Reinvigorating Farm to School at Oak Grove School

Gathering on the shores of Lake Champlain for three glorious days at the end of June, dedicated members of Oak Grove School’s Farm to School (FTS) Team immersed themselves in learning and planning their next steps towards strengthening their FTS program. The Oak Grove team is participating in the Northeast Farm to School Insititute (NEFTSI) this year. The June retreat began a year-long professional learning opportunity to strengthen FTS programming at the school. Now in its 12th year, NEFTSI is a tremendous resource for schools looking to increase the capacity of farm, food, and nutrition education to impact lasting change in classrooms, cafeterias, and the community.

FTS teams comprised of educators, food service professionals, administrators, and community members from 10 different schools and school districts in Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, New York, and Nebraska were in attendance at NEFTSI this year. With such a diverse group of participants, there were many opportunities to cross-pollinate ideas among rural and urban schools serving pre-K through 12th-grade students. 

The NEFTSI agenda featured a mix of inspiring speakers, hands-on learning opportunities, and focused work time with the support of a coach to set achievable goals for the upcoming year. Participants were nourished by delicious meals made from recipes in the New School Cuisine Cookbook and featuring local, seasonal produce throughout the institute. Workshop topics ranged from “Bringing the Food System Alive in the Garden and Compost” to “Farm to School in the Classroom Through an Equity Lens,” giving participants multiple opportunities to engage in hands-on learning with topics of their choosing.

Oak Grove School has had an FTS program for over 15 years. Their garden program has taken a big step forward in recent years by adding a part-time garden coordinator, Tara Gordon. Recent changes to the garden include moving the primary garden beds to a more central location and adding several pollinator gardens and other plantings to their Living Schoolyard. 

At NEFTSI, the team began by crafting a values statement to guide their work and explicitly communicate their values to the greater community. After reviewing some sample values statements by other FTS teams and doing some group brainstorming, the team quickly agreed on the following statement:

“ Farm to School at Oak Grove School values growth, nourishment, and empowerment through hands-on experiences with food in the garden, classroom, cafeteria, and community.”

Next, the team moved on to goal-setting. Oak Grove’s FTS program had a few setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, one of which was that the school-wide harvest dinner was canceled for two years, and it is unknown whether it will return in 2022. This annual harvest celebration allowed the entire school community to engage in gardening and cooking together. The loss of that school-wide activity has impacted full school participation in the FTS program. On the other hand, the pandemic has motivated some classrooms to spend even more time outdoors in the school garden than they did before the pandemic. Currently, about ½ of the faculty at Oak Grove actively engage with their students in FTS activities regularly throughout the school year. One of the goals set by the team at the Institute is to increase classroom participation in FTS back up to 100%. 

With no guarantee that the harvest dinner would come back this year, the team had to think creatively about other ways to encourage classroom participation in FTS activities. The team plans to kick off this goal by hosting a garden party for school staff before the start of the school year to encourage staff who don’t usually visit the garden to step outside and eat a delicious lunch together. A simple garden map will be created before the garden party to help teachers know what is growing in the garden and where to find it. Tara hopes to partner with a classroom to engage students in making a more detailed garden map as a special project this year. 

Plans are also in the works to develop a menu of creative and easy-to-use FTS lessons and activities for teachers who are not inclined to garden or cook with students and to help teachers connect these lessons to things already happening in their curriculum. Tara is available to work with all classrooms, and Principal Mary Kauffman will use the existing system of grade level accountability partners to encourage teachers to check in with a peer once a month about this school-wide goal of engaging with the school’s FTS program at least once during the school year.

That’s just one of the five goals set by the team to work on this year. Here’s a snapshot of the other four goals:

• Increase student participation and reduce food waste in the fresh fruit and vegetable snack program

• Bring back monthly Harvest of the Month taste tests 

• Increase family engagement in FTS throughout the whole year (including summer)

• Increase communication about FTS to families & staff

Freshly inspired, this team is ready to continue transforming their school culture to offer more and more opportunities for hands-on learning with farm, food, and nutrition education, and we can’t wait to see the fruits of their hard work emerge throughout the year!

Trauma and Nutrition Work Continues at Food Connects

Since she began working at Food Connects in the summer of 2018, Farm to School Coach Sheila Humphreys has been developing expertise on the rich topic of trauma and nutrition, including Trauma-Informed Cafeterias and Trauma Sensitive Farm to School programs. Sheila is a leader on this topic, presenting at statewide, regional, and national conferences and acting as a resource for educators and School Nutrition Professionals far and wide. 

Most recently, at the request of several Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) principals, Sheila partnered with Brattleboro Area Food Service Director Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe to record a 30-minute professional development session on the topic of Trauma-Informed Cafeterias to help support WSESU staff welcome new students from Afghanistan into the school district. The video is relevant to schools that recently welcomed new Afghan students and all schools interested in making trauma-informed changes to their school meal programs.

This professional development is free and available to all. To learn more:

1. Click here to watch the video

2. Click here to view the recommended practices for school communities

3. Click here to view the resource document for more information

This video and supporting materials are based on a full-day training that Sheila Humphreys developed with Vermont-based trauma-informed specialist Joelle Van Lent in the summer of 2019.

In addition, last month, Sheila led her first in-person Trauma and Nutrition Training for educators since the start of the pandemic. She presented to approximately 20 staff members at Winston Prouty’s Early Learning Center. “It felt great to connect with educators in person, get a sense of how the material was landing with people in real-time, and see their whole faces!” says Sheila. And the training was well received by the staff.

“I thought the training was great,” said Katrin Morgan, Child Care Referral and Food Program Specialist at Winston Prouty. “I think that the material was presented thoughtfully. And I appreciated that you shared at the beginning that there could be topics that could be triggering to some people and gave permission to step away or whatever to take care of themselves if needed. I think that this field we are in attracts compassionate and passionate people, and the fact that some people were tearing up and crying and continued to stay in the training showed that you created a safe space for such a hard topic to present.”

Want to know more about these powerful trainings offered by Food Connects? Click here to dig deeper.

The “Dream Team”—Trauma and Nutrition from Home to Cafeteria

In December, Farm to School (FTS) coach Sheila Humphreys teamed up with two other passionate presenters for a workshop hosted by Massachusetts Farm to School to discuss the topic of trauma and nutrition from home to cafeteria. 

The workshop covered how food and trauma are intertwined. Food can establish a strong sense of community, but can also be a point of stress and anxiety. The aim of the workshop was to "increase participant awareness of implicit biases about food, clearly articulate the connection between trauma and food, and provide tools for coordinating Farm to School and nutrition programs in their school through a Trauma-Sensitive lens. You can learn more about the workshop and watch it online.

This workshop wasn’t Sheila’s first rodeo—she has led or participated in other workshops on this topic that have been entirely school and cafeteria-focused. What was exciting and different about this discussion was that co-presenter Tracy Roth joined Sheila. Tracy is a certified nutrition coach based in Amherst, MA, who explored this rich topic through the lens of how families and individuals can address these issues at home. Tracy “is on a mission to end the diet industry because those quick-fix restrictive diets just make us feel bad about ourselves and mess with our relationship with food.” She shared her personal experience growing up with food insecurity and her work as an adult to heal her relationship with food and her body. She also provided practical suggestions to help shift our relationship to food, like mindful eating techniques, increasing food literacy, and honoring joy, culture, and connection through food. 

Diona Williams also joined the team. Diona is an early childhood education professor at the Tribal Community College on the Tohono O'odham Nation in Sells, AZ. Diona shared her personal experience as the adoptive mother of a child who previously experienced food insecurity. She discussed food hoarding and other challenging behaviors sometimes seen in children who have experienced food insecurity and how to approach these behaviors with compassion and understanding. Diona is passionate about early childhood mental health and shared inspiration from her many years of experience as an educator using the school garden as an outdoor classroom for special education preschoolers. 

Sheila knows the power and importance of weaving her own experience with food insecurity into her work. This opportunity to engage in a panel discussion with these two outstanding professionals who were willing to share their personal experiences as well as their professional expertise was a dream come true! They met several times before the presentation to prepare. They all felt a powerful synergy working together by the end of their presentation. They agree that they are a “dream team” and want to find more speaking opportunities together to move these essential conversations forward. If not for the virtual world we’re all living in now due to COVID-19, these three amazing women may never have had the opportunity to meet and collaborate, so that’s something to be grateful for!

Cross-Pollination Gathering for School Garden Coordinators

Sarah Rosow searches for a cukamelon in the students snacking garden.

Garden Coordinators from five Windham County Farm to School programs gathered at Guilford Central School for a “Cross-Pollination” event in late October. Garden Coordinators, often somewhat isolated in their unique roles, had the opportunity to share ideas, challenges, and successes with each other as they prepare for winter activities in the classroom.   

More and more area schools have hired Garden Coordinators in recent years, finding that they are a key component to a thriving Farm To School program. In addition to taking care of the gardens with support from students and volunteers, they also plan and execute educational activities around gardening and cooking and facilitate teacher and student involvement in FTS programming.  

Sarah Rosow explains to Mandy Walsh how the Kelly Kettle works—a wonderful tool for making tea in the garden!

Sarah Rosow, Guilford’s Garden Coordinator since 2018, hosted the event, showing the visitors the school’s three different garden areas, the outdoor classrooms, and concluding with a “show and tell” of sorts where Coordinators discussed useful equipment for cooking outdoors, curriculum guides, and sample lessons. Everyone was inspired by Sarah’s “snacking garden” where students are able to snack freely on mint, cherry tomatoes, and adorable cukamelons growing on her archway. 

As they toured the campus, Garden Coordinators discussed their roles at their schools and what makes their programs unique. While Guilford’s program excels at innovative outdoor teaching, Mandy Walsh of Westminster Center School offered the details of her upcoming Farm and Field Day—an event 3 years in the making, where students will participate in six different Farm to School stations. Kathy Cassin of Academy School spoke about her after-school cooking and gardening club while also gathering ideas about deterring the deer that had been eating all of Academy’s beautiful greens. After hearing that Mandy had some success with growing a border wall, she remarked, “that's good to know because it’s been so frustrating losing our greens!” 

Sarah Rosow demonstrates using a pull chopper, which she uses to make fresh salsa and pesto in the garden.

Erica Frank of Central Elementary, a registered dietician and current Food Service Professional at the school, spoke about the value of getting kids involved in cooking.  Amy Duffy, the new Garden Coordinator at Newbrook Elementary, agreed. “Giving kids a little more control over their eating then leads to better choices.” Amy also shared that she works with each grade once per week. Sarah Rosow responded, “I’d like to pick Amy's brain a little more in terms of the scope and sequence, and also just learning how she works in every grade level every week and how she manages that because I’d like to move toward that model.”

Everyone gained new ideas from this gathering, and it was clear at the end of the event that everyone had so much more expertise to share and so many more questions to discuss. In response, Food Connects looks forward to hosting more Cross-Pollination for Garden Coordinator events for our member schools throughout this school year.

FREE innovative Farm to School module & educator resources at the Monadnock Farm to School Network virtual forum in November!

2021 Monadnock Farm to School Network - Fall forum

Saturday, November 13, 2021

9:00 - 11:00 AM, virtual event

Cornucopia Project and Stonewall Farm have teamed up to form a new regional branch of the NH Farm to School Network (NHFTS) here in the Monadnock Region. Monadnock Farm to School (MF2S) is gathering for the first time on Saturday, November 13, 2021, 9:00 - 11:00 AM. This virtual forum is an opportunity for teachers, school board members, school staff, parents, and individuals passionate about Farm to School, to learn about how they can incorporate Farm to School (FTS) activities in their school. 

National Farm to School programs sprouted in 1996-1997 to change food purchasing and education practices to improve student health. NHFTS Network was established in 2003 as a pilot program to introduce local apples and cider into NH K-12 schools.

Examples of FTS implementation include locally sourced food served in cafeterias and taste tests, hands-on learning in school gardens, or education activities related to food, health, nutrition, or agriculture.

Cornucopia Project has brought FTS programming to Symonds and Fuller schools in Keene over the last few years, even though the organization is based in Peterborough. According to Lauren Judd, Executive Director, "We are available to support schools and groups as they explore FTS learning. Our aim in establishing the MF2S Network is to create broader access to these fun and healthy activities."

MF2S members will share a free FTS teaching module with participants during the forum. Originally developed by the Vermont Farm to School Network, "Nuts & Bolts of Farm to School: Gardening, Cooking, and Farm Field Trips" will, according to Sheila Humphreys of Food Connects based in Southeastern Vermont, "liven teacher's existing curriculum with a multi-sensory FTS approach. We are excited to expand our FTS programming to the Monadnock Region." A Q & A will follow the module presentation. Teachers will receive professional development credits for their participation in the forum.

"Our students are the most important piece to this puzzle, representing the future of policy and agriculture," adds Rebecca Lancaster, education director, Stonewall Farm. "The MF2S Network will facilitate this mission by arming educators with the resources they need to successfully integrate Farm to School programming into their classrooms."

The Monadnock Farm and Community Coalition is the coordinator of the event and works behind the scenes to build capacity for FTS curriculum and activities throughout the region.

Monadnock Farm to School (MF2S) Network members include Cornucopia Project, Food Connects, Stonewall Farm, Monadnock Farm and Community Coalition, and NH Sustainability Institute. 

To register or find out more, go to: https://monf2school.eventbrite.com, or call 603.852.3198.

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Cornucopia Project's mission is to plant seeds for a lifetime of healthy eating through garden, kitchen and farm education.

Food Connects is an entrepreneurial nonprofit that delivers locally produced food through its Food Hub, and offers farm to school educational and consulting services.

The Monadnock Farm and Community Coalition is a coalition of 140 member organizations who come together regularly to build a sustainable local food system by cultivating community action and building collaboration to implement effective programs, projects, and policies.

Stonewall Farm offers a variety of farm-based education programs for schools, homeschool, and youth groups. Additionally, it teaches and demonstrates regenerative farming to people of all ages to ensure food security, vibrant communities and a healthy planet.

The Sustainability Institute’s mission is to be a catalyst, convener, and champion of sustainability ideas and actions across and beyond the University of New Hampshire. The institute fosters a culture of sustainability that permeates the civic, professional, and personal lives of members of the UNH community.

Getting Ready for Local: VT Workshops Bring Together School Nutrition Professionals and Farmers

Apple orchards, sweet potato fields, and diversified farms. School nutrition professionals gathered on farms across the state this past August; for many, it was the first time seeing their colleagues from other schools since the start of the pandemic.

Jointly hosted by Food Connects, VT FEED, and the School Nutrition Association of Vermont, these workshops were a time for school nutrition professionals to connect with farmers, think about local purchasing, and the opportunities of a new state bill that incentivizes buying Vermont products for their programs. In addition to touring the host farm, participants prepared a menu item that featured local products from the farm and met the school lunch meal pattern guidelines. There was also plenty of time for everyone to share stories from the past year and hear about what’s been working and what hasn’t been. 

“The past 18 months have been especially hard on school nutrition professionals,” says Helen Rortvedt, Farm to School Program Director for NOFA-VT & VT FEED. “Working from home was never an option for them, and the need for healthy meals has only increased. It’s vitally important to have the time to come together, share best practices, and plan for restoring or expanding their local purchasing plans for the coming school year with colleagues.”

Made possible by a 2020 USDA Farm to School Implementation grant, participants got an inside look into the operations and hurdles local farmers contend with and discussed ways to get more of their products into school meals. A common theme throughout each of the workshops was the similarities between both professions in regards to the constant logistical details they had to consider—what’s the best packaging option for food, the constant battle for cold storage space, and how do you get your food to consumers (whether that be customers or students). 

At the forefront of everyone’s minds was the local purchasing incentive recently passed by the Vermont legislature. Schools have incredibly low budgets for food (under $1.50 per meal), making it difficult for them to buy high-quality, locally produced foods. This new grant will help by reimbursing schools that use local ingredients in their meals. Given how new the program is, everyone has questions about what implementation will look like. 

Food Connects is a natural partner for schools looking to increase local purchasing. The Farm to School Program works with school nutrition professionals, educators, and administrators to increase nutrition and farming education in classrooms, building interest in and demand for local foods by students. Once the demand is there, the Food Hub can deliver food from over 150 producers right to the school, providing schools an easy and affordable way to participate in the local food system.

Completing the Food Nutrient Cycle at the Rich Earth Institute

Earlier this summer, a diverse group of curious folks from our community toured the Rich Earth Institute (REI) to learn more about this unique, innovative resource in our community. REI works to complete the food nutrient cycle by turning human urine into fertilizer, supporting sustainable agriculture, and protecting water sources. 

Understandably, the idea of diverting human urine to use as fertilizer makes some people uncomfortable. Because of this, although our group included parents, teachers, school board members, and other community leaders, most people attending were careful to say in the introductions that they were not representing their organization or school but were attending as a curious community member. With that out of the way, this group was free to think creatively about how REI’s approach and technology could someday benefit our community. Ideas ranged from peecycling port-a-potties on school playgrounds and at community events, using urine as fertilizer in gardens and landscapes around town, and installing high-tech urine-diverting toilets in local schools and businesses. 

High-tech urine-diverting toilet at REI offices.

Implementing these ideas is a long way off, as we wait for technology to improve and attitudes and behaviors to change. In the meantime, we were inspired by many of the things we learned! Here are a few highlights:

This map shows the location of REI’s urine donors throughout the region.

• Human urine, which contains high nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, makes up less than 1% of wastewater. Nitrogen and phosphorus cause harmful algae blooms, which are destructive to aquatic ecosystems. By separating human urine from other wastewater, we can eliminate up to 75% of nitrogen and 55% of phosphorus from our municipal water systems. 

• Human urine is an effective, sustainable, local alternative to commonly used synthetic fertilizers. In fact, the urine produced by one person annually contains enough fertilizer to grow nearly a whole year's supply of food! 

• Currently, around 200 dedicated volunteers in Brattleboro donate their bodily nutrients to Rich Earth’s program—totaling over 10,000 gallons of urine annually! This creates a source of sustainable fertilizer for local farms, reduces downstream nutrient pollution, and conserves over a million gallons of clean, potable water since the program began in 2013.

We're excited to see how the innovative science and research of REI can be shared over time with our schools and community to bring greater health to our farms and aquatic ecosystems. REI planted a research garden this spring which will be available this fall for educators and student groups to tour and learn more.

REI’s newly planted research garden.

Farm to School Takes on Fungi

Educators from 9 schools across Windham County gathered at Wild Carrot Farm in early May to learn about mushroom cultivation from farmer Jesse Kayan and recently retired 3rd-grade teacher from Oak Grove Deb Pierotti. Not only is mushroom cultivation relatively simple once you have the right materials, but the connections to learning standards come easy, as demonstrated by past students’ work Deb brought to share. 

Mushrooms can look otherworldly and inspire awe. Their unique properties spark curiosity. One example is the Barometer Earthstar fungus, a few of which Deb brought to share. This mushroom opens or closes depending on its moisture level. Deb’s passion demonstrated that engaging lessons are those that not only captivate the student but the instructor as well. 

Learning scientific observation skills, writing and composition, and history through the lens of fungi helps make the content stick as well! Tara Davis, a parent at Oak Grove School, brought her son’s Mushroom Journal from when he was in Deb’s third-grade class, sharing that it had not only been a highlight of his year but his entire time at Oak Grove. 

Jesse helped make it easy to bring the workshop back to participants' schools. Along with Caitlin Burlett, Jesse’s wife and farming partner, they prepped logs, a wax station, and had pre-purchased spores to inoculate the logs. 

Each participant got to try out two different cultivation techniques: a “totem” method used slices of logs with shiitake spore sandwiched between them, and a “plug” method, where many holes are drilled into a log and filled with oyster spore. 

The main lesson learned was that it’s all about location. Armed with their two inoculated logs and some lesson ideas, Jesse tasked the participants to find a cool, dark, damp forest spot for their logs and to wait patiently for the mushrooms to emerge. In the meantime, we’re excited to see what new lessons and units grow out of this workshop! 

Amplify Grant Funds Early Childhood Educators to Attend Farm to School Conference

A recent partnership between Food Connects and RiseVT, the primary prevention program of OneCare Vermont, increases accessibility for Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) to attend the upcoming our Farm to School Conference. Funding through RiseVT’s Amplify Grant has made it possible for 15 ECEs to attend Food Connects’ Conference on April 8 at no cost.

“Food Connects provides a wide array of support services to area elementary and high schools. These include meeting facilitation, local purchasing and procurement support in cafeterias, grant writing support, and curriculum development,” says Farm to School Program Manager, Conor Floyd. “Food Connects’ work encourages healthier lifestyles for students by getting kids outside, growing their own food, and improving the quality of food served in cafeterias.”

 As the Farm to Early Childhood Education movement grows nationwide, we are excited to partner with local child care centers to promote health, wellness, and high-quality educational opportunities. The scholarships provided through the Amplify Grant will help create a cohort of energized Farm to School champions at the early childhood level. These educators will bring their learning from the conference back to their respective organizations, incorporating Farm to School programming in early education settings and developing students' healthy lifestyle habits from an earlier age.

ECEs working with students from birth to pre-K in the towns of Brattleboro, Guilford, Vernon, Newfane, and Townshend are eligible for the scholarship and encouraged to apply. The scholarship application deadline is February 18 with applicant notifications going out on February 21. Registration for the conference closes on March 18. 

Interested applicants can learn more about the conference at foodconnects.org/farm-to-school-conference or directly apply for the scholarship at bit.ly/ftsscholarship. Questions about the scholarship or conference can be directed to Conor at conor@foodconnects.org.