Farm to School

Montpelier's Soulful Soup: Uniting the School Community Through Food

Sarah — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 15:32:27 +0000

Montpelier's Soulful Soup: Uniting the School Community Through Food Sarah Thu, 06/20/2024 - 11:32

“Wow, it really does look like Hogwarts,” a student remarks, impressed, walking into the school gymnasium. Set end-to-end, four long stretches of tables span the room, one for each grade (“Harry Potter style”). The bleachers and mats are strung with twinkling lights, pushed aside for the schoolwide lunch. It’s March 2024, and Montpelier High School’s first-ever Solon Soup for the Soul is just kicking off with 400 students and staff sitting down to share a meal together.

Educator Sam Bromley serves soup to students during the inaugural Solon Soup for the Soul lunch. Photo by Sarah Webb.

“We have events like this in the fall and spring, and we were thinking how we should have one in the winter, too,” explains senior Meg Voisin. She and fellow senior Anika Turcotte are the creators of the event, named for the school’s mascot, the Athenian philosopher, Solon. The duo organized with teachers, the school nutrition team, and administrators to give their peers time to connect with one another following the isolating years of the pandemic.

“Only half of the school would come in the morning, and the other half came in the afternoon,” Meg remembers back to those days. “So we were coming in as freshmen, and there's like these big scary seniors, and you can't see if they're smiling at you because we've all got masks on, and there are temperature guns as you walk through the school… It was really isolating.”

As restrictions eased, the school created a spring event, Pizza for the People. Students gathered in between class sessions to eat freshly baked pizza from the outdoor oven, play lawn games, and have a moment of normalcy. “The event was designed to combat that isolation,” shares Meg, “and that’s what we want for Solon Soup for the Soul, too.”

But the road to Solon Soup took a team, and time. Last summer, three teachers — Brigitte Savard, Matt McLane, and Sam Bromley — formed a team with Meg and Anika and were accepted into the Northeast Farm to School Institute, a year-long program supporting schools across the region in deepening connections among the classroom, cafeteria, and local agricultural community.

Andy Duback

A portion of the Montpelier Northeast Farm to School Institute team at the Shelburne Farms Coach Barn develops their action plan for further embedding food systems education into their curriculum.
Andy Duback

Youth team members Meg Voisin (left) and Anika Turcotte (right) dream up the Solon Soup for the Soul event during the Northeast Farm to School Institute at Shelburne Farms.

The Montpelier team went into the kick-off retreat with some significant assets. Pizza for the People, and the school’s longstanding Fall Harvest Celebration were already highlighting how Montpelier’s sense of community is synonymous with a shared meal. Out behind their school, a greenhouse, gardens, apiaries, and a flock of chickens were helping students connect good food to its source.

“We just really needed that dedicated team time to dive into this work,” shares science teacher Sam Bromley. “I feel like in the school setting, it's really hard to bring stakeholders together and have the time and space to get in the mindset to think creatively.”

Students and teachers shared in the planning. “I can't imagine not having students as part of the team,” Sam adds. “If we can get students involved right away, they can build excitement. Their voice builds teacher buy-in and longevity.”

It was during the Institute’s opening retreat at Shelburne Farms Coach Barn that Meg and Anika envisioned Solon Soup for the Soul. “It was a time and space for our team of teachers and students to all be together, completely focused on this one thing,” recalls Anika. “I remember sitting in the back of that nice, big barn… just being surrounded by all these people who are really excited about bringing good food into our schools. It helped focus us. That barn is a good place for ideas.”

“We just started brainstorming,” explains Meg. “What do we want for ourselves? For our peers? And we were just thinking ‘really cozy, rustic bread, comfort.’ Right then and there we created the title of it: Solon Soup for the Soul.”

The team returned to school with an idea, ready to bring it to life, and held regular planning meetings throughout the fall semester. “We faced some logistical challenges,” remembers Brigitte. “We couldn’t use the gym during the basketball season, our school's folding tables were destroyed in a recent flood, and the school calendar was already jam-packed.” But the team had help. “Having the support of the administration was key to this event's success,” says Brigitte. “ They helped us navigate the hurdles we faced.”

Students supported the event by processing the majority of the menu's ingredients during class time. Photo by Sarah Webb.

Then, they needed to figure out how to make over 400 servings of soup. The team pulled in student-power from classes that already used the school’s teaching kitchen, like Sam’s Cooked class, a popular offering with hands-on culinary and food systems learning. “It’s a space where we get to cook foods we normally couldn't at home,” explains Cooked student Lara. “We get to learn new skills and cook for special events and guests. It’s just nice to work together.”

Brigitte’s French and Crêpe classes were also tasked to help. The Crêpe class supports a student-run crêpe kiosk at the local farmers’ market. “Students work on all aspects of the business,” shares Brigitte, “from cooking, menu development, branding, and marketing, to serving and taking orders at the market.” The sales support a travel scholarship fund available school-wide.

Leading up to the lunch, these classes prepped the ingredients: 50 pounds of carrots, 30 pounds of onions, 80 pounds of potatoes, and 40 gallons of stock to name a few. The cooking was finished in the cafeteria kitchen.

Food Services Director Jim Birmingham pulls the meal together and works with the team to serve the entire school community in the gymnasium. Photo by Sarah Webb.

“We are very fortunate to have a very supportive Food Services Director and Kitchen Manager,” explains Sam. “They’re partners in this work. They’re excited to support more whole-school events and get students involved, but they don’t always have the people power.”

Vermont school nutrition departments budget for, plan, cook, and serve over 17 million meals annually, with an abundance of regulations applied to every single one, including special events like Solon Soup for the Soul.

“The students came up with this idea, and my role is to help them figure out how to make their idea be compliant [with USDA standards],” explains Food Services Director Jim Birmingham. “My role really was doing the math, understanding the regulations, knowing what needed to be served, and working from there.”

The team figured out how to create a simple menu that could feed the entire school in an hour, while meeting requirements and purchasing as much local food as possible. The solution was all about collaboration. “We cook the Misty Knoll chickens and the students pick them,” explains Jim. “We buy the carrots, and they cut them. It's nice to work with Sam, who can work with the students, prioritize, and help us figure out how to make it all work.

Educator Brigitte Savard serves up chicken soup as the entire school gathers for a meal together. Photo by Sarah Webb.

And they made it all work. On March 20, Montpelier High School students and faculty sat down in the gymnasium. A custom Solon Soup for the Soul playlist was just audible above the conversation. The planning team, pushing carts brimming with pots of soup, wound their way through the aisles, ladling out chicken noodle and vegan minestrone to all. The event also served as a food drive, collecting nonperishables for a nearby food shelf. Extra soup was packaged and donated, too.

“You know, we typically don't eat together all at once. So it was really nice to have an extended amount of time where students could sit down and eat together,” says Sam. “It was a chance to really have some intentionality behind eating and bringing the community together.”

“These events really are a core Montpelier thing,” Anika adds. “I'm so grateful to be a part of a school community that values spending time, all together, serving local food. These events will definitely be what I'll look back on in ten years and remember.”

The Solon Soup for the Soul team. Left to right: Sam Bromley, Anika Turcotte, Meg Voisin, Brigitte Savard, Matt McLane. Phot courtesy Montpelier High School.

Sarah Webb

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June 20, 2024

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Three Garden Activities for Early Learners

aestey — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 17:28:02 +0000

Three Garden Activities for Early Learners aestey Fri, 06/07/2024 - 13:28

From our collaborators at Mass Audubon

Photo: Andrea Estey

Rina Zampieron, State-Wide Early Education Manager with Mass Audubon, firmly believes all young learners should learn about and have access to time in nature. One way to make this more approachable? By starting with a few simple garden planters around the classroom.

“There are so many different kinds of gardens,” explains Rina. “A garden doesn’t have to be huge. A growbag of cherry tomatoes or one or two raised beds of herbs and flowers is a garden, too.” Rina, who coaches teams of educators and school nutrition professionals in the Northeast Farm to School Institute, talks about farm to early childcare as a gateway: a gateway to more nature-based learning, to learning about our food sources and the people who grow it, and to a sense of curiosity and wonder.

Last summer, Rina shared some of her favorite garden-related activities with early educators at the Farm to School Institute. If you work with learners ages 0-8, give these ideas a try!

Garden Olympics

From Mass Audubon Early Education

Photo: Sarah Webb

With the Summer Olympics around the corner, here’s a simple activity to bring the games closer to home while building observational skills.

Instructions

Create a document with a simple 3x3 table. Label each square with a superlative of your choosing, like tallest plant, largest flowers, or most colorful bloom, leaving room for students to draw or write their medalist in each square. Or, download a PDF of Mass Audubon’s Garden Olympics pre-labeled chart.
Print the sheet and distribute copies to your students, then venture into the garden to see which plants rise to the top in each category. Talk about your observations and what students notice. Where did students have observations in common? Where were they different?
For older ages, add in more science by challenging them to make predictions. In one month, how might what we see change? Will a different plant be the tallest? Will new blooms appear or disappear?
Repeat the activity once a month as plants in your garden grow. How did your observations change over time?
Next year, start the Garden Olympics while your plants are still seeds. Looking at the seeds, what do students predict will be the biggest plant, or the most colorful? Label what you plant, and see how your predictions play out.

Garden Soundscapes and Natural Pest Spray

From Mass Audubon Early Education

Rina (pictured here) with her handmade mobile, featuring canning jar rings, pinecones, and silverware dangling from an old candle-snuffer. (Photo: Andrea Estey)

Gardens are full of tasty treats, and not just for us. Bugs, birds, mammals, and others love to munch on our hard-earned garden produce. How can we safely discourage garden thievery? Keep birds and mammals away with visual and audio deterrence via a musical, moveable mobile! A collection of beautiful junk and recyclables makes both lovely decoration and a garden guard.

Suggested materials

Coat hangers or wire
Foil trays and tins
Balls of aluminum foil
Old keys or silverware
Metal hardware like bolts, nuts, brackets, and cabinet handles
Yarn, twine, or ribbon
CDs or DVDs
Tinsel or other metallic ribbon
Sticks or pinecones
Plastic beads
Canning jar rings

Assembly

Select an old metal coat hanger, piece of wire, or large stick from which the rest of your objects will hang.
Select and arrange the objects you’d like to have dangling from your mobile. Aim for a range of objects that will produce both sounds (like an old fork hitting a pie plate) and things that sparkle and shine (like old CDs or tinsel).
Attach your objects to your coat hanger using yarn, twine, or ribbon, keeping in mind that the longer your strings, the higher your mobile will need to be off the ground.
Hang the sculpture from a garden post, fence, or tree bordering your garden space.

For smaller pests like bugs, it’s all about smell and taste. To level up your pest deterrence, make your own plant-safe spray. Try mixing some of these ingredients with water in a spray bottle. Your spray will be food-safe and non-toxic, but bugs sure don’t enjoy it! For older ages, try making a few different combinations, and study which combination works best to deter which pests.

Suggested ingredients

Natural dish soap (not detergent)
Chopped garlic or onion
Chili or cayenne powder/fresh chopped
Citronella leaves
Vinegar

Planning a Dream Garden

From Mass Audubon Early Education

All you need for this design activity is gardening magazines and seed catalogues and a bit of imagination. (Photo: Andrea Estey)

If you’re designing a garden space, loop your young learners into the process with a collage activity! Rina advises that when it comes time to purchase and plant, every garden plan should be tailored to your classroom, including your space constraints; conditions like soil, sun, and water; your learners’ specific needs; and your goals, whether producing food or supporting pollinators.

A specific piece of advice for the earliest learners: choose plants that are edible and hardy (mint is a great choice for these reasons!) and flowers that are edible and colorful. Older learners may enjoy sensory delights like herbs or Lamb’s Ears.

This activity works well towards the end of winter when you might start thinking about your upcoming garden, but can be a fun visualization any time of year.

Instructions

Start the conversation about what the plants are doing right now. Perhaps some are dead, others are “sleeping,” and some are “awake.”
Assemble and distribute drawing and collage materials, like seed catalogs (free from companies like Burpee and other seed suppliers), gardening magazines, or even calendars. If you have an existing garden, you may give children a template of your space (such as number and location of planters/raised beds), or you can make it completely open ended.
Allow children to cut and paste, or draw, what they’d want the garden to look like.
Have them share as a class, post their plans on the walls, and discuss the different plants they listed. Are all the plants familiar to everyone? What things reflect foods children bring for lunch? Are there any plants that some children haven’t seen or tasted before (maybe you could bring one in!).
You can also let this inform your decisions about what kinds of seeds or seedlings you might want to grow.

Thank you to Rina Zampieron, who will again be a team coach at the 2024–25 Northeast Farm to School Institute, kicking off June 25. The Farm to School Institute is a collaboration of NOFA-VT and Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools.

Visit Mass Audubon for farm & nature-based resources and trainings

Andrea Estey

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Farmer-to-Farmer Connections: Building Networks for Learning

Sarah — Thu, 16 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Farmer-to-Farmer Connections: Building Networks for Learning Sarah Thu, 05/16/2024 - 16:00

Sarah Webb

“I feel really passionate about providing an experience for children and young adults to have a connection to nature and learn about growing their food, but also empowering them so that they can have a toolset to be sustainable and have a different way of thinking and being in the world.”

–Ariana Wild, Wild Farm

In partnership with NOFA-VT, we recently wrapped up our Agricultural Educators Cohort, a peer-to-peer learning opportunity for farmers interested in connecting with schools and inviting youth to their farms for hands-on agricultural education.

Along with gatherings throughout the year, we matched all eight participating farmers with a coach farmer in their region to share best practices, offer advice, and help them realize their goals. Hear from one such pair, Ariana Wild of Wild Farm and coach Misse Axelrod of Vermont Farm and Forest School:

Farmer & Farm-Based Educator Resources

The Farm-Based Education Network
This free member network works to strengthen and support the work of educators, farmers, and community leaders who provide access and experiences on working farms.
Climate Farm School for Farm-Based Educators, September 2–27, 2024. Applications due July 5, 2024.
Join Shelburne Farms, the Farm-Based Education Network, and Climate Farm School for a new professional learning experience focused on climate change education. This is a unique, hybrid learning experience with an online component and a residential stay at Shelburne Farms (September 15–20).
The ABCs of Farm-Based Education, offered twice a year, spring and fall, at Shelburne Farms.
This popular three-day workshop helps farmers engage and inspire visitors, shares kid-tested activities, and cultivates a community of peers to learn from. The program is designed for farmers, farm-based educators, and non-formal educators with any level of teaching experience who are building or looking to re-inspire farm-based programming. Co-presented by Shelburne Farms and the Farm-Based Education Network.
This Farm Feeds Vermont Kids Campaign
The Vermont Farm to School and Early Childhood Network invites farmers selling to school and early childhood programs to post a lawn sign on your farm or market booth to tell your community that you’re helping to create a sustainable school food system.
Local Food Procurement Toolkit
School Nutrition Professionals throughout the state are incorporating more and more local foods into their meal programs. This toolkit gives you a broad look at how this works from the school cafeteria perspective, as well as some additional resources for farmers (check out the “Tips, Tools & Frequently Asked Questions” box).

Sarah Webb

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May 16, 2024

Leveraging Federal & State Funding for Innovations in Farm to Early Childhood

Sarah — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 20:46:56 +0000

Leveraging Federal & State Funding for Innovations in Farm to Early Childhood Sarah Mon, 03/04/2024 - 15:46

Farm to early childhood encourages children to investigate their food systems, adopt nutritious eating behaviors, and develop deeper connections to their communities. How can early educators make the best use of federal and state funding to connect their children to local food and nutrition and agriculture education? Watch a recent webinar from Association of State Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN) to explore current approaches from early educators and policy specialists.

Watch the webinar from ASPHN

Presenters:

[1:53] Katrina Kefalas, Program Analyst CACFP Policy Branch, USDA Food & Nutrition Service
The Child Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federal program funded by the USDA providing reimbursement for meals and snacks provided to children and adults enrolled in various settings (child care, family childcare homes, adult day cares, after school, emergency shelters, etc). Katrina shares how this program can support and bolster FTEC opportunities.

[14:53] Brenda Tourangeau, Farm to School Coordinator, Milton Family Community Center
Milton Family Community Center cares for and feeds nearly forty children, serving them breakfast, lunch, and snack daily. Brenda shares tips for getting kids outside in the garden, and how she has worked with local farmers to help kids understand who makes their food and fiber. “Putting the plant into the dirt is such instant gratification, but they also love planting the seeds in the dirt and waiting for it to sprout. It’s just so much fun watching their reactions when they pull a vegetable out of the dirt.”

[29:00] Laura Butler, Owner & Educator, Imagination Island
Laura operates an in-home early childhood center in Milton, VT, and has been a CACFP participant for over 29 years. Gardening with her kids quickly took root with the families. “Families are now growing gardens and we’re swapping foods. I have one dad that is really good at growing squash, so he grows the squash for us. We have a salad garden, and it produces so much more than what we need to eat in a week—it is actually feeding all of the six families, too.” Laura is a longtime Shelburne Farms collaborator and professional learning participant.

[39:47] Melanie Tran, Farm to Early Childhood Education Specialist & Registered Dietician, Michigan’s Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities
10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids and Farms is working to bring more local, nutritious foods to Michigan children, which reached approximately 590,000 children in SY2022-23. This reimbursement program supports local purchasing, and can offer additional funds on top of CACFP. Melanie shares how the program gained traction and the difference it is making.

Original webinar date: January 9, 2024. Download the slide deck.

Sarah Webb

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Farm to School Impact by the Numbers

Sarah — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 14:44:12 +0000

Farm to School Impact by the Numbers Sarah Fri, 03/01/2024 - 09:44

2023 was a big year for our longstanding work in farm to school.

Since 2000, Vermont FEED, our partnership project with NOFA-VT, has been instrumental in advancing farm to school, locally and beyond. We work with educators, farms, and school nutrition professionals all over the region to help students understand where their food comes from and who makes it.

Vermont FEED also acts as a key connector on the state, regional, and national level. We bring farm to school champions — school administration, advocates, legislators, and more — together to share learning and effect bigger food systems change, faster.

We’re sharing a look back at some of our projects, collaborations, and campaigns that helped to propel the farm to school movement forward in 2023.

Sarah Webb

309 Teachers Impacted

Throughout all of our farm to school professional learning in 2023, we worked with 309 teachers across Vermont, supporting their work in helping their students connect the dots of where their food comes from and the impacts of their choices on their bodies, and the community. Among them, 2024 Vermont Teacher of the Year Aziza Malik, who is using storytelling and food stories to build identity and community.

Learn about Aziza's project

42 Team Members Participated & 15,436 Students Impacted

Our Northeast Farm to School Institute bring teams together to build skills, relationships, and a collaborative action plan for their schools, districts, and early childhood programs. With the support of a coach, teams spend the school year putting their plans into action and strengthening their capacity to impact classrooms, cafeterias, and communities with change that lasts.

"In the school setting, it's really hard to bring stakeholders together and really have the time and space to get in the mindset to do this work. The food and the workshops have been amazing experiences, but that dedicated team time to really dive into this work has been the most valuable piece" –Educator Sam Bromley, Institute participant

16 Farm to School Institutes Launched & Planned

Our Farm to School Institute Adaptation Program supports states in their efforts to adapt, develop, and launch their own Farm to School Institute programs. We focus on the core components that make our Institute model successful, while modifying aspects to fit participants' local context and goals. In 2023, states all across the country are launching, or planning to launch, their own programs to serve their unique communities. Among them is Connecticut, who shared their experience.

Sarah Webb

15 Farmers Mentored

Our first-ever Agricultural Educators Cohort is a peer-to-peer learning opportunity designed to support farmers who are interested in hosting field trips, and developing relationships with local classrooms. Each participating farmer is matched with a coach in their region to address a range of topics from on-farm visit safety and logistics to developing engaging and relevant educational activities.

“I really enjoy coaching the farmers that I'm partnering with because it's inspiring to see the work they're doing on their own land, but then also finding really interesting and educational ways to bring people onto the farm. And each farmer's doing it differently. It’s really inspiring to see the myriad of ways that they're sharing their way of life with so many Vermont kids and adults.” –Misse Axelrod, Vermont Farm and Forest School, Roxbury, VT

Learn more about the program

14 Early Childhood Teams Received Coaching

We are connecting our earliest learners to where their food comes from through our Northeast Farm to School Institute and as a partner in state grant programs. We offer technical assistance, coaching, professional learning, and grant support.

This includes supporting early childhood providers in their efforts to feed their children more local foods through Vermont's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Grant, which helps early childhood education programs and after school programs access more Vermont-grown foods by subsidizing the cost of a share.

"We've seen this grant jump start snack programs, nutrition education experiences for children and families, on-site garden exploration, and family food backpack programs. This incredible program helps stabilize both our farming and early childhood communities and works toward building more equitable food access and local food systems in Vermont." –Cynthia Greene, Farm to Early Childhood Education Partnership Coordinator, Shelburne Farms

We have a long partnership with early educator Laura Butler, who is building relationships with her community and farmers.

Sarah Webb

20 School / Dairy Farm Partnerships Developed

Vermont's Dairy in the Classroom program combines hands-on classroom curriculum with field trips to local dairy farms. Students develop an appreciation for the importance of farms, farmers, and animals in their everyday life.

“So many kids today don’t have a connection to their food. To be able to show first hand where food comes from is a treat for us. We love to share what we do as dairy farmers, and we feel so lucky to be able to give kids the chance to pat a cow.” –Farmer & Owner Linda Stanley, Paul-Lin Dairy

We joined a field trip to Paul-Lin Dairy in Bakersfield

20 Teens Engaged in Statewide Food Systems Youth Summit

Vermont high school students from Woodstock, Harwood Union, Leland & Gray, Montpelier, North Country Union, and Pacem gathered at Knoll Farm for the first annual Youth F.E.A.S.T. Summit (Food Education and Sustainability/Systems Thinking). The students self-organized and created a day of workshops and conversations for themselves and their fellow students passionate about food systems. They taught and attended workshops on microgreens, wildcrafting, advocating in the state house, cooking, and nutrition.

“We often hear about an academic achievement gap in schools, but I think there has been a realization over the last several years that there is actually an engagement gap. We have to stop blaming young people for not being engaged and recognize the strategies that we can use as educators for learning to flourish. Co-creating programming and putting students in the position of decision-maker in their own education is one way toward this deeper learning schools are looking for.” –Director of Professional Learning Jen Cirillo, who supported the students in this event

Sarah Webb

83,000 Students Impacted by 'Farm-Fresh School Meals for All' Campaign

We worked as part of a broad coalition to advocate for the permanent implementation of Universal School Meals in Vermont. On June 14, 2023, the bill was enacted, making breakfast and lunch permanently available at no charge in Vermont schools.

Combined with the Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Grants and the Local Foods Incentive Grants, Universal School Meals ensures every Vermont student has equitable access to nutritious local food and food education.

We gathered at Spaulding Education Alternatives School to celebrate

Sarah Webb

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Farm to School--just wonderful!! Thank you Shelburne Farms for your innovative programs and dedicated outreach to VT lives where it matters most----kids and education.

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March 1, 2024

Adapting the Model: Connecticut’s Statewide Farm to School Institute

Sarah — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 13:37:23 +0000

Adapting the Model: Connecticut’s Statewide Farm to School Institute Sarah Wed, 02/14/2024 - 08:37

Created in partnership with NOFA-VT, our Farm to School Institute is a proven professional learning model for creating lasting, whole-school change. Since 2015, our Farm to School Institute Adaptation Program supports farm to school leaders in bringing our model to their state and launch their own Institute programs, ensuring farm to school’s transformative benefits are realized in more communities across the country.

Here, Connecticut's 2023–24 adaptation team reflects on their experience adapting and launching their first statewide Institute:

How they got started: Connecticut school teams and coaches have been attending the Northeast Farm to School Institute since 2016, which provided their leadership familiarity with the Institute model and helped develop organizational capacity within their own collaborative. In 2022, Connecticut participated in the Farm to School Institute Adaptation Program.

Organizations involved: The Connecticut Farm to School Collaborative, FoodCorps CT, and New Britain ROOTS (fiscal sponsor) are the lead organizations of the Connecticut Farm to School Institute. Planning team members include a diverse team of food system leaders from non profits, school districts and procurement specialists.

Institute status: Connecticut launched their first year-long Institute in the summer of 2023, which started with an in-person retreat at the Yellow Farmhouse Education Center in Stonington. Three school teams were selected to participate: Cheshire Public Schools, Consolidated School District of New Britain, and Ponus STEAM Academy. Planning is underway for a 2024–25 Institute.

Adaptations for Community Context

We call it an adaptation and not a replication for a reason. For farm to school programs to thrive, they must be a reflection of and integrate within the community: the students, the school culture and priorities, the local food system, and community partners. There is no one-size-fits-all program to build robust, sustainable farm to school programs; the Farm to School Institute model supports schools in building their own capacity to define what meaningful change means for them.

Here’s how Connecticut is adapting the Institute model, and the learning they’ve shared:

Diverse Voices Added to the Planning Process

During the planning stages of Connecticut’s inaugural statewide Institute, the Collaborative “looked around the table and noticed that we all looked similar, and we needed to add some more diversity in our voices and experience to our team,” shares Lisa Lenskold, Co-Founder of Norwalk Grows and Project Director of the Connecticut Farm to School Institute.

First, the Collaborative sought out an expert: Director of DEI at Naugatuck Public Schools, who urged the planning team to place equity at the heart of every aspect of the Institute. "Theresa made it abundantly clear that centering equity should not be viewed as a complex undertaking," Lisa explains. "Our unwavering commitment to equity led us to embrace and integrate it into our daily activities. We vowed to remain receptive to learning and adaptable to change, ensuring that these shifts became intrinsic to our work, rather than an isolated effort." This approach ensures that equity is not an afterthought, but the driving force behind the Institute.

The planning group expanded with the addition of an advisory board, which brought more educators, school nutrition directors, urban farmers, and other community members to the table to offer insight into increasing accessibility to a wider range of schools and districts.

The 2023–24 Connecticut Farm to School Institute. Photo courtesy Connecticut Farm to School Collaborative.

Coaches Embedded in Community

“We decided one of our key strategies was to add diversity and lived experiences to our coaching cohort,” explains Lisa, “We really wanted the coaches to have a connection to the school community.” The planning committee prioritized people who had a commitment to the community they would support over those who may have more formal experience with farm to school. “We looked for people that love their community. It’s really about being authentic and committed to making it happen.”

“We had been sending the same coaches [to the Northeast Farm to School Institute] year after year,” Lisa continues. “And we thought, We have great people in our state, let’s give people that are flying under the radar an opportunity .” The Institute kicked off with four brand new coaches, “and they are GREAT coaches,” Lisa beams.

Once the coaches were on board, they had support from a Coach Liaison, Catherine Hallisey, from FoodCorps. The Coach Liaison took the lead in recruiting coaches, matching them with teams, and building those relationships, which they decided to start early on.

“Throughout the years attending the Northeast Farm to School Institute, we noticed that oftentimes it was one team member who filled out the application for the program,” Lisa explains. “This was the same person who completed the farm to school rubric for the team — and not always with input from team members.” Connecticut opted to have the teams and their coaches meet together before the in-person retreat to think through the rubric and their values statement as a group, offering a shared understanding of the school’s baseline and a chance for the whole group. “This really benefited the teams and coaches,” Lisa continues. “They felt connected before the retreat so they were able to hit the ground running with their action plan right out of the gate. With only two days on site and commuting each day, this was a great way to maximize the time at the retreat.”

Leveraging the Success of State Grants

Recruiting teams for the year-long Institute experience is a big undertaking, and Connecticut was able to piggyback off the statewide Connecticut Grown for Connecticut Kids farm to school grant program to find interested schools. “We leveraged the success of that grant by inviting recipients of that funding to participate in our Institute,” Lisa shares. “We were able to reach out to folks that had an interest in farm to school without having to market a new idea all across the state.”

The grant applications also offered insights into the goals and aspirations of the teams, which were used to inform Institute programming. The planning team was able to create workshops that would directly support the team’s plans for what they wanted to build in the coming year.

What’s Next for Connecticut? “We're going to forge ahead,” Lisa shares. “The work is important and we’re going to make it happen.”

See Connecticut's First Farm to School Institute

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Farm to School Institute Adaptation Program

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Vermont’s Farm to School Program is Adapted Across the Country

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What is Farm to School? Green Teacher Podcast Digs In

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Honoring Identity in the Classroom: Students Embrace Their Food Story

Vermont Teacher of the Year Aziza Malik explores how food, like storytelling, connects us all.

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Sweet Potato Hummus

Sarah — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 17:22:13 +0000

Sweet Potato Hummus Sarah Mon, 02/12/2024 - 12:22

“Student engagement is always high with farm to school,” shares Charleston Elementary School Principal Christopher Lawson. “Kids are doing taste tests, planting in the greenhouse, cooking in the kitchen, and creating snacks for the school. And, they’re learning transferable skills—collaboration and cooperation.”

Connecting kids to how food is grown has always been part of the Shelburne Farms story. We partner with agencies and organizations across the state to reach more schools and support them in building connections among the 3Cs of farm to school—the classroom, cafeteria, and community—so all Vermont kids know where their food comes from.

Charleston Elementary staff explore food systems activities in a recent professional learning day with Shelburne Farms staff. Photos by Sarah Webb.

Our professional learning team recently headed to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom to work alongside staff from Charleston Elementary School, a Vermont Agency of Agriculture Farm to School grantee. Along with Green Mountain Farm-to-School, we spent the day trying out food systems activities educators can bring into their classrooms, and brainstorming new ways to connect students to their neighboring farmers and producers.

And, in true farm to school fashion, creating and sharing food was central to the day. Try out the Sweet Potato Hummus we whipped up together, a quick and delicious alternative to your typical chickpea spread:

Sweet Potato Hummus

At-home scale, yields 1-2 cups

Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato
1½ Tbsp olive oil
½ 15-oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1½ Tbsp tahini
1 clove garlic, peeled
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ tsp smoked paprika
⅛ tsp cumin

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake sweet potato in a baking dish for 45-60 minutes, until cooked through and tender.
While the sweet potato cools, add other ingredients to a food processor. Once the sweet potato is cool enough to handle, remove skin and add flesh to other ingredients.
Process until smooth, and serve. Hummus can be topped with a sprinkle of cayenne, if desired.

School Nutrition Programs Scale, yields ~15 cups

Ingredients:

8 medium sweet potatoes
¾ cup olive oil
7 ½ cups chickpeas
¾ cup tahini
12 cloves garlic, peeled
Juice of 4 lemons
2 tsp cayenne
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin

Use the method above for this volume, too.

Recipe adapted by Green Mountain Farm-to -School from Cookie and Kate.

Members of the Charleston Elementary farm to school team: principal Christopher Lawson, educator Elisabeth Thompson, educator Laurinda Maxwell, and Green Mountain Farm-to-School coach Elyse Perambo.

Sarah Webb

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Honoring Identity in the Classroom: Students Embrace Their Food Story

Vermont Teacher of the Year Aziza Malik explores how food, like storytelling, connects us all.

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February 14, 2024

The Power of Food to Connect Across Cultures

Sarah — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 14:47:40 +0000

The Power of Food to Connect Across Cultures Sarah Wed, 11/08/2023 - 09:47

The Janet Munt Family Room Supports Young Learners & Families

Momos & Samosas!

On the day before the Family Supper, the bustling kitchen of the Janet Munt Family Room is filled with the enticing aroma of spices and freshly prepared dishes. Parents, community members, and staff work side by side, crafting traditional momos and samosas, while laughter, conversations, and storytelling in various languages create a vibrant atmosphere. The children, supervised and engaged by attentive staff, explore the gardens and participate in outdoor activities, as they share in the anticipation of the upcoming celebration. This year's preparations are extra special, as a local family has generously donated a goat to be shared and savored by all.

As the day of the Family Supper arrives, excitement is in the air. Families gather at the picturesque Ethan Allen Homestead, laden with their homemade dishes, ready to share their culinary heritage with the community. A long, inviting food line forms, as everyone eagerly awaits the chance to sample the myriad of flavors from around the world. The festive atmosphere is amplified by the rhythmic sounds of live music, the sweet scent of freshly pressed cider, and the smiling faces of old friends and new acquaintances mingling together. As the evening unfolds, the party carries on into the night, a heartfelt testament to the power of food, culture, and community in bringing people together.

The community gathers for the Family Supper at Ethan Allen Homestead, a chance to sample the myriad of flavors from around the world. Photo courtesy Janet Munt Family Room.

A Community Resource for All Ages

The Janet Munt Family Room is a parent-child center located in Burlington offering a range of services to families with young children, such as early care, playgroups, parent support and education, home visits, and community development.

Many of the center's programs involve farm to early childhood activities, including the Family Play at the Gardens program, which provides care and activities for children, gardening support and workshops for adults, and access to shared or individual garden plots for the season. To ensure accessibility for all families, transportation and meals are also provided. These community garden programs provide families with control over their own food production, promoting food sovereignty and building strong networks of mutual support. English classes or tutors are also sometimes available, which enables families to learn gardening, food, and cooking vocabulary in a real-life context. This immersive approach can improve fluency and engagement in language learning.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Family Room stepped up to support families in need by delivering locally sourced and gleaned food to over 150 families per week. This service has since transformed into an on-site pantry to increase food security within the community. It offers a wider range of produce and farm shares, including culturally relevant items like green amaranth, bitter melon, and African eggplant. The pantry offerings were informed by research conducted during the food box distribution, which identified items that were meaningful to New Americans and reminded them of home. These specialty vegetables are now grown by Digger’s Mirth and Intervale Community Farm.

Through partnerships with Feeding Chittenden, the Vermont Land Trust, and the Vermont Food Bank, the Family Room has been able to provide families with a unique resource: a goat certificate that allows them to have a goat slaughtered in a culturally relevant way for religious or cultural festivals. These goats are raised at Pine Island Community Farm by a Bhutanese family who came to Vermont as refugees in 2009.

Outdoor activities keep everyone engaged during the Family Supper, including the opportunity to press apples for cider. Photo courtesy Janet Munt Family Room.

The Secret Ingredient

The Janet Munt Family Room has a secret ingredient that makes its programs truly exceptional: a deep understanding of the importance of food in sustaining health, community, and culture. Through its farm to early childhood initiatives, the Family Room provides families with access to culturally relevant foods, which fosters a sense of belonging and helps to sustain the unique cultural practices of New American families. The Family Supper and other food-related events promote intercultural exchange and celebration, bringing families from all backgrounds together to share in the joy of food in a community where all can feel supported, valued, and empowered. By recognizing the power of food to connect people across cultures, the Family Room is building a stronger, more resilient community that authentically celebrates diversity and helps all families to thrive.

Janet Munt Family Room

Take Your Next Step

Are you an early educator looking to connect your students with hands-on learning opportunities about food, farming, and nutrition? Visit the Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network's website to learn more!

Learn more

The Association of State Public Health Nutritionists' Farm to ECE grantee programs are supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as one of several projects funded by cooperative agreement number NU38OT000279 (total of $6,320,000). This resource was supported by ASPHN's Farm to ECE grantee program, which is funded by the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity (DNPAO)/ National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP)/CDC/HHS. The contents of this resource are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by DNPAO/NCCDPHP/CDC/HHS, or the U.S. government.

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The Joy & Lessons of Butter Making

June is National Dairy Month, and we’re sharing a new how-to video showing one of our favorite activities: making butter!

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November 8, 2023

Honoring Identity in the Classroom: Students Embrace Their Food Story

Sarah — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 19:54:55 +0000

Honoring Identity in the Classroom: Students Embrace Their Food Story Sarah Mon, 10/16/2023 - 15:54

As a partner of the Northeast Farm to School Collaborative, we took part in a regional effort to look at the popular Harvest of the Month educator resources and ask, “How can we adapt our materials to be more representative of our communities?” First, we looked for the people that have already made successful adaptations. Watch Champlain Elementary Educator Aziza Malik’s story of a classroom project centered on affirming everyone’s food stories. Learn more about the Collaborative’s project.

Video by Sarah Webb

Food—growing it, cooking it, and sharing it—can be a powerful connecting force within schools. “We can do lots of different projects around food systems,” shares Champlain Elementary School (Burlington, VT) fifth grade teacher Aziza Malik. “We can do science experiments through it, we can learn about fractions through cooking, we can write poetry about what we're eating, or more technically, recipes. It's pretty hard to find something that can do all that.”

But whose food is represented in this learning? Whose food is excluded?

A Cup of Chai & A Magical Moment

Champlain Elementary holds an annual Olympics, when each classroom represents a country and participates in school-wide events. One year, Aziza’s classroom just so happened to be assigned to India, her father’s home country. “So we started doing all these Indian cooking activities,” Aziza explains, “And, of course, my family’s number one activity is drinking chai.”

Aziza brought in her family’s chai recipe and all the ingredients to make a big batch for the classroom. She poured warm, sweet mugfuls of tea and passed them out to students. A squeal of joy erupted, This is my tea! Aziza discovered one of her students, a New American from Africa, also drank chai with his family.

“The next day he came in with his little bags of black Lipton tea, and asked, Can we make it again?” Aziza laughs. “And it was just the sweetest, most wonderful thing. There was just that connection and feeling of home. That representation is just everything. I want to create more moments like that, where we're creating those connections.”

As Aziza continued to weave food systems into her curriculum, she found the farm to school resources available were often missing a crucial element: the student experience, and the many complicated ways we all connect to the food that nourishes us.

Sarah Webb

The students gather for a group photo with Ferene Paris Meyer.
Sarah Webb

Aziza and her students make chai in the classroom.
Sarah Webb

Aziza and students harvest peppermint from the school garden.

What’s Your Food Story?

It’s important for students to learn about healthy, local foods, and so is discovering their authentic food experiences and traditions — regardless of the ingredient list. Aziza collaborated with Ferene Paris Meyer, a local storyteller and educator, to bring the tools of creating authentic personal narratives into the food systems learning happening in her classroom.

“Ferene started getting the students thinking about all these different ways that food is in our lives,” Aziza remembers. The storytelling workshops culminated in a student storytelling circle, where they presented their stories to one another, family, and friends. “And there was no judgment about the food whatsoever,” Aziza shares. “They could talk about anything at all. It could be about mac and cheese—a lot of people talked about candy—and just the stories that came out were really incredible. Real, deep emotional stories.”

Everyone eats, and food, like storytelling, connects us all. It’s these shared experiences that make for lasting, meaningful learning for students and adults alike. “[Ferene] taught us how to combine food stories with our identity,” a student shared as he began the storytelling circle. “She taught us about why storytelling is important. It encourages you to slow down and be in the moment. Live with purpose and live out loud. Take ownership of your own narrative. And it reminds grown ups that kids have important things to say, too. Most importantly, she taught us we all have stories worthy of telling. So what’s yours?”

Listen to Some of Aziza's Students:

Aziza Malik is a fourth grade teacher at Champlain Elementary School in Burlington, Vermont and the 2023 Vermont Teacher of the Year. She is a graduate of the Leadership for Sustainability program at UVM where her work examined the connection of Burlington School District to the local Indigenous population, the Abenaki. She is also an alumna of Shelburne Farms’ Education for Sustainability Leadership Academy and continues to work to create policies, practices, and curriculum that are more inclusive of Burlington’s diverse community.

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October 25, 2023

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Letting Go of the Recipe: Hands-On Cooking with Kids

Sarah — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 12:35:17 +0000

Letting Go of the Recipe: Hands-On Cooking with Kids Sarah Mon, 08/14/2023 - 08:35

Video by Andrea Estey

For kids, cooking is all about the senses: feeling the sticky squish of dough between their fingers, sniffing the sweet aroma of fresh-torn basil leaf, or keeping an ear out for the gloopy sounds that signal cream is solidifying to butter.

Precise measurements, times, and temperatures… not quite as exciting. If you’re cooking with a classroom (or home kitchen) full of young kids, it’s best to have a flexible recipe that’s up for some twists and turns.

And those are just the kind of “recipes” educators Hannah Corbin and Jed Norris shared with participants in Cultivating Joy & Wonder, our annual professional learning workshop for early childhood educators. On a rainy summer day in the Market Garden, the group harvested what was ripe in the fields and hoop houses, and, along with some basic pantry items and camp cooking equipment, they had all they needed to make a feast.

“Kids are so much more open to trying new foods if they see how it is made,” shares Oklahoma-based kindergarten teacher and 2023 workshop participant Jo Anna Perdue.

Back in Oklahoma, Jo Anna Perdue's students learn about the full food cycle as they cook in the classroom during "Foodie Fridays" and tend to the school compost program. Photos by Jo Anna Perdue.

“When you’re cooking with kids, especially younger kids, the goal isn’t to create elaborate dishes,” shares Educator Jed Norris. “It’s more about encouraging them to have fun eating vegetables—chopping, grating, smushing, charring—using cooking as an opportunity to experiment, and giving them a chance to be brave and safely try new things.”

Not Exactly Recipes

Consider these good starting points—use what you have in your kitchen and garden, make substitutions, and use your senses the whole way through (and a little tasting as you go never hurts).

Sarah Webb

Program participant Joy Emone (Nigeria) cooks up the zucchini fritters until golden brown.
Sarah Webb

The final product, served up to fellow Cultivating Joy & Wonder participants.
Sarah Webb

Program participants Jo Anna Perdue (Oklahoma) and Peju Okungbowa (Nigeria) make butter by hand — a favorite early childhood activity for connecting kids to where their food comes from.

Zucchini Fritters

Ingredients

3-4 medium zucchinis
1 egg
¼ to ½ cup of flour
1 Tbsp cornstarch
Salt and pepper to taste
Sliced herbs of your choice
Olive oil as needed

Method

Shred the zucchini, and add in the egg, flour, cornstarch, salt, pepper, and herbs.
Once the ingredients are well mixed, form the mixture into patties. You can add olive oil to the mixture or use your hands to make shaping the patties easier.
Heat up more oil in a skillet. Once hot, drop the patties into the pan and fry until golden brown on both sides.

How the educators adapted: They added scallions to the fritter mix and whipped up an herby pesto dip for dunking. Some sautéed squash blossoms were added for good measure.

Sarah Webb

Participants Sam Lyons (Vermont) and MariaSole Kaine (Connecticut) show their culinary creation with ingredients fresh from the field: Eggplant Tapenade over Flatbread.
Sarah Webb

The group cooked over the campfire. Here, eggplant tapenade, berry flatbreads, and popcorn are being prepared to share with everyone.
Sarah Webb

The final product, served up to fellow Cultivating Joy & Wonder participants.

Flatbread

(adapted from a recipe by Buddy Oliver)

Ingredients

1 cup self-rising flour (make by mixing 1 cup of all-purpose flour with 2 teaspoons baking powder), plus extra flour for dusting
Several pinches of salt (or to taste)
4 Tbsp Greek yogurt

Method

Pour the flour into a bowl, make a well in the middle, then add the yogurt and several pinches of salt. Use clean hands to mix it together, until you have a dough.
Wash and dry your hands, then dust your work surface and hands with flour. Split the dough into equal pieces. Stretch each piece of dough with your hands or roll it out with a rolling pin to about ¼ inch thick.
Put a large nonstick frying pan on medium-high heat.
Once the pan is hot, carefully add the dough pieces to the dry pan and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, or until golden and puffed up. Use tongs to turn the flatbreads over, and cook for the same time on the other side.

How the educators adapted: They created a fire-roasted eggplant tapenade for smearing over the top. Chopped eggplant was wrapped in tinfoil and stuck in the campfire embers to roast. The eggplant was then mixed with garlic, herbs, shallot, onion, and tomato and cooked down in a cast iron pan over the fire. The tapenade was spread over the flatbreads, and sprinkled with edible flowers and chopped basil and drizzled with olive oil.

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We're sharing this favorite activty from our publication, Project Seasons, to dive deeper into the fascinating topic of compost!

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August 14, 2023