Green is Sprouting All Over Town
Who Feeds Our Kids: Lori Reynolds
Harvest of the Month at Winston Prouty
Greenhouse Tours
Celebrating the Harvest at Winston Prouty’s Early Learning Center
Vermont’s Harvest of the Month program debuted this year at Winston Prouty’s Early Learning Center. Thanks to a dynamic, newly formed Farm to School team that is currently enrolled in the Northeast Farm to School Institute, it’s been a wonderful success! From kale to sweet potatoes to beets, all students from 6 weeks through 5 years of age are getting repeated exposure to healthy, Vermont grown produce which supports our local farms and encourages students to develop lifelong healthy eating habits.
At Winston Prouty, the snack menu repeats weekly for a month and Harvest of the Month has been incorporated into that monthly menu. This allows students to have repeated exposure to new foods. By the end of the month, they have encountered the food at least four times, likely watching adults and other children eat and enjoy it. Many foods are repeated over several months, further building familiarity. Some creative snacks this year included sweet pepper and kale quesadillas, sweet potato and apple mash, and beet hummus!
Participating in the Vermont Harvest of the Month has been a great opportunity for children to explore locally grown vegetables, not just through the snack program, but in classroom activities as well. Teachers set up stations to explore raw vegetables through their five senses and talk about what they notice about color, shape, smell, size, texture, etc. Students have also helped with cooking projects, strengthening fine motor skills by washing, peeling, chopping, mashing, and mixing. Harvest of the Month also gets featured in literacy through reading aloud and in hands-on art activities where children are encouraged to draw what they see, draw directly on the vegetable, or use the vegetable itself as a paintbrush!
During all these activities, as children wait their turn, work in close proximity to others, share common tools, and express what they liked and did not like (especially when it comes to particular textures), they practice their social-emotional skills.
Harvest of the Month continues in many of our local elementary schools, so Winston Prouty is building a foundation for their students that will carry forward into elementary school.
Greenhouses Transform Into Outdoor Classrooms
What better way to spend one of the first days of spring than touring farms and learning about greenhouses?
Last month, educators from Academy School, Green Street School, Guilford Central School, Oak Grove School, and Winston Prouty Center joined Farm to School Coordinators Sheila and Conor to check out Wild Carrot and Milkweed Farms’ greenhouses. More and more schools are looking to greenhouses throughout the region to extend their growing season and expand their “outdoor” classroom space during the winter.
Some schools like Guilford and Academy are in the information gathering process while Green Street has purchased a greenhouse and is preparing to set it up this spring, and Winston Prouty’s Early Learning Center is bringing an old greenhouse on campus back to life in partnership with the Inspire School.
While the school greenhouses will be much smaller than the production greenhouses visited, many of the nitty-gritty details are the same: what does irrigation look like, cold frame houses vs. sheet plastic, what crops thrive best, and how long you can extend the growing season by using a greenhouse. It was also great to see the other possible uses of greenhouses, such as a year-round playground and yard for kids!
Who Feeds Our Kids: Lori Reynolds
Welcome to Food Connects’ series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!
Lori Reynolds
“ 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!
Sprouting in Schools
This spring, classrooms across Windham County are overflowing with sprouts as students grow their sunflower and pea shoots. Ellen Nam’s Kindergarten class at Academy School has joined in the fun, and her students are discovering the wonder of gardening!
To help make food, farming, and nutrition education more accessible for teachers, Food Connects sent out over 800 sprouting kits to classrooms throughout the county last month. Growing sprouts is an easy, hands-on way to get students excited about the coming spring season. Connections to learning standards throughout the grades mean it’s easy to tie the activity into existing units. Since sending out the kits, photos of smiling faces and towering shoots have been finding their way back to the Farm to School team.
In Ellen’s class, each student got to build their kits, adding the right amount of soil, water, and seeds to their growing tray before finding the right environment in the classroom for their sprouts to thrive. As any gardener knows, it was then a waiting game as students’ anticipation grew alongside their newly planted crops.
The highlight came when it was time for each student to harvest their sprouts and make an individual salad of sprouts, cherry tomatoes, and ranch! Curricular connections came easy since students in Kindergarten explore the needs of living things—Ellen’s Kindergarteners can now tell you all about how plants need soil, water, and light to grow through their firsthand experiences with their sprouts. The growing didn’t end after the first harvest either—students were surprised and excited to see their plants continue to grow, and a week later, the class was able to harvest another batch of sprouts for a second snack.
We are thrilled to see so many students excited about growing their food. We’re also grateful for all the teachers who brought the activity into their classrooms—it shows a broad interest in Farm to School programming in our schools and community. Food Connects looks forward to strengthening and expanding our partnerships with classrooms across Windham County, making Farm to School integration easy and fun for everyone.
March 2021 Farm To School Connection
Let’s Make Dinner Together
Who Feeds Our Kids
Justice for Black Farmers
Farm to School Education Spotlight: Mandy Walsh
Winter Backyard Bingo
Who Feeds Our Kids: Mary Beth Peterson
Welcome to Food Connects’ series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!
Mary Beth Peterson
“Working with kindergarten children has brought me more joy. I wake up in the morning and think to myself, “I get to go to work today!””
Mary Beth Peterson is a paraeducator in Sarah Cassidy’s kindergarten class at Putney Central School. Last spring during the school closure she became one of several key staff members involved in keeping the meal program going.
Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?
Mary Best Peterson (MP): My work has changed quite a bit, because of the age group that I teach. It's really difficult for parents trying to juggle everything. With parents working and getting their kids to do their packets at home if I was going to try to do something on Zoom it would require parent support and take them away from work, and Sarah, our kindergarten teacher, was already doing that. So I didn't have much opportunity to engage with students other than to be at the Zoom meetings with Sarah and the entire class. I am a person who needs structures and goals and whatnot in my life. Mr. Pelletier, our principal, put out an email to staff asking anybody who had the time to help out our food service folks. I started riding the bus and delivering food to students, and then I saw the need for helping with preparing the food, bagging, and that sort of thing, so I started doing that. This was at the end of March. I've been doing it since then, and it's been very rewarding. The families are extremely grateful, which feels really good.
SH: What has been keeping you going during these unusual times?
MP: A large part of what has been keeping me going is having the opportunity to have Zoom meetings with our kids. That sort of normalizes a little bit of the day and a little bit of time. Seeing their faces and seeing their excitement has been really good. Frankly, helping out in the kitchen and delivering the food has really kept me personally going. I wouldn't have a whole lot of stuff to do if it weren't for that. It's been very rewarding. I'm glad I had this opportunity.
SH: What has been your biggest challenge?
MP: The professional challenge in the beginning of all of this was the feeling of uselessness. I wanted to do whatever I could to support Sarah and the kids. It became very evident early on that that was going to be challenging given the age group of the children. Teachers were trying to figure out, “how do I do this long-distance learning?” I was feeling rather useless, and that is really hard for me. I'm a person who really likes to have a purpose and things to do. I was a registered nurse for 41 years before I started working in the school, so I've still got that “go go go” thing. Like all of us, the adjustment to being at home, the adjustment to having no control, the adjustment to not knowing what really is going to happen in the early stages was hard. And the ongoing uncertainty even now... I'm much more adjusted now, obviously, but the uncertainty about what the fall is going to bring and the uncertainty of what's going to happen to our families being fed over the summer is a huge concern for me. This is a small community and you really get to know pretty much all of the children and families that we're working with. So it’s very distressing not knowing what is going to happen.
SH: How can the community support you and the food service program?
MP: Putney is a very supportive community. People have been supportive. We have a Food for Kids program and the Food for Kids program has been augmenting food for those families who have difficulty filling their pantries. I'm sure that if there is something more that the community can do, if the school was not able to do the food stuff, the community would rise to the occasion because they always do.
SH: What advice would you give to someone who's interested in working in school food service now that you've got a lens on the inner workings of the school kitchen?
MP: If you are interested, I have found it to be very, very rewarding because you are doing something for people that you care about. Food is a really important part of many cultures and an important part of family life in our culture three times a day, and in regular times we are with the kids for breakfast and lunch at school. Depending upon the group of people you're working with it, it could be different, but my situation has been very rewarding. I really have enjoyed working with the people that I'm working with, and that's a real plus.
SH: Has your perspective on food service changed since you've been working in the kitchen?
MP: 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. They're very impressive. The number of meals that they have put out over the last three months is phenomenal.
SH: What brings you joy?
MP: What brings me joy is working with kindergarten kids. As I said, I'm a retired nurse, which I enjoyed. It was very satisfying, and I learned lots of stuff over my 41 years. But I have to say, working with kindergarten children has brought me more joy. I wake up in the morning and think to myself, "I get to go to work today!" They're just so open and they're not wrecked by our society at this point. It's so fulfilling, it's just so wonderful!
SH: What are you grateful for?
MP: I am grateful for the community that I live in. I am grateful for the fact that because I'm semi-retired things have been financially predictable for us. I have an amazing family. I'm very grateful for what I have in my life, not just monetarily but for the people and the relationships, and the community that I live in.
SH: Anything else that you would like to share?
MP: I love the yogurt that we buy from Food Connects, with homemade granola on top of it. The granola is made here at school. I didn't know you could make granola! It's amazing. All the things they make in our kitchen just blow my mind!
The Dish: Justice for Black Farmers Act
There is a long and consistent history of discrimination within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and other research groups have found that Black farmers wait four times longer than white farmers to receive a farm loan, Black farmers do not get a fair share of subsidies, disaster payments, or loans, and, as of 2016, the share of USDA lending that goes to Black farmers continues to fall. These are only a few of the documented examples found here.
On February 9th, six U.S. senators announced landmark legislation that aims to hold the USDA accountable for and correct this history of discrimination. The Justice for Black Farmers Act will give land access, resources, training, and support to Black-led non-profits and Black individuals who are willing to participate in a free farmer training program. First drafted by Cory Booker (D-NJ), the bill is now additionally endorsed by Patrick Leahy (D-VT) the National Black Farmers Association, Soul Fire Farm, National Black Food and Justice Alliance, and more Black-led organizations.
In 1920 there were nearly 1 million Black farmers in the United States. Today, due to this history of discrimination, it is estimated that there are less than 50,000 remaining Black farmers today.
“When it comes to farming and agriculture, we know that there is a direct connection between discriminatory policies within the USDA and the enormous land loss we have seen among Black farmers over the past century.’ said Senator Booker. ‘The Justice for Black Farmers Act will address and correct USDA discrimination and take bold steps to forgive the debt and restore the land that has been lost in order to empower a new generation of Black farmers to succeed and thrive.”
A history of discrimination within the USDA is clear and the Justice for Black Farmers Act is a historic step in addressing past wrongs.
Want to learn more?
Check out this historical timeline Black Farmers and the USDA, 1920 to Present created by the National Black Farmers Association and the Environmental Working Group.
From Senator Cory Booker’s Website:
End Discrimination within USDA: “The Act takes steps to once and for all end discrimination within USDA. The Act creates an independent civil rights oversight board to conduct reviews of any appeals of civil rights complaints filed against USDA, to investigate reports of discrimination within USDA, and to provide oversight of Farm Service Agency County Committees. In addition, the Act creates an Equity Commission whose responsibilities include developing recommendations to reform FSA County Committees. The Act also puts reforms in place within the USDA Office of Civil Rights, including placing a moratorium on foreclosures during the pendency of civil rights complaints.”
Protect Remaining Black Farmers from Land Loss: The Act increases the funding authorization for the USDA relending program created in the 2018 Farm Bill to resolve farmland ownership and succession, or “heirs property,” issues. The Act provides funding for pro bono assistance, including legal assistance, succession planning, and support for the development of farmer cooperatives, to Black farmers. The Act will also create and fund a new bank to provide financing and grants to Black farmer and rancher cooperative financial institutions and will forgive USDA debt of Black farmers who filed claims in the Pigford litigation.
Restore the Land Base Lost by Black Farmers: The Act creates a new Equitable Land Access Service within USDA to acquire farmland and provide land grants of up to 160 acres to existing and aspiring Black farmers. These land grants will allow hundreds of thousands of new Black farmers to return to the land in the next decade. To help ensure their success, these new Black farmers will be provided access to USDA operating loans and mortgages on favorable terms.
Create a Farm Conservation Corps: The Act creates a USDA program where young adults from socially disadvantaged communities will be provided with the academic, vocational, and social skills necessary to pursue careers in farming and ranching. Participants in the program will be paid by USDA and will serve as on-farm apprentices at no cost to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, beginning farmers and ranchers, and organic farmers and ranchers with annual gross farm income of less than $250,000.00. Black participants who gain experience through this program will have priority for land grants.
Empower Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Advocates for Black farmers: The Act provides substantial resources to 1890s and to nonprofits who serve Black farmers so that they can provide pro bono assistance in identifying land for USDA to purchase and provide as land grants, help new Black farmers get up and running, provide farmer training, and provide other assistance including succession planning and legal assistance to Black farmers. The Act also provides new funding to HBCUs to expand their agriculture research and courses of study.
Assist All Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers: While Black farmers have suffered a unique history of discrimination, other socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers have also been harmed by discrimination. The Act substantially increases funding for USDA technical assistance and for programs such as CSP and REAP, and gives priority for these programs, as well as increased access to capital, to all socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.
Enact System Reforms to Help All Farmers and Ranchers: In order for existing Black farmers and the new Black farmers created by this bill to have a real chance to succeed and thrive, broader reforms to our broken food system must be enacted. The Justice for Black Farmers Act substantially reforms and strengthens the Packers and Stockyards Act in order to stop abusive practices by big multinational meatpacking companies and protect all family farmers and ranchers.
The full text of the bill can be viewed here. The section-by-section summary can be viewed here. The list of endorsements from 2020 can be viewed here.
Want to support the Justice for Black Farmers act and Black farmers near you?
Call your state senators and representatives to voice your support of this historic bill.
Follow, fund, and buy from Black Farmers and Producers from our region:
Agrico Organics Wilbraham, MA
Aan urban farm growing microgreens, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, beets, and more.
A‘a non-binary land steward, yoga practitioner, herbalist, urban homesteader, and ancestral cook.’
Clemmons Family Farm Charlotte, VT
One of Vermont's oldest and largest African American-owned farms offering African Diaspora Arts, Culture, and History programs
New England Sweetwater Farm & Distillery Winchester, NH
A local family owned-distillery where they grow heirloom cider apples, grapes, blueberries, and juniper berries in their 50-acre property.
Strafford Creamery Strafford, VT
The Strafford Organic Creamery is a one-farm, one-family dairy in central Vermont. We milk 50 Guernseys and market their amazing milk in glass bottles, and in super-premium ice cream. Certified organic in 1997 and bottling on our own since 2001, we are committed to sustainable agriculture and dairy without compromises.
SuSu Community Farm and Healing Collective Brattleboro, VT
A healing collective creating ‘a future where Black and brown people in Vermont can come together to live, heal and thrive.’
Zafa Wines Isle la Motte, VT
Aa 100% women-owned vineyard that ‘has become one of the pioneers in the "New American" wine revival, focusing on hybrid grapes in Vermont.’
Farm to School Educator Spotlight: Mandy Walsh
We’re approaching one year of COVID learning, remote schooling, hybrid classrooms, and way too many Zoom meetings, and luckily there’s still some fantastic Farm to School (FTS) education happening throughout our region. This month, we’d like to highlight Mandy Walsh, the Westminster Center School and Grafton Elementary School Librarian and FTS Coordinator! She’s been up to quite a lot this year, despite all of the added hurdles. Here’s just a taste:
Diving Deeper into Food Sovereignty
Given the new pod structure, Mandy is spending more time with classes. While this makes some of the whole school activities she used to do more complicated (such as taste tests), it allows her to dive deeper into specific subjects. She is working with all grade levels on studying food access, food justice, and more intentionally investigating their local food system. The Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming is a go-to resource for herself as she learns more about these issues. Her lessons range from Temple Grandin (an American scientist and advocate for the humane treatment of livestock) to the effects of global warming through literature (check out Sea Bear by Lindsay Moore) and thinking about human rights by reading the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Outdoor Education
This year, a trend we’ve seen across the region is a turn to outdoor education, and Westminster and Grafton are no different. Not only are students getting outside more, but they’re building fires and cooking as well. A popular recipe is bread on a stick. We’re hoping that outdoor education will stick in schools, even post-pandemic.
Chicken Coop
After being inspired by a trip to the Hawlemont School in Western Massachusetts, Westminster decided to retrofit an existing garden shed into a chicken coop. The project started as a community collaboration. Buck Adams Trucking & Excavating volunteered their time to clear the space by the shed, a neighbor donated fertilized eggs to start the flock, and Mandy’s husband came in to build the chicken yard enclosure.
Adam, the Maintenance Director, has been a big part of the FTS team as they’ve added garden space, blueberry bushes, and now the flock of chickens. Staff members also chip in to care for the chickens, especially on weekends and school breaks, when coordinating chores becomes more difficult. Each class gets to visit the chickens once a week. The flock has truly become part of the school community!
The FTS team hopes to grow the flock until they can begin regularly supplying the school kitchen with fresh eggs.
Are you a teacher in Windham or Windsor counties? We’d love to hear about your FTS successes this year! Shoot us a message at farmtoschool@foodconnects.org.
Bringing Families Together Around the Dinner Table
A new program has cropped up in Townshend serving families in the West River Education District. Lead by RiseVT, Dinner Together provides meal kits to families to encourage healthy eating and more time spent together as a family. The recipes are simple, the kits have everything you need, and it’s available to everyone—no registration needed!
From 2 to 4 PM on the last Friday of the month, swing by the West Townshend Country Store to pick up three different meal kits. We’ve tested many of the recipes ourselves here at Food Connects and can confirm that they’re incredibly simple and also easily adaptable, whether you want to spice things up or clear out a few extra ingredients from your kitchen. This makes the kits a great opportunity to get kids involved in the cooking process as well.
“We eat everything so there are no limits. Having all the ingredients is the best part … Simple is better as we complete these together, generally. My 10 year old handled all of the January recipes on her own.” - West River Education District Parent
Most supplies for the program come from the Townshend Food Shelf and the VT Foodbank. Additional funding from RiseVT means local ingredients from the Food Connects Food Hub are also included every month.
Swing by the West Townshend Country Store from 2 to 4 PM this March 26th to pick up some meal kits and give it a try! Check out this flyer for more info.