ANSON – Parents and children sat down to a buffet-style harvest dinner on a recent night to enjoy food prepared from the first crop of a new garden cultivated by third-grade students.

There were carrots, green beans, homemade pickles, apple and blackberry pies and watermelon at Garrett Schenck Elementary School last Tuesday.

In Somerset County, Garrett Schenck is one of four schools to start working with FoodCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to teach nutrition, build school gardens and provide high-need schools with local food.

Laurie Magee had her own garden in Anson and was a Cooperative Extension Master Gardener volunteer before getting involved with FoodCorps.

“There is a high low-income population in the state. There have been problems with obesity and problems getting kids to learn in the classroom. It’s true that when children eat better, they learn better,” she said.

The cafeteria at the harvest dinner is indicative of the type of learning environment healthy home-grown food could bring.

The line for the dinner wraps around two corners of the room, yet a calm descends on the tables. A quiet kindergartner focuses on picking the seeds out of a triangle of watermelon.

The Greater Somerset County Public Health Collaborative used a New Balance Foundation grant to bring a representative from FoodCorps to the area.

“It’s good for kids to be exposed to this,” said Melissa Keller, 42, whose daughter Alyssa Parker is a Garrett Schenck third-grader. “They’re learning a variety of foods and also how to make food. I didn’t have that when I was young.”