Fresh off the farm: St. Johns County backs program bringing locally grown food to area daycares

A St. Augustine woman is on a mission to get healthy, locally sourced food into the hands of children at daycares with future plans to get into schools across St. Johns County — and she’s getting a significant financial boost to make it happen.Natalie Van Lenten founded the Nourished Kids Center with a simple but ambitious goal.“The Nourished Kids Center’s mission is to transition every daycare in St. Johns County away from processed foods towards a fresh scratch-made, locally sourced and organic lunch and snack program at an extremely affordable price,” Van Lenten said.A farm partnership takes rootTo make that mission a reality, Van Lenten teamed up with Ben Wells, owner of Ben Wells Produce, a local farming operation.Wells grows a variety of produce, including fall green beans harvested just before Thanksgiving.“We’re still majority commercial operators,” Wells said. “But any chance we get to build a program to go direct to consumer, it’s better for our farm.”The partnership is desig