In the spring of 2021, Dummerston School was awarded a $10,000 Farm to School and Early Childhood Grant from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Farm and Markets (VAAFM). This unique grant includes customized professional development provided by Vermont FEED. At Dummerston School, principal Julianne Eagan decided to use that professional development to launch a new buddy classroom program with a Farm to School and outdoor learning focus.
The week before the start of the 2022-23 school year, Food Connects hosted a Celebration of Farm to School for school administrative teams and food service directors. We are so proud of the work being done by Farm to School teams at our member schools in Windham Central Supervisory Union, Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, and Windham Southeast School District, and we are grateful to the leaders who help make the work possible. At the event, we shared highlights from the 2021-22 school year at each member school, and we want to take a moment to share those highlights with a wider audience. Read on to hear the wonderful things happening in schools throughout the region!
Dummerston School’s Farm to School (FTS) program has been thriving recently, thanks to motivated parents, dedicated teachers, a supportive administration, coaching from Food Connects, and funding support from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture.
In 2018, a group of parents reached out to Food Connects for help planting seeds to grow a Farm to School program at the school. At the time, a couple of teachers gardened with students, but there was no school-wide program. This group of parents met regularly with former Food Connects’ FTS coach Kate Minifie, laying the foundation for school-wide growth and change.
In the fall of 2019, Julianne Eagan began her tenure as principal. Throughout her career as an educator in the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU), Julianne has dedicated herself to student health and wellness, and she immediately saw the value of increasing FTS programming in Dummerston. She joined the FTS team and encouraged several teachers to join as well. Sheila Humphreys took over from Kate as the Food Connects FTS coach for Dummerston, bringing with her longstanding relationships with Julianne and 4th-grade teacher Molly Stoner from her previous work as an educator in WSESU. Administrative support, teacher interest, and strong relationships gave the program the boost it needed to get off the ground!
“I have been so inspired by the Dummerston School community’s passion and commitment to expanding our food production at Dummerston School, integrating the garden into our school curriculum, establishing partnerships with local farms, and realizing the potential of our beautiful and sunny rural campus.”
The pandemic slowed progress towards FTS goals at Dummerston in some ways but accelerated them in others. School staff was under tremendous stress with the challenges of pandemic teaching, and outdoor education and gardening were glimmers of hope and joy for teachers and students, sustaining them during this time. Thus the commitment to growing FTS at Dummerston grew.
When it came time to think about priorities for the 2021-2022 school year, it became clear that hiring a part-time garden coordinator to work in the garden and cook in the classroom with students was an essential next step toward growing the program. The FTS team made contact with Tara Gordon, who was working as a garden coordinator at several other WSESU schools at the time, and she was eager to work with Dummerston students as well.
With a part-time garden coordinator on staff, Dummerston sought grant funding to increase support and grow their program. With help from Sheila, the team drafted a proposal to the VT Agency of Agriculture and received a $10,000 Farm to School grant. They are using the funds to purchase equipment and supplies to expand the school garden and grow the garden program, create signage for the garden, and bring in guest educators to work with students on food, farm, and nutrition education.
In addition, the greater school community came together during the summer of 2021 to begin planning and fundraising for a major renovation and redesign of the playground, garden, and forest. On May 14, 2022, after many months of planning, approximately 40 parents, community members, and students attended a work day that included the construction of additional garden beds adjacent to the playground so that students could garden and graze during recess. Space was made in the woods for a forest garden with edible ferns and inoculated mushroom logs. Julianne says it best, stating, “I have been so inspired by the Dummerston School community's passion and commitment to expanding our food production at Dummerston School, integrating the garden into our school curriculum, establishing partnerships with local farms, and realizing the potential of our beautiful and sunny rural campus.” It was definitely heartening to see families and the community coming together to bring these visions to life!
Julianne got her shovel in the dirt last May, helping to plant a new orchard at Dummerston School with trees donated by Scott Farm.
“Watching children prepare beds, plant seeds, and nurture young plants with their teachers was a highlight of our last academic year together and critically important during a year of unprecedented challenge,” states Julianne Eagan, a first-time principal and new administrator at Dummerston School during the 2019-2020 school year.
We're celebrating Julianne Eagan as our Farm to School (FTS) Champion this month! We applaud her efforts, which have resulted in getting a new Farm to School program launched on a solid foundation at the school and keeping the momentum going despite the challenges of the past two school years. Julianne finds this work energizing, stating, "I have been so inspired by the Dummerston School community's passion and commitment to expanding our food production at Dummerston School, integrating the garden into our school curriculum, establishing partnerships with local farms, and realizing the potential of our beautiful and sunny rural campus.”
Julianne chatting with colleagues about Farm to School success stories at a recent Food Connects event.
Julianne serves as an active member of the Farm to School committee, participating in monthly committee meetings and prioritizing this important work at the school. Some of the new Farm to School initiatives at Dummerston School that have benefitted from Julianne’s leadership include:
Launching a share table at school (pre-pandemic), which they hope will continue when school meals return to something more normal
Starting a school breakfast program
Hosting a workshop for all staff on the topic of trauma and nutrition (led by Sheila Humphreys and Ali West)
Moving the school garden to a sunnier, more centrally located space adjacent to the playground so that students can have the option of gardening during recess
Planting a small apple orchard on campus last spring
Finding creative ways to increase funding and capacity for Farm to School related activities
Securing funding to hire a part-time garden coordinator for the school
Julianne says, “I look forward to continuing to work with Food Connects to foster this growth and learning for years to come,” and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Julianne and Dummerston School. Dummerston School and WSESD are very lucky to have you as a leader. Bravo, Julianne!
Dummerston School’s garden is thriving this year!
Mixing bowls full of tropical fruits and veggies, hot plates frying up potatoes, and new foods abound (think tamarind, hibiscus, and cassava). This past June, Green Street School’s sixth-grade French class prepped mango and avocado salad from Seychelles alongside a hearty Haitian riz colle, in addition to 9 other dishes and drinks to celebrate six years of learning about French language and culture.
Back in October of 2020, this would have seemed impossible. Thanks to dedicated educators throughout the region and Food Connects support, Farm to School scenes like this cooking experience continued throughout the year and helped provide normalcy to an otherwise challenging year.
Many educators saw Farm to School as a means to get students out of the classroom. “Gardening time was an absolute highlight of the day for me and my students,” reflected Molly Stoner, a 4th-grade teacher at Dummerston School. “Students would run out and check for sprouting/growth in their milk jug greenhouses the second they got to school. Later in the spring, adding compost to beds, planting and watering the seed they sown, taking home sprouts enriched us all and kept us grounded in all the potential of our beautiful Vermont land."
This spring, Dummerston planted 12 apple trees donated by Scott Farm Orchard. Many other school gardens expanded as well. For example, Grafton Elementary School added a pumpkin patch to their school garden. Central Elementary School in Bellows Falls expanded its urban growing space and plans to develop a more robust Farm to School program that emphasizes community connections.
For those feeding our students, the year never let up. Born out of the pandemic, our Who Feeds Our Kids series celebrated the school nutrition professionals who remain the backbone of the school community. Responding to rising food insecurity, they sent out weekend and school break food boxes. With local food from the Food Connects Food Hub highlighted, the food boxes provided another layer of support for families experiencing food insecurity. We’re excited to see the expanded service stay for years to come.
Food Connects’ flexible support helped schools maintain their programs and respond quickly to new obstacles; when our network schools couldn’t find COVID-19 cooking guidelines, we researched CDC recommendations to create a protocol for educators to follow. We put together 800 sprouting kits for students during the doldrums of late winter, adding some greenery to classrooms and anticipation for more planting come spring.
“It’s the creativity and flexibility that we saw throughout the pandemic that is going to help us spring forward next year,” says Conor Floyd, Food Connects Farm to School Program Manager. “We’re excited to continue working alongside our school partners to develop new programming opportunities.”
Dummerston School will begin growing apples this year thanks to a donation of 12 apple trees from Scott Farm! All of the donated trees are Kerry’s Irish Pippins, a semi-dwarf tree first recorded in Kilkenny, Ireland, in the early 19th century. The trees are heavy fruiters and are at their peak during the first few weeks of the school year. A group of dedicated Dummerston school staff, including principal Julianne Eagan, teachers Molly Stoner and Keith Marshall, and paraeducator Hannah Van Loon, worked together to plant the new orchard one Saturday morning in mid-May. We can’t wait to see this project bear fruit!
Principal Julianne Eagan plants trees. Middle school teacher Keith Marshall and his new puppy lend a hand.
As we reflect on the anniversary of the statewide school closures that resulted in overnight changes for families and school staff, Food Connects celebrates School Nutrition Professionals. These school lunch heroes stepped up every day to ensure our community remained fed. What a challenging year this has been for everyone working in school kitchens!
Last spring, while teachers, students, and families were making the difficult shift to remote learning, School Nutrition Professionals continued to work in person in school kitchens, making thousands of meals for youth in our community. They faced the anxiety of working in person while so many others were sheltering at home, the fear that they or their loved ones might be infected, or that they would spread the virus in their workplace. Steve Napoli is the head custodian at Putney Central School and was part of the core team working in the kitchen to get meals out in those early days. Napoli commented that it felt “eerie” at the start, but knowing they had to get meals out to take care of the community was essential.
Food Connects conducted a series of interviews last spring with School Nutrition Professionals and other school staff working in kitchens in Windham County schools. We wanted to learn more about the effects of the pandemic on their work and how they were coping with challenges such as consolidating efforts into centralized kitchens, making the switch to unitized meals, managing childcare as working parents, and keeping spirits up during challenging times. Their responses inspired us.
Many changes needed to happen quickly when school kitchens made the switch to delivering meals remotely. According to Steve Hed, Food Service Director at Putney Central School, “The whole meal preparation system changed. It got crunched into a shorter period of time.” Along with the crunch of preparing meals in time to be delivered to families by bus, the packaging requirements shifted as well. Ariane Lavoie, also of Putney Central School, said it best: “Less kids, more packaging!”
Schools with salad bars like Putney Central and Central Elementary School in Bellows Falls noticed a difference. Erica Frank, Site Manager at Central School, said, “We got a salad bar going in 2019, and it really took off. We had so many options, and it was so fun. It helped the kids try new things, and we don’t have that this year.” On the other hand, eliminating the salad bar simplified food prep, which helped free up kitchen staff to meet additional individual packaging requirements.
The challenge of finding foods that could be pre-packaged easily and travel well allowed schools to try out new recipes. Steve Hed reported that they’re trying new things in the kitchen, “like a gluten-free, vegan quinoa salad with garbanzo beans for protein, and all kinds of veggies.” They also added a Peruvian recipe for black bean and rice burritos, both of which have been “a big hit.”
With the switch to Universal Meals for all students, Food Service Directors’ paperwork has decreased. However, last spring, developing the meal delivery system added a brand new challenge to the job, including mapping out routes to efficiently deliver food to families throughout the school district.
When asked what kept them going, School Nutrition Professionals spoke passionately about community food security needs and the importance of feeding their students. The physical act of going to work helped keep their spirits up as well. “It keeps me going to have something to do every day when I wake up in the morning, someplace to go,” said Linda Griffin, who works in all 3 Brattleboro elementary schools. “I’m not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing. Having this job has definitely saved me from going stir crazy.”
Thinking about their biggest challenges, most spoke about missing the students. Academy School’s lead cook, Jasmine Star Nightingale, summed it up perfectly, with tears in her eyes, saying, “My biggest challenge is not seeing the children. It is very painful. They're all just wonderful kids, and just seeing them smiling every day...I miss that!”
Many changes happened quickly, and it was a challenge to adjust. Lori Reynolds normally works at Dummerston School, serving meals to 80-100 students each day. When schools closed, Reynolds started reporting to work daily in the centralized kitchen at Academy School, where meals were being prepared and packaged for multiple schools in WSESD. She was in charge of the alternative meals—approximately 28 daily orders for gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and/or vegan meals. “I'm learning new things, which is a little bit challenging for me, but I’m doing it!” said Reynolds. She paid acute attention to detail to fulfill these orders, which she said “got my brain going very quickly” first thing in the morning.
Another challenge for School Nutrition Professionals with children was managing childcare and supporting remote learning while working in the kitchen during the day. Jill Harnish from Oak Grove School described the challenges faced by many working parents, saying, “It’s hard because my youngest is a senior this year, and he’s in special education. He’s got homework to do, so when I leave work, I have to go home and help him with his homework because he won’t do it when I’m not there.”
Community support helped keep everyone going, both in the form of additional school staff and community volunteers coming in to help the kitchens and in community expressions of gratitude for the invaluable work of School Nutrition Professionals. Nancy Gagnon is the office clerk at Putney Central School. When schools closed, she began working in the kitchen regularly, helping prep food and pack meals. When asked about community support, she responded by saying, “One of the biggest things the community is doing is showing appreciation for the effort that this whole team of people have provided. We've been getting some feedback from families...it buoys you and makes you really feel like your efforts are being appreciated. There’s a back and forth, connecting with families and knowing that they're happy with the food they're getting, and you feel happy that you're doing it.”
Many people mentioned the satisfaction they get from knowing that they are feeding children who need it, and they are proud of the quality of the food they make. Mary Beth Peterson is a kindergarten paraeducator at Putney Central School, and she helped out regularly in the school kitchen during the spring when her students were fully remote. Working in the school kitchen gave her a new perspective, and she proudly stated, “The quality of the food and the personalization that our food service staff put into what they do is phenomenal. The quality of the food is WOW; I can't believe it! The diversity and the kid-friendly food, it's quality stuff.” Thristan Coke from Bellows Falls Union High School said, “I am a firm believer that kids must be fed, no matter what. What’s going on is not their fault, and they shouldn't be punished for anything. So I take pride in that...I know what my kid is like when he’s hungry; I can’t imagine anybody else’s, so I am happy to feed them.”
We also asked what brought these folks joy in their lives and what they were grateful for. Jess Boucher of Dummerston School shared that some of her joy comes from “seeing smiling kids, happy kids, and when the kids tell me they like the food and how good of a job I’m doing.” On the topic of gratitude, people were universally grateful for their families, health, and jobs. Erica Frank from Central School spoke specifically about her appreciation for her co-workers, saying, “I’m grateful for the team who comes together at this time to make it work, no drama and just getting the job done. People coming together and bringing lots of different skill sets has been really nice.”
We are grateful for these unsung heroes in our community who nourish children in our community each day. The complete series of interviews can be found here: https://www.foodconnects.org/news-2/tag/Who+Feeds+Our+Kids
“ We try to have a little bit of fun and have a few laughs, and everyone works really hard. We’re here to come in and get it done and serve the people!”
Lori Reynolds has been working in school food service for about five years. She usually works at Dummerston School, but since the pandemic started, she has been based in the kitchen at Academy School, working with a team of food service professionals from schools throughout the district to get meals to students safely. Here’s a glimpse of what life has been like for her these past few months.
Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?
Lori Reynolds (LR): Work is much busier—much, much busier! We're used to serving 80-100 kids in Dummerston. Here it’s more like 500 breakfasts and 500 lunches every day! It's much more work, but it's very satisfying. I’ve gotten a few more hours now than when I worked at Dummerston, which is fine. I'm okay with that. And I’m working with different people. They're very, very nice. All the girls are very nice to work with, and Danny is too. We try to have a little bit of fun and have a few laughs, and everyone works really hard. We're here to come in and get it done and serve the people!
SH: What has kept you going during these unusual times?
LR: Doing this work! It's very satisfying to know that we are helping people that really, really need the food. It's very surprising how many people need the food right now. It's a very satisfying job, actually, to know that you're really helping someone out that really needs it.
SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?
LR: The times when we really haven’t been able to visit people have been really hard. I'm a very family-oriented person, and I miss getting together and seeing my family. That’s been very hard. As far as my job goes, they put me in charge of dairy-free and gluten-free meals. That's a little challenging for me, to be truthful, but I'm getting through it. I'm learning new things which is a little bit challenging for me, but I’m doing it! There are a lot of details to keep track of because some meals are gluten-free, some are dairy-free, some are both gluten-free and dairy-free, some are vegetarian, some vegan, some need Lactaid milk...it’s a lot of different items in a lot of different bags! I pack between 20-28 meals each day, and I do it first thing in the morning, so all those details get my brain going very quickly!
SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?
LR: It helps when people show up and pick up the meals that we make. That's a very big thing because it's sad when you see some of the meals you packed coming back. Hopefully, when families sign up for meals, they can get there and pick them up and hopefully use the food. I know everybody has problems here and there, and if they can't get there one day to pick up the food, it's not a big deal, but we put a lot of work into this. We work very hard doing this, and so it's sad when you're rushing in the morning, rush, rush, rush to get out 500 bags, and then you start seeing the bags coming back at the end of the day, but for the most part, it's a satisfying job.
SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in this career?
LR: Well, it's very satisfying to see the kids come through the line. You get to know them and you get to talk to them a little bit as they're going through the line. It's very satisfying, especially if you like children. They're usually pretty happy at lunchtime—it’s a little break for them. It makes the job a little bit fun when you get to talk to the kids and things like that.
SH: What brings you joy?
LR: Family! I love my family, and I like my work. In general, life is good!
SH: What are some things that you are grateful for?
LR: I’m grateful for having a job. There are a lot of people out of work, so I'm thankful for having work. And I’m thankful that my life is good! I love to travel, and I’m grateful for the traveling I’ve done. I’ve been to Hawaii three times. I travel with my aunt because my husband does not travel. He says, “Go wherever you'd like, just don't ask me to go.” So I say, “Okay, no problem!” We take a trip once a year, so we've been to a lot of places, and I just love that! I love going to someplace new.
SH: Did you have any trips planned this year that you had to postpone?
LR: We were going to go to California, but we decided to skip it this year. We've been going to California, around Palm Desert area, for the last six or seven years. There's a nice little place we like out there.
SH: Is there anything else that you'd like to add?
LR: I think Ali is very blessed with the work crew she has here. I think we all work pretty well together, and we get things done. So that's about it!
February 8, 2019 - Dummerston Elementary School
Pizza day, oh blessed pizza day! A few weeks back, I got to spend my Friday afternoon lunchtime with a gaggle of first-graders at Dummerston School. What began as a table of 2 quickly turned into a table of 12—those kids sure were eager to tell me stories about their day (and their whole lives)! The majority of my table had school lunch, with a few bringing lunches from home.
From the lunch line, I went with a big slice of pepperoni pizza, a maple-balsamic spinach salad with strawberries, sliced cukes, baby carrots, canned pears, and a carton of 2% milk. Oh! And one scrumptious local apple from Green Mountain Orchards in Putney.
In Dummerston, the kitchen is run by a staff of two—Tracey & Lori of Cafe Services. They cook for about 80 students each day. This year, they are working to decrease waste by switching from plastic to reusable lunch containers. Additionally, they are hoping to eliminate a variety of unhealthy ingredients, increase local purchasing and provide lower sugar content foods whenever possible.
Lunch was super fun. We talked about what it would be like to milk a cow. We talked about what a baked brie and jam birthday cake would taste like. And we took some photos with our eyes closed (just to see what it would look like). Overall, a Friday afternoon well spent.
Eating lunch (or any meal!) with others is always a pleasure—I encourage you to share a meal with friends or colleagues this week!
The newly formed School Food & Wellness Committee at Dummerston School, a partnership of parents, community members, and school staff, is excited to roll out some changes in the cafeteria this year. Inspired by the Farm to School movement in Vermont and eager to offer the most nutritious meals to their students, this committee came together to set some food-related goals for the coming year. These include:
Improving food quality
Using more locally sourced ingredients
Reducing waste & packaging
Linking food and nutrition with improved learning and curriculum
The group is excited to work with Food Connects and new Kitchen Manager, Tracey Provencher of Cafe Services, to begin moving the needle on these four initiatives. Big picture goals include raising the funds necessary to eliminate all processed meats, high-fructose corn syrup, trans-fats, hydrogenated oils, and a number of other unhealthy ingredients. The team also hopes to support Tracey in reducing the sugar content in foods served in the cafeteria.
As for local sourcing, Tracey is committed to incorporating products such as yogurt, apples, potatoes, and other seasonal vegetables from local farms throughout the school year. Sourcing in this manner is likely to reduce packaging.
Initial successes have included:
Developing new systems for communicating food choices to students
Piloting a reusable lunch box container
Purchasing of new equipment for the cafeteria—including a potato wedger and warming oven
Installation of a new recycling container in the cafeteria with clear signage for recycling and compost
What’s next?
Installation of a “share cooler,” so that students may share unwanted lunch items with peers
Continued work on the elimination of a variety of unhealthy ingredients in cafeteria foods
By eliminating a number of unhealthy ingredients and sourcing high-quality, local produce, the committee is confident that overall meal quality will improve this school year.
