On November 9th, after two long years with very limited community events due to COVID-19, Newbrook Elementary School hosted its first Harvest Dinner since 2019. This was a beautiful event, showcasing student-made art, donations from the community, soups cooked by students, staff, and community members, a shared meal, and a successful fundraising effort for the Farm to School program. It also started with a beautiful land acknowledgment led by students.
For the first time since the fall of 2019, Oak Grove School held its annual Harvest Dinner celebration with families. A longstanding tradition at the school, this event features food grown in the school garden and harvested and prepared by students. This year, the dinner was attended by over 50 families and was held during the school’s fall open house.
For most school administrators, their work has been non-stop since the pandemic first came to Vermont. From ever-changing health guidelines to troubleshooting class schedules and how to safely bring students back to in-person learning, and all the different technologies they’ve had to adopt, there hasn’t been much time for rest and reflection. Thanks to the generous support of Members 1st Credit Union, Food Connects hosted administrators and school nutrition professionals from across the region for an afternoon celebration of all that’s been accomplished despite the odds.
On a deceivingly sunny day, 14 school staff members from 9 different schools gathered together for the first time, in what seems like, ages. Each school has a unique Farm to School program, yet schools rarely get to see all the interesting things happening elsewhere. The guests had the opportunity to cross-pollinate and share ideas on how to improve school gardens, share unique ideas about incorporating local food into their cafeterias, and generally celebrate the amazing (and challenging) Farm to School year.
“It was so nice to be able to connect with other area schools and hear about the tremendous impact of Food Connects.” said Kelly Dias, Academy School Principal. “ I'd love to keep up the networking throughout the year with our school-based teams if we can find a way to do so.”
Despite some surprising heavy rains midway through the event, principals were able to connect and learn from each other. Each attendee was paired with another school that had a similar program that they could learn from. From the new Where in the World are We Eating program in Windham Southeast Schools, to the new Farm to School program starting up at Central Elementary School, the full spectrum of programming was represented at the event.
Evelyn Sirois, CEO at Members 1st Credit Union, said that they support the Food Connects Farm to School program because “It enriches our educational practices and emphasizes local involvement in our agriculture." Food Connects is grateful for the fiscal support of Members 1st Credit Union for making this event possible. As a nonprofit organization, Food Connects relies on the generosity of our community donors, like Members 1st Credit Union to hold celebratory events and professional development offerings for our school teachers, administrators, and food nutrition professionals in our community.
On an early spring day in mid-April, leaders from six community organizations came together to explore the question of how traumatic life experiences (and even the experiences of our ancestors) shape the way we eat. Guided by gifted trainers Kendra Colburn, Deb Witkus, and Angela Berkfield from Equity Solutions, staff from the Vermont Foodbank, Groundworks Collaborative, Food Connects, Brattleboro Food Co-op, Retreat Farm, Putney Foodshelf, and Pathways Vermont gathered together in the community room at the Retreat Farm for a day of learning about the connection between trauma and eating.
The goals of the training were:
Learn about trauma and how it can impact people’s relationship to food
Practice telling our own stories related to trauma and food
Interrupt related biases and assumptions that are getting in the way of connecting with people
Apply trauma-informed practice to our life and work
At the beginning of the training, each of the trainers shared their own food stories and created space for all participants to share food stories with each other as a way to practice vulnerability. Participants were also invited to contribute to a potluck lunch and to share with each other the values and beliefs that were connected to the food that they brought. After lunch, organizations were introduced to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) 6 Core Trauma-Informed Practices, and working groups were formed to apply these practices to our work and to set goals.
The training was sponsored by the Vermont Foodbank, Groundworks Collaborative, and Food Connects—three organizations in the community that are actively engaged in conversations about becoming more trauma-informed in their approaches.
Food Connects was the lead organizer of the event, and is the recipient of a 2-year grant from the Thompson Trust to support Trauma-Informed initiatives in the Brattleboro Town Schools, with a focus on the ways that Farm to School programming can support resiliency for students and families who have experienced trauma. Food Connects’ next step will be using SAMHSA's 6 Principles to a trauma-informed approach for an internal assessment, and based on that assessment staff will determine what actions make sense as Food Connects supports the Brattleboro Town Schools in their resiliency work.
The Trauma and Food training was one piece of the work that the Vermont Foodbank is undertaking towards becoming trauma-informed. The Foodbank hosted their annual Hunger Action Conference in early May with a focus on “Healing the Past.” The keynote speaker, Dr. Ken Epstein, gave a series of workshops throughout the day on trauma. Additionally, the Foodbank’s Community Impact Team hosted a daylong team retreat in early May to continue conversations and build on the action steps that came out of the Trauma and Food training.
At Groundworks Collaborative, food shelf staff met with residents at Great River Terrace and Groundworks shelter to gain insight from folks with lived experience on the food shelf intake process, hours of operation, and the physical layout, with the goal of gaining an understanding of why people may not feel comfortable using the food shelf and ways to make the space less stigmatizing and more inviting. Additionally, staff met with current volunteers to discuss ideas on how to implement each of the six principles of trauma-informed care. As the food shelf moves into a new space in the coming months, Groundworks hopes to use this as an opportunity to incorporate a trauma-informed lens in all decision-making processes.
Equity Solutions supported the training participants in gaining confidence in their ability to interrupt long-held biases, recognize the impact that systems have on individual outcomes, and take action for equity in their communities. Trainers encouraged the group to consider their own food stories and find the courage to share those with others. According to a post-training assessment, attendees demonstrated an increased understanding of what it means to be vulnerable and share stories with others.
After the training, one of the participants stated, “This training will dramatically impact how I approach my work, especially in the coming year with taking action on incorporating lived experience and figuring out how to walk with people in relational ways.”
Another participant said that they, “Loved that facilitators did not shy away from naming things people often talk around in ‘professional’ trainings—i.e. oppression, capitalism, power structures.”
Becoming a Trauma-Informed Community will require schools, community organizations, and town leadership to work together to change systems to better meet the needs of people in our community, and this training was one piece of the rewarding, challenging, powerful work that it will take to transform our community and make it a better place for all people.
This March, the Rebel Diablos of Leland & Gray Union Middle & High School, competed in Vermont’s Junior Iron Chef competition in Essex Junction. The team prepared Jerked Jackfruit Tacos and came away with the Mise en Place award, meaning they demonstrated exemplary teamwork, order, and professionalism. The team was comprised of students Mykah Meizis, Teagan Powling, and Savannah Lawley and coached by health teacher, Sue Jones. According to Jones, the students “represented themselves and their school with grace, poise, and talent.” Congrats Leland & Gray!
Photo by VT FEED.
Jr Iron Chef VT is a statewide culinary competition organized by Vermont FEED challenging teams of middle and high school students to engage in improving their own health and the health of their community by creating nutritious, local dishes to inspire school meal programs. Visit their website to learn more!
And check out the Rebel Diablos recipe today!
As Farm to School programming continues to grow in local schools, Food Connects’ Farm to School team is gearing up to train and support even more educators. We are excited to connect with new teachers, child nutrition professionals, and community partners to share best practices from schools across Vermont and New England.
We understand that connectedness is essential to the success of farm to school programming in southern Vermont. We know that this kind of education cannot happen in silos and it’s clear that our southern Vermont school partners feel the same way. In an effort to facilitate peer learning, resource sharing, and general connectedness in the farm to school community, Food Connects will kick off our “Let’s Grow Together” series of workshops for farm to school champions this spring. Workshops will be content-specific, including topics such as composting, seed-starting, cooking with kids, school food 101, farm to school curricular connections, and much more!
It is our hope that these workshops will serve as a space for farm to school partners to gather, learn, and inspire one another. By creating these “communities of practice,” we hope to help make farm to school programming easy, sustainable, and fun! Stay tuned for more details.
We are eager to learn more about your professional development needs and interests, so please reach out to our team with any ideas you may have.
Learn more about our Let’s Grow Together series today!
Our Farm to School Celebration on October 11 was a success! Thanks to all the Farm to School champions from the area who joined us. We had 25 attendees representing food service, education, and administration from schools across the county. Our participants enjoyed an evening of inspiring stories, networking, and delicious food in a beautiful setting! Thanks to the Retreat Farm for allowing us to hold the event in their gorgeous space and to Tito’s Taqueria for catering a tasty taco bar featuring local produce donated by Harlow Farm. And finally, thank you to our sponsor, the Farm to School Network, for allowing us to host this wonderful event.
We learned so much great information from our speakers! Ali West, food service director for the Brattleboro Town Schools, shared her passion for making sure all children are well nourished and that no student is stigmatized due to his or her family’s socio-economic status. She highlighted her successes with universal meals, share coolers, and Breakfast After the Bell programs in the Brattleboro Town Schools. Shane Rogers, Project Manager for Rooted in Vermont, talked about his efforts to bring the local food movement to more Vermonters by focusing on traditions in Vermont families that go back for generations, like hunting, fishing, foraging, and gardening and through his use of social media to highlight average Vermonters and his use of the #rootedinvermont hashtag. Wayne Kermenski and Jeanne Bruffee inspired us by telling the story of Hawlemont Regional Elementary School in Charlemont, MA, which, when faced by the challenge of declining enrollment, reinvented itself as a project-based learning institution with a focus on agriculture. Students have risen to the occasion, learning the value of hard work through participation in regular chores, producing their own vegetables and value added products like homemade salsa which are sold at a weekly farmer’s market at the school, and as a result behavior problems have decreased, test scores have improved, and the school has doubled in size since the program began.
In the words of some of our participants:
“All of it was wonderful really, seeing the farm, meeting people and networking and learning about all of the wonderful programs in the works!”
“It was really great to hear about what is happening locally with Farm to School.”
“I really enjoyed hearing from Wayne and Jeanne—what an inspiring story!”
If you missed it this time, no worries! We plan to do more gatherings like this in the near future. Stay tuned!
Join Food Connects, in partnership with the Vermont Farm to School Network, in celebrating Farm to School efforts across Windham County!
Taste some delicious tacos by Tito's Taqueria, network and discuss ideas with fellow farm to school advocates, and learn more about what's happening in Windham County this year.
Have questions? Contact Kate at 802-451-0510 or kate@foodconnects.org.
*Professional development certificates will be available for all participants.
