She was just a kid

At a recent PEAS Farm Tour with Clark Fork School, Farm to School founder Jason Mandala had an encounter that's stuck with him. A young counselor walked up and asked, "Are you Jason?"

Jason doesn't remember her name. But she remembered him — from years of school trips to the PEAS Farm and planting the Rattlesnake School Garden She'd carried that experience with her, and was thrilled to be back.

It's proof of Jason's approach to teaching kids: match their enthusiasm, don't worry about covering every fact, and let the fun do the work. He'd rather kids walk away having had a great time than able to recite six facts about an egg — because if they had fun, the food and farming knowledge sticks right alongside it, for good.

Watch Jason reflect on two decades of proving that theory right.