Expanding Trauma-Informed Trainings

Trauma-informed approaches to school nutrition are expanding across Vermont this winter, thanks in part to Food Connects Farm to School Coach Sheila Humphreys. Since joining the FC team in 2018, she has built on her expertise in the field and has been a key part of a regional movement to highlight the critical link between trauma and food, particularly in school environments. By emphasizing an increase in professional development opportunities, these trainings enable educators to integrate a trauma- and food-sensitive lens into their lesson plans.

With increased capacity, these trainings will reach a broader audience of educators, impacting students across four school districts in Southern Vermont: Springfield School District, Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, Windham Central Supervisory Union, and Windham Northeast Supervisory Union. 

"I am thrilled to be able to offer this training to more educators around the state. Raising awareness among school staff about food and trauma increases sensitivity to these issues and helps reduce stress experienced by students in our cafeterias and classrooms.” says Farm to School Coach Sheila Humphreys.

Giving students a say in what and how they eat has a powerful impact on their relationship with food and their overall sense of control and agency in their own lives. By establishing judgment-free spaces, students who have complicated relationships with food due to a variety of factors, including food insecurity, food allergies, eating disorders, sensory issues, or cultural differences, can work toward developing a neutral or positive connection to food. Engaging in food-related activities allows students to learn where their food comes from, how they can prepare it themselves, and discover foods that might be culturally unfamiliar, making them more likely to try new foods. By providing students with tools and opportunities to make food choices for themselves we can create change that can impact a student for the rest of their lives.

Stay tuned for Sheila’s reflections following the upcoming trainings across the state. We are excited to witness the positive impact of these transformative practices and the lasting change they will bring to school nutrition and student well-being.

Reflections of a FTS coach: Diversity, Equity, and Racial Healing

Farm to School is agriculture-based education. It is grounded in the land. As an educator and program facilitator, I want to know about the controversial, complicated history between the land and the people on it, and to be able to talk about it openly. Talking openly and honestly about the negative impacts of individual and systemic racism is a key component of racial healing. What will you be doing this year on January 21st for the National Day of Racial Healing?

Ferene Paris of allheartinspirations.com. Photo by Jesse Dawson, courtesy of VBSR

When I saw an email about Ferene Paris’s workshop, “Storytelling for Racial Healing,” at Shelburne Farms earlier in December, I felt a strong pull to attend. 

Personally, I was interested because I have trouble finding the right phrases to discuss my own experiences with race and culture. Professionally, I was interested because I want a diversity of cultures to be represented and accounted for in the Farm to School programs that I coach. I also hoped to use this workshop as a time to pause and reflect on a project I’m currently engaged in: editing Vermont’s Harvest of the Month program materials to be more equitably representative of different cultures, cooking skill-levels, and interests. 

Ferene’s thesis, if I understood correctly, was that storytelling is an important starting point for racial healing. So, workshops like these, where we pause and talk about our experiences, can be a starting point for racial healing.  When I got back from the workshop, my supervisor and I told stories about our own experiences with race, identity, racism, and racial justice groups. These conversations felt like setting down the foundational stones upon which future conversations could happen more easily.

I think if you are white and have not had much direct experience with interracial interactions, these conversations trend toward the abstract. Vermont is a state whose population is over 90% white. This workshop reflected those demographic percentages, more or less. It was interesting to me to consider this topic of racial healing within the context of a majority-white group. What is the end-goal here? How do you do storytelling for racial healing if you haven’t had many direct experiences with racial harm? How does the conversation differ when the group is majority- or all-white? 

This workshop gave me the time and the space to reflect on these questions, rather than thinking about it on-the go – between task A and task B in the day – trying to process something that felt weird or rubbed me the wrong way. I want more time, more workshops like this one, to pause, think, talk, feel, reflect, and hear from others. 

I appreciated many things in Ferene’s presentation. First, I appreciated the encouragement to lean into your innate gifts and talents. Second, I appreciated that she started her presentation with the acknowledgement that we stand on the shoulders of our ancestry, teachers, and parents. Third,  I appreciated the balance between joyful and sorrowful. She intentionally picked images of Black joy for her slides. She also took the time to tell the story of Ruby Bridges, one of the first Black students to attend previously segregated schools in New Orleans, and challenged workshop attendees to really sit with the way Ms. Bridges was treated. 

I don’t want to give away all of her notes, but one that I feel I must  include is: When harm happens, acknowledgement in the moment is good, but also acknowledging and checking-in after an incident is better. 

In a country with such a recent history of racial segregation and slavery, harmful interactions are guaranteed to happen. For some people, they live it daily. For others, they rarely experience it directly. But I am thankful to Ferene for encouraging us to talk about it when it happens and afterwards. 

“The work” (i.e. racial healing through frank conversations) is done person-to-person. It’s easy to think “the work” is person-to-system – especially in a room full of white people who often talk about racism as a theoretical, systemic, social problem. But, Ferene suggests that the healing also happens person-to-person: through conversations, building real relationships, and checking in with each other. During these conversations about past harm and present consequences, Ferene advises us all to keep it real rather than to be performative. Being performative finds you with a protective “mask” on, which keeps away vulnerability but also keeps away authenticity.  One guiding light for this is to keep your comments rooted in your experiences, your own story. 

Ferene ended the workshop with a direct ask: Pause, reflect, and have more conversations about race and racial healing with your “mask” off. This starts with conversations about what is real for you right now. 

Written by Adelaide Petrov-Yoo

Title image courtesy of All Heart Inspirations

Farm to School Teams Don’t Take Grants For Granted!

Garden coordinators recently gathered at Oak Grove School for a grant writing workshop led by Food Connects’ Kris Nelson, Sheila Humphreys, and Rachelle Ackerman. The topic of this particular gathering was initiated by Food Connects board member, Kathy Cassin. As the former garden coordinator at Academy School, Kathy thought it would be helpful for garden coordinators to come together, especially in the winter months, to explore grant writing resources to support their garden plans for the coming season.

“In my role as garden coordinator at Academy, Food Connects was extremely helpful, along with Sheila, our coach, in guiding me through the entire grant writing process. With their help, Academy School was able to receive the VAAFM grant.” Kathy added that the grant helped the Academy Farm to School team repair the garden beds, build a new garden shed, acquire grow labs for classrooms to start seedlings, provide bus transportation for students to visit farms, and develop a multi-year plan for the Academy School garden.

The meeting brought together garden representatives from Academy School, Putney Central School, Saxtons River Elementary School and Central Elementary School—to share ideas, experiences, and tips for securing funding to support school gardens. Oak Grove Garden Coordinator Katrina Moore shared the journey of transforming the garden with the help of grant funding, from overcoming soil contamination to creating a student-led sculpture garden. Afterwards, the group discussed successful grant-writing experiences, including support from VAAFM, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Whole Foods, and explored future needs like summer staffing, outdoor structures, and children's gardening tools.

Development Manager Rachelle led a presentation on best practices for grant writing. She offered valuable tips on crafting compelling proposals, incorporating storytelling, and avoiding jargon. Participants had the chance to collaborate, refine their writing, and exchange feedback in breakout sessions.

Thanks to everyone who attended and to Katrina and Oak Grove for hosting! We look forward to seeing how these grant writing practices can help grow our gardens and enrich the student experience.

Dummerston teacher Lindsey Glabach-Royce is growing climate resilience at Dummerston School

Imagine this: You are a full-time 5th and 6th grade Science and Math teacher in a rural school in Vermont.  You are committed to teaching your students about climate resilience. You have been selected for a Climate Resiliency Fellowship. This year-long program, offered through Shelburne Farms and Vermont State University brings you together with colleagues from around the northeast who are similarly passionate about climate change education. Within this community of educators, you will learn and grow together and create individual projects designed to teach “climate change with hope and justice, while tending to individual and collective well-being.”

You have a total of 9 hours and 30 minutes of instructional time each week with your students for both math and science. 80% of that time must be spent teaching math, which leaves you 2 hours per week to teach science. This is a total of 24 hours of science-focused teaching time for the entire school year, during which you need to cover the following topics:

  • Ecology

  • Weather & the Water Cycle

  • Earth's Changing Climate

  • Space

How will you rise to this challenge? What resources do you have available to help you? How can your Food Connects Coach support you?

Dummerston School teacher Lindsey Glabach-Royce

This was the beginning of our conversation this fall between FTS coach Sheila Humphreys and Dummerston School teacher Lindsey Glabach-Royce. In our role as Farm to School coaches, we help to build the capacity of talented educators like Lindsey to reach their professional goals related to Food, Farm, and Nutrition education.

Lindsey believes that, “The way to save our world is for kids to be connected to the land. This is a 2-way relationship. We need to respect the land and take care of it. My intention is to connect students to the land and the history of the land.”

Faculty members of the fall session of the fellowship program included Abenaki artist, writer, and educator Judy Dow. Judy demonstrated using 3D topo maps to teach students about their local landscape. Inspired by this approach, Lindsey plans to seek out maps of the local area from colleges and engineering labs. 

Lindsey is also planning a land acknowledgment project with her students. Through Judy Dow, Lindsey connected with local resident Patricia Sweet Austin, a Vermonter of Abenaki and European ancestry who is a western Abenaki language learner and author of Wliniwaskw Wliahki: Good Spirit Good Earth. Lindsey hopes to collaborate with Patricia on a land acknowledgment project at the school.

Lindsey has been able to connect with local farmers as well, to explore what they are doing to address climate change. With Sheila’s help, Lindsey made contact with Wild Carrot Farm and Walker Farm, and plans are in process for students to do some hands-on learning with local farmers related to their climate science unit.

We will be checking in with Lindsey throughout the year to see how her project is progressing and how we can continue to help increase her capacity to reach her professional goals.

Celebrating Harvest Dinners Across our Region

Fresh flatbread baked in a pizza oven. A banquet of soups and salads created by students, teachers, and families, many with ingredients sourced from school gardens. Turkey dinner with all the fixings. Some Vermont schools have been celebrating Harvest Dinners together for many years; others are just getting started. Each dinner is unique, as particular as the school and the community of which it is a part. Not only do Harvest Dinners bring families together for a delicious home (or school) cooked meal and lots of noise and fun. It is also one of the times during the school year when students welcome their families into their world at school - and this time to feed them! How cool is that? 

This year the Farm to School team had the pleasure of participating in Harvest Dinners at schools in Windham Southeast, Windham Central, and Windham Northeast, and at Winston Prouty Early Learning Center. Scenes from the gatherings, as well as the hours of preparations from the students and teachers, are below.

Oak Grove

There were over 170 people attending Oak Grove’s dinner this year, which is the largest turnout for this event since 2019. Some of the dishes prepared by Garden Coordinator Katrina Moore and her students with ingredients harvested from the new garden beds this year included: herbed butter, arugula salad, and fresh pasta with garden herbs.

Saxtons River 

This year Saxtons River celebrated a Harvest Dinner together for the first time, holding the dinner during the school day. Linda Kinney, the School Nutrition Site Manager, cooked up a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings - and Melissa Bacon, BFHS School Nutrition Site Manager, was able to help out, too. Parents joined their kids in the cafeteria, and even learned how to properly dispose of their waste in the compost bins and replace their reusable trays in a stack when they were done.

NewBrook

This year NewBrook Elementary again held a silent auction during their Harvest Dinner, with a table full of local crafts and products. They also included a scavenger hunt bingo game, with a tempting basket of really cool erasers as prizes. Another new addition this year was the team of Leland and Gray High School students serving soup!

Central

This was Central Elementary’s second Harvest Dinner. Since the dinner was held in October and the weather was holding, families came prepared with picnic blankets and stayed a long while. Highlights were the full array of yummy soups prepared by the students and flatbread straight from the pizza oven. A new addition this year was planting daffodils in the school courtyard.

Winston Prouty 

Winston Prouty celebrated their Harvest Dinner on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. When Early Learning Center Director, Honor Woodrow, asked the children what they needed to set the table, one girl exclaimed: “We need spoons and healthy food!” The children helped make the macaroni and cheese from scratch, made wavy-cut vegetables for the stone soup, and set the tables. Everyone enjoyed a delicious meal and finished it off with banana bread.

A Taste of Culture: Chinese Cooking 101 at Brattleboro Area Middle School

Ms. Gao’s Chinese Cooking 101 provides Brattleboro Area Middle School students with an opportunity to learn life skills while getting exposed to a new culture. Ping Gao has a holistic approach to teaching. In her Chinese Culture Class, the curriculum covers the expected topics of Chinese language, history, geography, and culture. However, Ms. Gao is also invested in the emotional and social growth of her students. 

This is why, every week, she offers multiple opportunities to cook Chinese food in her classroom.  “I pick dishes that are really fast and easy to make, with ingredients that don’t cost a lot,” says Ms. Gao. Her goal is to give students the life skills needed to take care of themselves. 

Almost all the students I interviewed had used Ms. Gao’s fried rice recipe at home, and some had even made dumplings with their families. She picks recipes that are easy, fast, inexpensive, and healthy. In this case, by healthy we mean they contain unprocessed ingredients like chopped cucumbers, cilantro, and homemade wheat flour noodles. 

The homemade noodles take about 5 minutes to mix together; then, students fling and snap the dough into unfussy hand-pulled noodles. 7th and 8th grade girls chopped cucumber, cilantro, garlic and scallions. Meanwhile, two 8th grade boys boiled the noodles and scrambled eggs in a pan. Kids gathered around the table as Ms. Gao threw (literally) the ingredients into a bowl, poured on some hot oil, and mixed. 

“It smells soooo good!” spontaneously commented several students, as the hot oil hit the garlic and scallions. Students went back for seconds and thirds of the noodles. When I asked students why they would take a Chinese class, most answered “the food!”

This is an excellent exposure to diversity. Not only exposure to different cultures and the ideas that come with it (we watched a YouTube clip on the “story” behind the Biang Biang noodle). It is also exposure to new types of food. I heard a few students say they wanted to try a little bit of the spicy noodles. It’s much easier to try a bite of something spicy when it's offered in class, than when you’re ordering a whole dish of it at a Chinese restaurant. 

Speaking of which, not many Chinese restaurants in Brattleboro offer the kinds of entrees that Ms. Gao serves up.  The students told me the menus they usually see in Chinese restaurants do not serve the kinds of dishes they cook in Ms. Gao’s class. Only the dumplings and fried rice overlap. All the other dishes are things you can’t necessarily access in Brattleboro. This class is a one-of-a-kind experience that you truly can’t get anywhere else in town.

Written by Adelaide Petrov-Yoo

Community, Tradition, and Gratitude with BUHS Students

What does Thanksgiving mean for a group of Vermont teenagers? For Bianca Fernandez, Thanksgiving this year meant an opportunity to expose students to ideas of making, giving, and learning about where our food comes from. These topics feed into the larger concept of “being a good citizen in your community”. Bianca is an SEA services instructor at Brattleboro Union High School (BUHS), helping to administer the YEA (Youth Empowering Agriculture) program. This program administers experiential learning in the subject of agriculture and food systems professions.

First, students learned about origins. 

A guest speaker, Jill Adams, visited the high school and spoke about Abenaki food traditions. 

Jill cooked local food, like squash and fiddleheads, and connected it to Abenaki traditions like the Three Sisters and seed preservation. This, tied in with some upcoming lessons on Indian Boarding Schools, is a pathway for high school students to think about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, about how culture relates to food and the land that we are living on. Without this land and these traditions, we could not grow the food for our Thanksgiving meal. 

Next, students learned about the skills needed to pull off a community event. 

Students boarded a bus bound for Lisai’s Market, a fourth generation family-operated grocery store and a centerpiece of Bellows Falls. Here, after buying ingredients for the day’s feast, the BUHS students interviewed the cashiers, learning about the realities of working in the “market” part of a Vermont food system. 

We packed our ingredients onto the bus and drove to Westminster’s Butterfield Institute. In this community gathering space, students rotated between three learning stations. 

Station A, the best-smelling station, prepared turkey soup from scratch. Students learned safe knife-handling, herb-identification, and soup and salad-making. 

Station B, the most artistic station, handcrafted wreaths and decoupaged candle holders from mason jars. Students used locally harvested pine boughs and learned to identify Pussy Willow, Lunaria (Silver Dollar Plant), and Chinese Lantern flowers as they twined these plants into their wreaths. 

Station C gave students an opportunity to learn about community service and giving. Here, students baked apple crumble and pumpkin bread from scratch for donation to Westminster Center School families.  BUHS high schoolers handed off the baked goods to Westminster Center School third graders, creating a beautiful moment of big-sibling, inter-age interaction.

Finally, illuminated by the setting winter sun, 17 students from BUHS sat around a table almost as long as a basketball court. Down the center ran a row of wreaths and candle holders, both carefully crafted by students. In front of each student was a plate of salad, turkey stone soup, and sides. The sweetest part was, before digging in, hearing the students say what they were thankful for. Alongside gratitude for family members and loved ones, a majority of the students said they were thankful for “all you guys” in the SEA program with them. A moment of peace and reflection, giving acknowledgement to the supportive, loving community created within the SEA program.

Written by Adelaide Petrov-Yoo






Continuing the Legacy: Kelsy Allan Inspires in the Academy School Garden

The garden at Academy School has long been a vibrant hub of growth, discovery, and community. This year, it continues to blossom under the guidance of its new Garden Coordinator, Kelsy Allan. 

With her boundless enthusiasm and deep connection to the outdoors, Kelsy has quickly become a beloved figure among students and staff alike. From prepping lessons to leading hands-on activities, she is cultivating a love for nature and food that will leave a lasting impression.

Students are naturally drawn to Kelsy’s bubbly personality and adventurous spirit. Whether they’re sampling fresh basil or digging in the dirt, she meets them with infectious energy and encouragement. 

One student’s delight during a recent taste test—“Mmm, I need pesto in my garden...I mean basil!”—perfectly captures the excitement she brings to the garden. With a warm smile, Kelsy responds, “I knew what you meant,” embodying the kind of playful, supportive mentorship that makes learning fun.

Kelsy stepped into a role previously held by Kathy Cassin, whose supportive presence still graces the garden. 

As a familiar face to many returning students, Kathy often volunteers her time to support Kelsy in her FTS activities. Together they greet excited children flocking over from their recess and offer gentle guidance to the many tiny chefs as they craft a recipe using seasonal foods. Together, they’ve fostered a culture where cooking is an adventure, and trying new foods is an exciting part of the journey.

One recent recess cookoff showcased the magic of Academy’s FTS programing. The cooking stations buzzed with excitement as Kelsy led students at recess through making applesauce in one area and while a class pressed cider around the corner. 

When the cider press broke mid-activity, she quickly improvised, rigging a solution with cheesecloth and an upbeat attitude. “Try that!” said Kelsy, securing the cheesecloth in place. 

Back at the applesauce station, students took turns chopping and cooking apples. Kathy, ever supportive, peeled apples with practiced ease, while Kelsy dashed between stations, ensuring every student had a chance to contribute.

The sight of this tiny, mobile kitchen crew—armed with child-safe choppers and wide grins—is now a cherished staple of Academy recess. 

Kelsy has embraced the school’s endowed FTS culture, bringing fresh energy and creativity to its traditions. Outdoor cooking, a favorite activity, continues to thrive under her leadership. Her dream of cooking with students year-round, gathered around fires and savoring meals they’ve grown, is already taking root.

When considering her own mark on the program, she envisions extending environmental learning beyond the garden, incorporating the surrounding woodlot and introducing students to wildcrafting and creative uses for invasive plants—like eating them! 

This broader approach reflects her foundation in experiential learning, where students explore food and nature in playful, meaningful ways. “I want them to see food as something fun and a choice,” she explains. “It’s not just about eating healthy; it’s about enjoying the whole process.”

Kelsy’s hands-on, can-do attitude inspires students to dive into projects with gusto. Whether they’re stirring a pot of applesauce or pressing cider, they’re learning valuable lessons about teamwork, creativity, and resilience. And with the ongoing support of a terrific team, Kelsy is building on a legacy of nurturing young minds through the power of nature.

As the seasons change and the garden continues to grow, so too will the students who are lucky enough to learn from Kelsy. Under her care, the Academy School garden remains a cherished space of joy, discovery, and connection—a place where seeds of curiosity are planted, and lifelong passions for food and nature are nurtured.

Harvest Fun: Winston Prouty ELC's Field Trip to Wild Carrot Farm

At the end of October, students, teachers, and families from Winston Prouty’s Early Learning Center (ELC) had the opportunity to visit Wild Carrot Farm for a field trip. This farm was selected for a visit because the ELC has been enjoying fresh produce weekly from the farm all season thanks to a Farm to School and Early Childhood Community Supported Agriculture grant from Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM). 

The children enjoyed a variety of fresh seasonal produce to snack on each week from June through October. Their teacher, Nora Harrington says, “one highlight was when we made fennel straws. The big stalks are so stiff that you can actually drink water through them and the children thought that was really fun.” The students really love carrots, and they made a carrot and vegetable stew for their harvest meal in November. They also have some popcorn from the farm that is still on the cob and they plan to make popcorn soon.

At the farm, activities included horse-drawn hayrides, visits with farm animals, and an exploration of the farm's greenhouse. Students aged 2-4 described the field trip in their own words, saying, 

  • “I saw horses at the farm!” 

  • “They were brown and black.”

  • “I really liked going on the field ride with the horses.”

  • “And we even gave them carrots!”

  • “There was even a trampoline and a little play structure.”

Teacher Nora shared her favorite part of the field trip, saying, “We picked these GIANT carrots and then we fed them to the horses.  We fed them SO MANY carrots! And I ate some too.”
The field trip was supported by the Winston Prouty Farm to School team and funded by a Strengthening Families grant from the Vermont Department for Children and Families.

Farm to School Regional Gathering at Braintree Elementary

Braintree Elementary was the perfect setting for my first VT FTS regional gathering. The school was bright and inviting, set on a small hill several rolling miles across sprawling farmlands from the more thickly settled town of Randolf. The school itself was impressive and full of life despite being after hours.  We were greeted and welcomed by staff and students, both very proud to share their space and what Farm to School means to them at Braintree Elementary. I was especially impressed by the two students who took the time to present in front of a room full of adults on why they love their school and how much they enjoy their time in the garden. Braintree blossoms was the name given for their farm to school club; a collection of all ages, learning through mentorship, where students work their gardens to learn, harvest and even sell a little produce to the local community. 

Special thanks to Misse Axelrod and Dana Hudson for facilitating the gathering and curating an fun, intimate and productive workshop for us all to enjoy. This setting was particularly helpful for understanding the specific challenges and inner workings of various programs within the central region and provided a space for great minds to problem solve and celebrate all the hard work that’s being done. It also gave me a great opportunity to share what we are doing at Food Connects around Harvest of the Month, as well as some clarity as to how we can best support educators going forward. After all was said and done, we parted ways feeling inspired to continue elevating Farm to School education across the state.

- Devan Monette, Harvest of the Month Program Manager