Bringing the Farm to School
October is National Farm to School Month! Across the country thousands of schools, early childhood education programs, farms, communities and organizations are learning about and celebrating nutritious food and agriculture in classrooms, school gardens and cafeterias.
As the 2022/2023 school year begins, our Northeast Indiana Farm to School Team is working closely with local farmers, teachers and school district partners across our region on several different projects.
Great Apple Crunch
Each year in October, during National Farm to School Month, schools and organizations across the country host Apple Crunch activities to promote the healthy eating habit of crunching apples and the value of supporting local orchards.
This year the Northeast Indiana Farm to School team, led by Kylee Bennett, Parkview Community Well-being Manager is encouraging our schools, early childhood education programs, local after school programs, local organizations and everyone be a part of the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch celebration on Thursday, October 13 at Noon.
Gather your family, friends, co-workers, or classmates and sign-up to participate the the Great Apple Crunch using the QR code on this flyer and share your Apple Crunch using #GreatAppleCrunch, #NEIAppleCrunch, #INAppleCrunch, and #F2SMonth
Harvest of the Month Taste Tests
In September, our Harvest of the Month product was peppers. Michele Schnelker with Parkview’s Youth Well-being Team, purchased 1,795 snack peppers from RiverRidge Farm in Wabash County and distributed them to nine school partners all across Northeast Indiana. Thousands of local students enjoyed tasting these brightly colored sweet peppers as part of classroom activities.
Harvest of the Month projects at Westview Schools
At Westview Junior-Senior High School in LaGrange County, teachers encourage their students to learn about Harvest of the Month products not only through taste tests but as part of special assignments in their art, history, business, science, math and English classes as well. Educators had students connect the variety of produce to historical and geographical things they’ve been talking about in class. One teacher shared that “My students have really enjoyed it and are always curious about what next month will bring.”
Drawing by student at Westview Junior-Senior High School
More Harvest of the Month Farm Videos
The Northeast Indiana Local Food Network is working with Purdue Extension - Allen County to create Harvest of the Month farm videos on 24 different farms in Northeast Indiana that grow our Harvest of the Month fruits and vegetables. This project is funded in part by a USDA Farm to School grant awarded in 2021.
In late August, we filmed our Tomato video at DeCamp Gardens in Noble County with Jim and Pam DeCamp. In early September, we filmed our Harvest of the Month farm video about peppers with Nathan Fingerle at RiverRidge Farm in Wabash County. In late September we filmed our video about Asian greens with Jain Young and the Burmese farmers at the Rose Avenue Education Farm in Allen County.
Watch for these new Harvest of the Month farm videos to be released in the coming months.
Wide variety of peppers grown at RiverRidge Farm
Jain Young & Burmese farmers at Rose Avenue Education Farm
James Wolff with Pam & Jim DeCamp
Pepper production at RiverRidge
Harvest of asian cucumber vines
Bringing the Farm to School
In early October, our Director of Local Food Coordination & Outreach, Terri Theisen, Founding Director, Janet Katz and Michele Schnelker with the Parkview Youth Well-being Team will participate in the Bringing the Farm to School training being hosted by the Indiana Department of Health for our statewide Regional Food Systems Partnership collaborators.
Using a tiered, train-the-trainer model, the Bringing the Farm to School training program prepares State agencies and other representatives with the knowledge, resources and skills necessary to offer trainings to local producers in their states regarding local food procurement in to school food services.
The goal of Bringing the Farm to School program is “to give agricultural producers training and tools to build their capacity to launch or grow efforts to market to schools, therefore increasing sales to schools for farmers while expanding farm to school activities for students in schools and communities across the nation.
We are excited to participate in this valuable program as we work to bring more local food into our school cafeterias across Northeast Indiana. To learn more, check out this one-page overview created by the USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and the National Farm to School Network (NFSN).
Join the Northeast Indiana Farm to School Team
If you are interested in joining the Northeast Indiana Farm to School Team and helping to support Farm to School programs in your schools and/or early childhood education programs, please reach out to Kylee Bennett, Parkview Community Well-being Manager at Kylee.Bennett@Parkview.com.