October is National Farm to School Month
October is right around the corner! Now is the time to start planning events and celebrations. From Soil to Sea: Nourishing People and Planet is this year’s theme, which honors “the vital role of producers in our food system including the invaluable traditional knowledge native people of Indigenous and BIPOC communities in stewarding the land and seas” (National Farm to School Network). Visit the National Farm to School Network’s Farm to School Month webpage to download a planning toolkit, graphics, coloring pages, and more!
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers no cost farm to school stickers for any child nutrition program operator or state agency administering child nutrition programs. To order, visit the webpage. Note, stickers can take up to two weeks to receive.
Promote Farm to School Month activities and events using the hashtags #F2SMonth, #farmtoschool, and #OHFarmtoSchool. Share your Farm to School Month stories with Rebecca Naab at rebecca.naab@education.ohio.gov to be featured in an upcoming newsletter!
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Get Ready to "Crunch" this October with the Great Apple Crunch
Celebrate healthy eating and farm to school by participating in the 2024 Great Apple Crunch, an annual celebration of fresh, local apples. The official crunch takes place on Thursday, October 10, but crunching can happen anytime during the month of October! Organizations interested in participating can register on the Ohio State University Extension Apple Crunch registration page.
Where to Find Local Apples
Apple Crunch Activities
- Taste test multiple apple varieties and vote on your favorite.
- Feature a local apple recipe in your cafeteria or in the classroom.
- Invite a local farmer to join your Apple Crunch.
- Arrange an event to a local orchard. Pick your own apples and crunch under an apple tree.
- Do a hands-on cooking class for staff featuring a fresh, healthy apple recipe.
- Ask all staff to dress in the color of their favorite apple!
Promote Your Apple Crunch
- Announce the event in a staff, school, or community newsletter or e-newsletter.
- Promote the event through social media using the hashtags #OHAppleCrunch, #OHFarmtoSchool, and #F2SMonth.
- Arrange a special Apple Crunch planning meeting that’s open to the community.
- Create flyers, posters, or student artwork to hang around your school, childcare center, or office.
- Talk to cafeteria staff about including a local apple dish on the menu or purchasing local apples for your crunch.
Request a visit from Munch the Fox or a member of the Department of Education and Workforce’s Office of Nutrition for your Apple Crunch day!
School Gardens Year-Round: Community Food Initiative's Sprouts School Garden Summer Camp
This summer, 21 students from Athen City School District participated in the inaugural Sprouts School Garden Summer Camp in partnership with Community Food Initiatives (CFI). Community Food Initiatives (CFI) is a non-profit organization whose mission is, “to foster communities where everyone has equitable access to healthy, local food.” During the school year, CFI offers Sprouts, a school garden program specifically designed for first grade students at Athens City School District Elementaries (Morrison-Gordon and East), and Amesville Elementary. The program offers students a space to engage in consistent hands-on lessons in school gardens and classrooms. Director of Garden Education, Molly Gassaway and her team recognized that summer provided a great opportunity to get more students involved with their school gardens while growing season is at its peak. With support from several partner organizations, the Sprouts School Garden Summer Camp was created to provide students with a fun and educational way to garden while school was out.
Campers experienced a wide range of garden and growing activities during the week-long camp such as beekeeping and plant pH testing led by local farmers. Campers were served locally grown and produced foods for snacks related to the topic of the day such as zucchini honey muffins on ‘pollinator day’ and berry smoothies on ‘native plant day.’ Snacks were made using local honey, grains, and produce.
Photo: Sprouts School Garden campers & staff
On the final day of the camp, campers took a field trip to the Ohio University Student Farm to pick and taste the bountiful variety of produce, flowers, and herbs grown at the University’s Farm Campus. Families were invited to join their campers in a kid-created, locally sourced picnic lunch.
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A unique aspect of the Sprouts School Garden Summer Camp was the utilization of Garden Education Mentors, better known as GEMs, which consisted of two high school students, one middle school student, and two intermediate students. The GEMs helped campers throughout the day and acted as a steering committee to plan camp activities and develop daily “Garden Gazette” newsletters which featured fun facts, recipes, and local farmer interviews. Each GEM was provided a $100 stipend for their work funded through Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE).
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Photo: Garden Gazette written & illustrated by GEMs.
The success of the camp is a testament to the fact that more students across Ohio are becoming interested in food and agriculture and how they can play a role in the food system both now and in the future. Molly hopes to continue the School Garden Summer Camp next year and beyond, providing more knowledge and access to local foods to students and families in southeast Ohio!
To connect with Molly and learn more about Community Food Initiatives programming, email her at molly@communityfoodinitiatives.org.
Want to be featured in the next monthly newsletter and on Ohio's Farm to School Websites? Share your farm to school success stories with us! Submit your farm to school Success Story here.
Grants Galore: Congratulations to Ohio’s Awardees
Grow Ohio Grant
This July, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce announced $332,960 in funding for 14 child nutrition program sponsors through the Grow Ohio Grant program. Funds awarded will provide innovative opportunities for students to gain knowledge of potential careers in agriculture, create relationships with local food producers, and increase the availability of school-grown foods in child nutrition program meals. To learn more about the grantees, visit the Grow Ohio Grantee webpage.
- Cincinnati Public Schools - $40,000
- Cleveland Child Care Inc. - $9,360
- Cleveland Metropolitan School District - $20,000
- Connecting Kids to Meals Inc. - $34,800
- Joseph Badger Local Schools - $16,005
- Lakewood City Schools - $13,465
- Marion City Schools - $40,000
- Olmsted Falls City Schools - $39,998
- Southwest Licking Local Schools - $18,500
- Springfield Local Schools - $10,955
- The Buckeye Ranch - $16,945
- Vermilion Local Schools (Vermilion High School) - $9,242
- Washington Nile Local Schools (Portsmouth West High School) - $23,700
- West Branch Local Schools - $40,000
2024 USDA Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant
The USDA announced the award of a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants. Congratulations to the seven Ohio schools and organizations receiving an award.
- Bradford Board of Education (Bradford, OH) - $100,000
- Columbus City Schools (Columbus, OH) - $99,584
- Cuyahoga County Board of Health (Parma, OH) - $100,000
- Jardin 4 Life Inc. (Cleveland, OH) - $99,999
- New Lexington City Schools (New Lexington, OH) - $99,809
- Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (Columbus, OH) - $131,708
- Rural Action, Inc. (The Plains, OH) - $457,731
Learn more about each organization’s farm to school projects. Stay tuned - applications for the 2025 Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program will open in Fall 2025!
Discover Dairy’s Annual “Adopt a Cow” Program
Bring the farm to the classroom by adopting a dairy cow through Discover Dairy’s Adopt a Cow program. Students will spend the year virtually engaging with a calf and the farmers raising it. Email updates, virtual farm tours, lessons, and contests engage children of all ages on the topics of agriculture, food production, and nutrition. Registration closes September 15. Eligible organizations include traditional schools, homeschools, after-school programs, and 4-H programs and more. Learn more and register to adopt a cow for your classroom!
Discover Dairy “Adopt a Cow” farmer Katelin and calf Dory from Big Sandy Creek Dairy.
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