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September 17, 2013 | Volume 2, Issue 17
News & Updates
Grantees Gear up to Celebrate National
Farm to School Month!
September signals the beginning of another school year, the
transition to autumn, and, for many schools and districts around the country,
preparation for National Farm to School Month. In
October, USDA will join thousands of schools in celebrating their connections
to local agriculture and the myriad ways that those connections benefit
students, producers, and communities. To get a taste of what’s in store, we
asked the current class of USDA Farm to School Planning Grantees what their
October plans were; here is what a few of them had to say:
Rappahannock,
Orange, and Page County Public Schools, a cluster of districts in
northern Virginia, are planning to bring a local orchardist into all of the
districts’ kindergarten and first grade classrooms for a taste test of six
apple varieties. The districts will also debut trading cards of farmers
“outstanding in their fields.” “The proofs are going to print next week, and
they look great!” said Trista Grigsby, Director of Nutrition Services for the
Rappahannock District. The districts will conduct apple taste tests in the school cafeterias as well, where students will vote on their favorite varieties and fourth
graders will chart and post the results.
The 159,000-student Dallas Independent School
District (DISD) will celebrate National Farm to School Month
with trips to the state fair, where the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Service will provide curriculum-based educational tours for second, third,
and fourth grade students. The district’s fruit and vegetable provider,
Hardie’s Produce, will set up a special exhibit, and DISD is planning a media
event as well. This year, the district is also launching a harvest of the month
program in conjunction with Hardie's Produce. Each month, they will feature a
different local farm and develop bookmarks, posters, and teaching materials featuring
the month’s harvest.
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 The Sparta Area, Tomah Area, and
Norwalk-Ontario-Wilton School Districts in Wisconsin have formed a consortium
to engage in a county-wide, collaborative farm to school program aimed at the
nearly 3,000 students in their fourteen elementary schools. In October, they
are excited to be bringing an organic farmer into all of the fourth grade
classrooms in the coalition districts to give an interactive presentation about
dairy, fruit and vegetable production, and life on the farm, and to offer
samples of some of his fresh products. Autumn Grooms, Communications
Coordinator for the Sparta Area School District, shared with us that the
students at their Southside Elementary School harvested the first batch of
cherry tomatoes from the school garden last week; the tomatoes were plentiful
enough to supply chef salads for all K-8 meals! “Our little farmers helped
plant the cherry tomato plants, watered and tended to them throughout the
summer, and during recess yesterday they hand harvested the crop. Today, they
will enjoy their bountiful harvest. We couldn't be more proud…We can't wait to
see what the next month has in store and are looking forward to promoting our
program in October.”
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Here at USDA, we are getting ready for an exciting month as well.
In October, we will release the results of our Farm to School Census
via a fun, interactive website and
announce the fiscal year 2014 Farm to School
Grant awardees
(Images courtesy of Rappahannock County Public Schools and Sparta Area Schools, respectively.)
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Webinars
Farm to School +
Extension
The USDA
Farm to School Program and the eXtension
Community of Practice in Community, Local, and Regional Food Systems will host
two webinars to explore Cooperative Extension professionals’ role in supporting
farm to school programs.
On Wednesday,
September 25, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. E.T., Emily Jackson of Appalachian
Sustainable Agriculture Project will share outcomes from a tri-state project
that examined the roles of Cooperative Extension in farm to school. She will be
joined by Teresa Wiemerslage from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
who will share how she is supporting local food procurement, school wellness,
and youth engagement in Northeast Iowa.
On Wednesday,
October 9, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. E.T., Julia Govis from University of Illinois
Extension and Morgan Taggart from Ohio State University Extension will discuss the
many ways they are supporting farm to school through the development of
educational resources and curriculum.
There is no registration required for either webinar. To
access the webinars, both an Internet connection and telephone line is
required. Sound will not come through your computer speakers.
To view the webinars via LiveMeeting, click here.
To hear the webinars, dial 1-800-988-0278 and use the passcode 91613#.
Both webinars will be recorded and available on the USDA
Farm to School website within one to two weeks of initial viewing. For
questions, please contact Matt Benson at matthew.benson@fns.usda.gov or
202-720-6740.
Bits from Blogs
Healthy School Meals in Their Own Words
Schools
across the country are telling us that they are successfully
serving healthy, delicious breakfasts and lunches to students. But how
do the students and staff feel about the changes? We interviewed students
and staff at Bondurant-Farrar School District outside of Des Moines, Iowa to
get their take on the new meals.
Lexi
Atzen, a senior at Bondurant-Farrar High School says that school meals make her
feel better. “When you eat good foods, you feel a lot better about yourself,”
says Atzen. “You feel a lot better just in general, you have more energy. And
then that leads into the classroom as well.” MORE >
Partnering with Cooperative Extension to Support Farm
to School
Kids
are headed back to school and so are county Extension agents.
As
schools continue to teach kids where their food comes from and bring local and
regional products into the school cafeteria, one group they may want to partner
with on their farm to school activities is
their local or regional Cooperative Extension office. Cooperative Extension Systems are
administered by each state’s Land-Grant University System. Programs are
available in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and most states have local or
regional Extension offices that are staffed by one or more experts, often
referred to as Extension agents or Extension educators. MORE >
Stay up-to-date with all of the latest USDA news and stories on the USDA
Blog!
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