Townshend Elementary Celebrates Farm and Field Day

Earlier this month Townshend Elementary School had their first annual Farm and Field Day, and our Farm to School staff was there to help them celebrate! Students were able to engage with multiple interactive stations that centered around learning about their local food system, along with making eating healthy and nutritious food a whole lot of fun.  

Each station was related to a farm or food activity. FTS Coach Katie Morrison’s station was all about dairy, which was the Harvest of the Month product for June. Students were able to hop on and spin their way to delicious smoothies on the smoothie bike, and learned how to make fresh butter in a jar on their own! Other Farm and Field Day activities included learning about cows and dairy farming with Meadows Bee Farm, sheep and wool education with Robin Patnode, a recycle relay with Windham Waste Management District, and learning about local wildlife with the local Game Warden. 

The day also included several classic field day activities that we might remember from our childhood - making it a well-rounded experience full of learning and laughter. 

We were so happy to be a part of what is sure to become a beloved annual tradition for this school community.




From Vermont to Vietnam: A Journey of Food, Farming, and Learning

This past spring, the Journey Away semester program took students across the globe to learn about food systems and culture. During the spring semester, the group explored their own backyard in southern Vermont before traveling to the American South, Vietnam, and France. They returned to Vermont in mid-May exhausted but having learned a tremendous amount and ready to share their stories with the community.

The trip was jam-packed, leaving them with a wide variety of highlights to share. The Vermont segment included field trips to several local farms, including Miller Farm in Vernon, Scott Farm in Dummerston, Rushton's Farm in Grafton, and Hazleton's Sugarbush in Rawsonville. Next came a short trip to New York City, which included an urban food tour and a visit to the United Nations. Their visit to the American South included a trip to Jones Valley Teaching Farm in Birmingham, Alabama, a civil rights tour, and land restoration work with Common Ground Relief in New Orleans. They then traveled to Vietnam, where they visited the Mekong River, did a farm stay, and embarked on food tours in Saigon and Hanoi. Finally, in France, they immersed themselves in the food cultures of Paris and the Auvergne region, visiting a local cheesemaker, making bread in a boulangerie, visiting local farms, and taking in the landscape through local hikes.

Their first stop in sharing their experience was hosting a workshop at the FEAST Summit at Shelburne Farms on May 22nd. FEAST, which stands for Food Education and Sustainability Systems Thinking, is a youth-organized conference for local high school students, showcasing different workshops about food systems, agriculture, and sustainability. At the summit, a few Journey Away students hosted a workshop providing an overview of their experiences in the American South, Vietnam, and France, and led participants in making spring rolls. The workshop struck a nice balance between being informative and hands-on, resulting in some vibrant and delicious spring rolls.

Next, program director Jessa Harger was the keynote speaker at Food Connects' Farm to School gathering on May 30th at Bellows Falls Union High School. In addition to sharing highlights from the trip, Jessa reflected on the evidence of climate change the group witnessed in the countries they visited. She also shared some themes she observed while leading a group of teenagers on this expeditionary learning trip.

On June 7th, the Journey Away group hosted a community event at the Townshend Town Hall where they shared stories and work from the semester. The centerpiece of the event was a 50-minute movie showcasing images and videos from the places they visited throughout their journey. The event also included oral histories collected along the way, as well as other academic and creative work that came out of the semester. One project even included food made by students, inspired by the places they visited. This gathering was a meaningful way for the group to reflect on their experiences and share them with the Leland and Gray community.

The Food Connects Farm to School team and food hub were happy to support the Journey Away group throughout the semester. What an inspiring program that truly deepened this group's experiences of culture and broadened their worldview!

2024 Food Connects Farm to School & Early Childhood Education Gathering

The Food Connects Farm to School team hosted their annual Farm to School and Early Childhood Education Gathering on May 30th at Bellows Falls Union High School, the first to happen since Covid. The event was enriched by a varied group of participants - educators, school administrators, and school nutrition professionals, farmers, families,  community members and FTS-affiliated organizations - all passionate about strengthening the Farm to School movement in southern Vermont.

The afternoon began with an inspiring presentation by Jessa Harger, Program Director of Journey Away, who shared details of this year's ‘expeditionary learning’ Journey Away semester program. Through this program, students delved into the intricacies of food systems through visits to local farms and businesses and explored the food culture of Vermont, New York City, the U.S. South, Vietnam, and France to gain a global perspective on agriculture and cuisine.

Harley Sterling, School Nutrition Director of Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, followed with a captivating tour of the BFUHS kitchen and overview of the WNESU food program and the evolution of food service in Vermont schools. Harley is a leader in the independent Food Service model in Vermont and serves on the board of directors of the School Nutrition Association of Vermont. Harley has brought scratch cooking, local purchasing and Farm to School education to the forefront of WNESU’s food service program. WNESU leads the state in local purchasing, consistently buying 30% of their food from Vermont farms and producers, making the district an inspiration to other schools looking to make their values visible through an independent school nutrition program. During his tour Harley emphasized the importance of engaging students in the food process, from garden to kitchen, and highlighted Vermont's leadership in Farm to School initiatives.

Participants then broke out into interactive workshops led by Farm to School educators. Cedar Schiewetz of the Vermont Garden Network demonstrated food preservation techniques, while Dana Hudson, Vermont Farm to School and Early Childhood Network Coordinator, showcased the educational benefits of incorporating animals into Farm to School programs. Alex Lacy of Windham Solid Waste Management District led a workshop on large-scale composting, providing valuable insights for school communities on adopting and improving composting in schools.

The event culminated in a delicious Journey Away-themed dinner prepared by Harley and his staff, featuring Vietnamese, French and Southern dishes inspired by the diverse cultures visited during the course of the program. Participants enjoyed the opportunity to network and connect, sharing their passion for Farm to School initiatives. The evening ended with a raffle of gift baskets with Vermont products purchased through the Food Connects Food Hub, and flower arrangements from Vernon’s Farm Wife Flowers and Westminster’s Hope Roots Farm as well as parting gifts of Vermont maple syrup and Vermont-produced ice cream treats for all attendees.

Our 2024 Farm to School and Early Childhood Gathering was a great success, fostering collaboration and inspiring new ideas to further integrate local food systems into schools and early childhood education settings. The event serves as a reminder of the vital role that Farm to School programs play in educating children about food, nutrition, and the importance of supporting local agriculture.

Katie Hosts Food Systems Workshop at Twin Valley High School’s 'Belonging Summit'

On May 31st, Farm to School Coach Katie Morrison hosted a workshop at Twin Valley Middle High School's first annual ‘Belonging Summit’. The goal of the summit was to build understanding and empathy across the school community and to introduce students to the activism of local social justice organizations.

Representing Food Connects, Katie presented a workshop titled “From the Soil to Your Plate: What Does Food Have to Do with Social Justice?” The workshop began with a cheese taste test that asked the students to consider all the steps the cheese took on its journey to their plates.

Students then engaged in an activity in which they envisioned what their ideal food system would look like, looking to solve challenges such as food insecurity, pay inequity, unsafe working conditions, climate change, and environmental degradation. Students came up with inspiring visions of a food system that included community gardens, local food, and food security.

Food Connects is proud to be part of a network that works to educate local youth about food systems and social justice.

Katie Joins Dairy in the Classroom as an Educator

We’re excited to announce that Farm to School Coach Katie Morrison is joining the Dairy in the Classroom (DITC) program as an educator - making this popular program more accessible to schools across southern Vermont. Katie brings a wealth of experience, having worked with dairy cows for a decade at the Putney School's Elm Lea Farm.

Dairy in the Classroom, sponsored by Shelburne Farms, is an engaging educational program that explores dairy farming and dairy foods. The program consists of two in-class lessons followed by a field trip to a local dairy farm. Lessons are led by a DITC educator like Katie and feature hands-on activities like making butter, ice cream, dairy dips, and cheese.

If you're interested in hosting a Dairy in the Classroom program in your classroom or would like more information, please email Katie at Katie.morrison@foodconnects.org.

Oak Grove School Visits Miller Farm as Part of Dairy in the Classroom Program

Oak Grove School's third-grade class, led by teacher Logan Snow, recently visited Miller Farm, an organic dairy farm in Vernon, VT. The field trip was the culmination of the class's participation in Shelburne Farms' Dairy in the Classroom program.

Dairy in the Classroom (DITC) connects VT schools with local dairy farms to teach students about cows and milk production. Before the field trip, Food Connects Farm to School coach Katie Morrison and DITC educator Kelly Knudsen visited the class for two dairy-focused lessons. Students learned about cows, dairy products, and dairy farming through interactive activities that included dressing up as a cow, singing "The Hay Song," making butter and dairy dips, and playing a "from a cow or not from a cow" game.

Upon arriving at the farm, students were excited to see cows but a bit unsure about the new smells, as many had not spent time on a farm before. The group toured the facility where Miller Farm bottles their own milk, sampled some chocolate milk, visited the newest calves, sat on a tractor, and interacted with cows in the pasture. The trip was a resounding success, even for initially hesitant students. They left with a deeper understanding of the work involved in raising cows and producing milk for their cafeteria.

Dairy in the Classroom, sponsored by Shelburne Farms, is an engaging educational program that explores dairy farming and dairy foods. The program consists of two in-class lessons followed by a field trip to a local dairy farm. Lessons are led by a DITC educator and feature hands-on cooking activities like making butter, ice cream, dairy dips, and cheese.

To learn more about Dairy in the Classroom, which offers in-person and virtual lessons, visit their website.

Grafton Elementary Hosts Garden Work Party

Grafton Elementary School recently held a successful 2-day work party to begin installing new raised beds for their gardens. The beds were partially funded by the Windham Foundation, as part of their mission to support educational programming in Grafton.

Students from the after-school program, parents, and family members enthusiastically cleared the areas designated for the raised beds. They then assembled the beds, which will soon be filled with rich soil and compost. The beds will be home to a variety of vegetables, flowers, and pollinator-friendly plants.

3rd and 4th-grade teacher Vanessa Stern plans to start seeds with her class in the near future. The crops will include potatoes, squash, tomatoes, and a small ‘3-sisters garden’ featuring corn, beans, and pumpkins.

It's inspiring to witness students forging meaningful connections between the food they eat and how it’s grown. Click to learn more about our Farm to School programming.

Putney Central School’s Sugaring Symposium Connects Classroom, Cafeteria, and Community

Putney Central School recently held its 4th Grade Sugaring Symposium. This event, organized by 4th-grade teacher Jen O’Donnell, was a culmination of the 4th grade's unit on maple syrup production. The event was a fantastic example of incorporating the 3 C’s of Farm to School: Cafeteria, Classroom, and Community. The unit included students tapping trees in the schoolyard, boiling sap to make maple syrup (in partnership with Dummerston's Bunker Farm), completing projects on topics related to sugaring, publishing a sugaring-themed newspaper, and hosting a maple badge design contest. 

At the symposium, students shared their sugaring projects with family and community members. The projects included a variety of interdisciplinary topics, including sugaring weather, forestry and sugaring, grading maple syrup, and the history of maple sugaring. Symposium attendees, which included parents, siblings, teachers, and other community members, traveled from display to display to hear from students about their projects. Visitors also had the opportunity to taste different grades of syrup, compare real and fake syrup, and sample baked goods made with maple syrup. 

The project displays were followed by a pancake dinner featuring the maple syrup that the students helped make in partnership with Bunker Farm in Dummerston, VT. Families sat down together to eat pancakes topped with syrup that came from sap collected from schoolyard trees. After dinner, The Maple Times newspaper published by the class was presented to the gathered friends and families, and students received maple badges for completing the unit. PCS food services director Steve Hed and 4th-grade paraeducator Libby North, both members of Putney Central’s Farm to School team, were also instrumental in making the symposium happen. The evening was a fun, informative and delicious way for students to share what they had learned about maple syrup and sugaring!