Rancher Clint Victrorine with Scotia’s Food Service Director Gayle McKnight from last year’s Taco Tuesday event.

On May 1 over 8,000 students in Humboldt and Del Norte County schools will be taking part in the sixth annual Taco Tuesday. Featuring local grass fed beef, this two county Farm to School event provides an opportunity to celebrate local producers and healthy school meals.

The Humboldt County Office of Education (HCOE) is thrilled to be working with school food service staff and local ranchers to carry out this year’s Taco Tuesday celebration. Rancher and Humboldt County native Clint Victorine (owner of Eel River Organic Beef and Pacific Pastures Beef) is providing beef to over 60 Humboldt County schools for the event. Victorine worked with HCOE to launch Taco Tuesday in 2013, laying the foundation for a regional Beef to School movement that continues to grow today.

Thanks to partnerships with additional local businesses, students will also enjoy sour cream generously donated from Humboldt Creamery and “Dancing Pineapple Salsa” on their grass fed beef tacos. The salsa won the Most Marketable award at HCOE’s 2017 Kids’ Salsa Recipe Competition in Fortuna last fall. A team of after school students from Redwood Prep Charter School created the recipe alongside mentor chef Gregory McChristian from River’s Edge Restaurant. Eureka Natural Foods, sponsor of the Salsa Competition, will be producing over 30 gallons of salsa for the May 1 event.

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Chris Hartley states, “We are fortunate to have an abundance of passionate ranchers and local businesses all working together to support and encourage healthy food choices in our schools. The collaboration and partnership that goes into this event is incredible and truly epitomizes the farm to school movement. Our students look forward to this every year and get to enjoy tasty tacos while also learning about the importance of local food production.”

HCOE and Humboldt County Schools thank Clint Victorine, Humboldt Creamery, Eureka Natural Foods, and Redwood Meat Company for supporting the Sixth Annual Taco Tuesday in Humboldt County!  Thank you also to the many local ranchers who sell through Clint Victorine’s labels, including: Bar 7 Livestock, Brightman Ranch, Capetown Ranch, Christiansen Ranch, Cook Ranch, Cottrell Ranch, Diamond C Ranch, Diamond R Ranch, J and J Rice Ranches, Jeral and Laurel Johnson, Lost Coast Ranch, Mike Christie Ranches, Mobley Livestock, Palmer Westbrook Ranches, Prior Ranches, Renner Ranches, Soldiers Basin Ranch, Townsend Livestock and Victorine Livestock.

For more information, please contact Erin Derden-Little, Farm to School Coordinator at (707) 441-2072 or e-mail ederdenlittle@hcoe.org.