Sustainability, living off the land and farm-to-fork are current trends in eating.

These ideas are not new ones.

Thanks to the generosity of the Waupaca Community Garden, students at Waupaca High School have been preparing fresh, local and organic produce, using techniques to retain texture, nutrients and taste.

This fall, they made roasted carrots, braised cabbage with mashed potatoes, tomato bruschetta and eggplant parmesan.

“I’m very proud of my students. They’ve been good sports trying vegetables that might be unfamiliar to them,” said Ronda Gustke, a family and consumer science teacher at the high school. “Students are also becoming more aware of the bounty of food in this area.”

Rylie Simpson, a senior at WHS, said the concept of sustainability is about having a community made up of social, economic and environmental systems which are in constant interaction and which are kept in harmony in order to help its inhabitants.

The six principles of sustainability are to:

• Maintain and enhance the quality of life.

• Enhance local economic vitality.

• Promote social and intergenerational equality for all.

• Maintain and enhance the quality of the environment.

• Incorporate disaster resilience and mitigation into decisions and actions.

• Use a consensus-building, participatory process when making decisions.

She said the best thing people can do to help is to get involved and do something to not only better themselves but their community.