Ann Cooper

A long time ago, I had a friend who seriously thought carrot cake was good for you because it had, as one of its ingredients, carrots.

And by “a long time ago,” I mean 2002. And by “a friend,” I mean myself.

I’m a morning person by nature; I’m often the first one in the office pounding out more work in the first few hours than I do later in the day. So last summer, when I ventured to Virginia to work on a farm, my tendency to wake up early helped me face the weekly, pre-dawn job of preparing for our weekly trip to the farmers’ markets.

Just last week, Congress voted its support for the current agricultural appropriations bill, HR 2997, reauthorizing, among other things, funding for school lunch programs.

I supported the bill because, as I was told by the head of nutrition for my kids’ school district, the lunches served in school cafeterias are the only daily meal that millions of American children can count on.