Brookfield High School and New Milford Hospital gain ground with Plow to Plate®

Sue Twombly has had a busy summer.

As Community Outreach Coordinator for New Milford Hospital, she has been visiting local restaurants, educators and farms; signing them up for a program called Plow to Plate®.

Fortunately she had the help of Sue Troupe, Career Counselor at BHS, who interned over the summer, after winning a grant from the Connecticut State Department of Education to bring a healthy cooking class to Brookfield High School.

"For the first time, I have never seen so much interest in farming and sustainability from the students. There's a big push to eat locally grown foods," said Troupe.

The Plow to Plate® initiative, put into place in 2006, began with restructuring the kitchen, procuring seasonal fresh produce and planting an on-site culinary garden at New Milford Hospital. 

Since then the "hospital food" has become so popular even local business people do lunch there, while seniors citizens are delighted with the $5.00 dinners.

Fortunately for New Milford Hospital, Kerry Gold was hired as Director of Dining Services in 2007 after a lengthy career with the international hotel chain Shangri-La. He can turn a simple grilled cheese sandwich into a sumptuous version of Swiss and mozzarella cheese (instead of American) along with bacon and served on multigrain bread. It can be complimented by a fresh peach, strawberry and avocado salad. Sodas have been replaced with coconut water, Harvey Teas and Farmer's Cow milk. He believes eating whole foods is the key to disease prevention.

New Milford Hospital now has a patent on Plow to Plate® and has created three divisions:

• Senior Suppers: for $5 people over 60, are served at New Milford Hospital Monday to Friday 4:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Meals include salad, entrée, two side dishes, desert and coffee. They often invite speakers or have entertainment.

• Signature Dishes: restaurants and grocery stores who partner with New Milford Hospital designate certain meal or food items with the logo (a green fork image) that meet the guidelines of Plow to Plate. A coupon book for those establishments may be picked up at New Milford Hospital cafeteria. Over 30 area restaurants are already participating.

• Youth Chef Advocates: a new class offered at BHS which will begin in Feb. and meet two times a week after school. Four field trips include visiting farms and then cooking a dinner from food harvested from the farm for a presentation. Anne Gallagher, a professional chef and Diane M. D'Isidori, M.D., a pediatrician who is trained in nutrition will be teaching the program. A meeting will be held in Jan. for parents of students who wish to apply for the class. The cost will be $50.

Perhaps, the best news for the New Milford Hospital kitchen (and those who eat there) is the addition of a new rooftop garden to break ground this Oct. along with the new construction of the Emergency Room. The current garden is only about 100 sq. ft. behind the hospital, with herbs and vegetables in full bloom such as Russian Basil and Lavender used to make sausage scones.

The new garden will be much larger, although the hospital will continue to buy locally from farms such as Maywood Gardens and Riverbank Farm.

For more information on Plow to Plate, contact Susan Twombly (860) 210-5341 or email Susan.Twombly@wchn.org

For the Youth Chef Avocates Program, call Sue Troupe (203) 775-7725 x 7746 or email troupes@brookfieldps.org