Dublin Jerome High School

According to the National Farm to School Network, public schools produce 1.9% of food waste in the U.S., amounting to 36.5 pounds of food waste per student each year. Per the most recent farm to school census, 17% of Farm to School programs report reductions in their food waste. 

At Dublin Jerome High School, students learn first hand the importance of reducing food waste. Their innovative food waste system all started with two students’ big dreams! Graduates Meghan Bartsch and Kyra Hanes dedicated their ‘legacy project’ to reducing food waste within their alma mater. With guidance from their environmental science teacher, Ashley Dulin-Smith, the central Ohio high school received a $70,000 grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and a 25% match from the Dublin City School District to purchase the Grind2Energy system.

The Grind2Energy ™ system by InSinkErator™ grinds food scraps into an energy-rich slurry. This material is pumped to a holding tank that can be easily hauled away to an anaerobic digestion facility. From there, it is converted into renewable energy in the form of electricity, heat, natural gas or fertilizer for local farms. Dublin Jerome is the first public school in North America to get the Grind2Energy machine!

Top photo: Leftover food is added to the machine and gets processed into a slurry using InSinkErator grinding technology. 

Middle photo: Dulin-Smith explaining the Grind2Energy system to the School Gardens of Ohio network.

Bottom photo: Dulin-Smith with food scrap tank.

Adopt a Cow 

The American Dairy Association Mideast brought the Adopt a Cow program to more than 1,600 educators and almost 45,000 students in Ohio this year. The free, year-long program allows students to get an inside look at dairy farming. This fall, Ohio classrooms were paired with a calf from a dairy farm in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Throughout the program, students discovered where she lives and how the farmer cares for her to better understand where milk and dairy foods come from. During the school year, teachers receive bi-monthly progress updates, photos of the calf, student activity sheets, suggested lessons, and opportunities to virtually tour the farm and have live chats with the dairy farmer.

Top photo: Third graders at Ft Loramie in Shelby County pose with their adopted cow, Apple.

Bottom Photo: MVP Dairy milking parlor (one of the few carousel-style milking parlors in Ohio) as shown in the virtual tour.

MVP Dairy Virtual Farm Tour

American Dairy Association Mideast hosted a live video tour of MVP Dairy in Celina, Ohio. Students had the opportunity to peek into the free stall barns where the dairy cows live and see the milking process up-close,  learning first-hand how dairy farmers care for their cows and the land. More than 400 classrooms representing over 8,300 students nationwide watched the 30-minute tour, including nearly 200 Ohio classrooms. Visit Drink-Milk.com to find dairy farm to school resources from ADA Mideast.

St. Stephen’s Community House Urban Farm in Columbus, Ohio was awarded a $96,460 2021 USDA Farm to School implementation grant. Working cooperatively with the Linden McKinley Urban Ag Pathway Program, the grant supports the development of a shared use model that leverages community-based agriculture assets to support a continuum of STEM-based Farm to School experiences and learning activities for children ECE/pre-K through grade 12 in the Linden community of Columbus.

This project will result in sustainable, replicable practices that will increase students’ awareness of the importance of consuming nutritious locally produced food, increase students’ interest in agricultural careers and food science, and increase the amount of local food consumed by youth residing in this northeast neighborhood of Columbus.

Story Photo: St. Stephens Community Services Greenhouse

Chinese-Style Vegetables

These Chinese-Style Vegetables have a variety of fresh vegetables combined with soy sauce and ginger.

Crediting Information: ¹⁄4 cup (No. 16 scoop) provides ¹⁄8 cup red/orange vegetable and ¹⁄8 cup additional vegetable.