Whether they’re golden or gala, when it comes to apples, Apollo-Ridge School District students like them all, and now they like them locally grown.

For the first time, the school district contracted with Kistaco Farm in Kiski Township this year to supply fresh apples from the family orchard, which has been a mainstay in the region since 1922.

The deal is just another example of the growing popularity of farm-to-table eating. And farm-to-classroom apples seem to be a natural fit just like apple pie and America.

The concept is not novel but perhaps new for most public school districts in the region, according to Bob Pollock of the Penn State Cooperative Extension in Indiana County. Such agreements are private and not necessarily tracked comprehensively.

The United States Department of Agriculture established its Farm to School Program in 2010 to encourage and improve school access to local foods.

Although, the Apollo-Ridge apples are not part of that program.

It’s up to individual school districts and the farmers to strike a deal, according to Pollock, with the farmers sometimes going through regulatory hoops, depending on the food product and size of the farm and other factors.

Apples are easy and ripe for the taking: They are nutritious, already packaged and ready to eat.

Plus, locally grown apples are abundant in Pennsylvania, which is among the 10 top producers of fruit, tree nuts and berries in the country, according to Pollock.

There continues to be increased interest in the whole local foods movement, Pollock said. “More people are thinking about it and acting on it.”

That is exactly how the Apollo-Ridge School District acquired the locally grown apples.

There was no formal school program or arrangement.

While driving to work along Route 56, just down the road from the Apollo-
Ridge schools, Kelli O’Rourke, food service director, saw the Kistaco Farm market in Kiski Township and inquired.

O’Rourke just called them up, stopped at their shop and made a deal this summer.

“The kids really like it,” she said.

The district is going through four cases of apples a week.

“As long as Kistaco has the apples available, we’ll continue using them,” O’Rourke said.

With cold storage, the orchard’s apples should extend into next year.

For Kistaco, the school district is another market to tap, according to Suzanne Boyce, who, with her husband Tim Hileman, own the 100-acre farm, which produces 24 varieties of apples as well as apple cider.

“It’s good for all of the local economies to work together,” Boyce said. “And it’s great for the kids to have something fresh that isn’t shipped halfway across the country.”

Shipping fruit such as apples long distances often involves coating them with wax or other preservatives, she noted, echoing the appeal of locally grown food without such additives.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary Ann at 724-226-4691, mthomas@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MaThomas_Trib.