By Elizabeth Esparza, Communications Intern

National Farm to School Month is a time when schools, farms, and communities come together to share and celebrate the fantastic work being done to build farm to school throughout the country. No matter where you are in the country, National Farm to School Month offers opportunities for everyone to share in the festivities in some way!

One way that many states and regions come together each year is by hosting “crunch” events. By encouraging schools throughout a state and region to crunch into a local food on a specific day, at a specified time, or even simply anytime during the month of October, crunch events create a unifying experience and a sense of camaraderie amongst National Farm to School Month celebrators. (Plus, it’s a tasty way to celebrate!)

How do you host a crunch event?

First, find out if your state or region already has a crunch that you can participate in. Check out our calendar of Farm to School Month events to see if there is a crunch in your area. North Carolina, Iowa, Utah, Alabama, California, Montana, Florida, Hawai’i, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio are some of the many who are hosting crunch events this month.

Pick your produce. While apple crunches are most common, feel free to crunch into any local item you choose. Carrots and cucumbers are also great choices that give a great crunch sound!

Get the whole school involved. Make sure that your crunch event really celebrates all of your hard work in farm to school. Invite a local farmer, invite families to participate, celebrate your food service staff and administrators that make farm to school happen in your school. Everyone can be invited to enjoy the crunch of a fresh, local food!

Set a time for the crunch. One of the best things about a crunch event is the collective noise you can all make to celebrate farm to school. So whether you crunch to start out lunchtime or get everyone gathered to crunch in some other way, setting a time is another way to truly make your crunch an event to remember!

Make it more than a crunch. Incorporate your crunch item into a meal or taste test. Once you’ve crunched, keep the tasting going! Work with food service staff to bring that item into breakfast or lunch, or try a taste test of that food cooked in several different ways.

Print some stickers. Get students even more excited to crunch by giving them the opportunity to wear their tasting accomplishment with pride. Whether you want a National Farm to School Month sticker or a taste test specific sticker, we have a few to choose from here.

Spread the word. A crunch event is a great opportunity to share your farm to school story with local media outlets. Download our National Farm to School Month Celebration Toolkit for media pitch ideas and suggestions for connecting with local reporters.

Share the celebration! No matter where or how or when you crunch, be sure to share it with the wider farm to school community by posting to social media with the hashtags #F2SMonth and #farmtoschool. Scan these hashtags now to see how others are crunching this National Farm to School Month!

Are you participating in a crunch event at your school this October? Does this list inspire you to organize your own? We want to hear about it! Tell us how you’re celebrating National Farm to School Month this October - with a crunch event, or any farm to school activity! - and we’ll enter you to win a package of farm to school prizes for a school of your choice. This year's prizes include a "Build-Your-Own Blueberry Day" from the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, assets from the Captain Planet Foundation Project Learning Garden™ program, organic dairy products from Organic Valley, and a collection of seeds from High Mowing Organic Seeds. No action or crunch is too small - take the pledge today!

Need a little bit more inspiration to get your CRUNCH on? Check out these highlights from recent apple crunches in Virginia and Washington. Happy CRUNCH-ing!

Yesterday was officially Taste Washington Day & every student across the district celebrated by taking part in the annual Washington Apple Crunch. Apples from Bill's Berry Farm were delivered to every classroom & at 2 p.m. everyone took one loud crunch #WAapplecrunch #TasteWADay pic.twitter.com/wNX4ntpvrU

— Grandview Schools (@THEGSD200) October 4, 2018

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National Farm to School Month is a time to try new things and take action to grow your farm to school activities. One great way to try something new in your program is to apply for funding to help support or grow your efforts. If you’re new to farm to school, check out our getting started resources:

• Getting Started with Farm to School
• Getting Started with Farm to Early Care and Education
• Starting and Maintaining a School Garden
• Growing Farm to School in Native Communities

Ready to kickoff or expand your farm to school efforts? Here are several fall funding opportunities to explore:

USDA FY 2019 Farm to School Grant RFA

The FY 2019 Farm to School Grant Program Request for Applications (RFA) is now open to applicants. Due to additional funding made available to the Farm to School Grant Program through the FY 2018 Omnibus Bill, the Office of Community Food Systems seeks to award approximately $7.5M in FY 2019 funding. Applications are due December 4, 2018. Learn more and apply here.

The National Farm to School Network advocated for the establishment of the USDA Farm to School Grant Program and is committed to ensuring it reaches the communities that need this funding most. NFSN is available on a consultation basis to provide assistance to potential applicants in the areas of: planning and preparing the application; customized support for Native communities; evaluation; and, focus on early care and education / pre-K. For more information about National Farm to School Network consultation services - including specific consultation offerings, pricing, and a form to express interest - click here.

Nature Conservancy School Gardens
The Nature Conservancy is awarding grants to support projects that implement green infrastructure to address local environmental challenges. These include access to healthy food, air quality, heat island effect, climate change, and storm water collection. Young people will work as social innovators to help their communities through project design and implementation. A $2,000 grant will be awarded to up to 50 schools. Applications are due October 5. Learn more here.

National Education Association Grants
Student Achievement Grants, offered by the National Education Association (NEA) Foundation, are for projects that help students learn how to think critically and solve problems in order to improve student learning. Learning & Leadership Grants, offered by the National Education Association (NEA) Foundation, are for professional development opportunities for individuals or groups. Grants are available to current members of the National Education Association who are educators in public schools or public institutions of higher education. Preference is given to proposals that incorporate STEM and/or global learning into projects, which can include farm to school activities. Two levels of funding are available: $2,000 and $5,000. The next deadline for applications is October 15.

Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant Program
The Whole Kids Foundation, in partnership with FoodCorps, is now accepting applications for its School Garden Grant Program, an annual grantmaking program that supports school garden projects designed to help students learn about topics such as nutrition and health, sustainability and conservation, food systems, and community awareness. These grants will be in the amount of $2,000 for year-long projects. The applications are due October 15. Learn more here.

Seeds for Education Grant Program
Teachers and students across the US are expanding learning opportunities by enhancing their schoolyards with butterfly gardens, nature trails, prairies, woodland wildflower preserves, and similar projects. These projects enrich the learning environment and provide aesthetic and environmental benefits. Wild Ones offers assistance for all aspects of such projects. Cash grants under $500 are available for plants and seeds, and in-kind donations from Nursery Partners can help stretch these dollars. Applications are due October 15. Learn more here.

Whole Kids Foundation - Bee Grant Program
The Bee Grant program allows for a K-12 school or non-profit organization to receive support for an educational bee hive. Four grant options are available, and all include remote consultation and assistance with Beekeeper partnership from The Bee Cause Project. Applications are doc October 31. Learn more here.

Annie’s Grant for Edible School Gardens
Want a school garden? Annie’s believes that showing future generations how sustainable food is grown changes their lives. Connecting kids to gardens helps them to start thinking more holistically about their food, their communities, and the planet. Applications are due November 1. Learn more and apply here.

Safer® Brand School Garden Grant
Safer® Brand is starting an annual school garden grant to help kids build healthy habits through gardening, bring classmates closer together and unite everyone in a common goal of better health. The $500 grant will be awarded to a school in the United States to start a school garden in 2018. Applications for this grant are due December 1. Learn more here.

2019 Youth Garden Grant
Any nonprofit organization, public or private school, or youth program in the United States or US Territories planning a new garden program or expanding an established one that serves at least 15 youth between the ages of 3 and 18 is eligible to apply. The selection of winners is based on demonstrated program impact and sustainability. The top 5 programs will be awarded grant packages worth $2,100. Grant packages worth $500 will be awarded to 20 additional programs. Applications are due December 17. Learn more here.

Find more ideas for supporting your farm to school activities in our Funding Farm to School factsheet. Stay tuned to our This Week blogs, posted every Tuesday, for more farm to school funding, resources and engagement opportunities.

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October is a time of year when farms and gardens are overflowing with delicious harvests of every size, shape, color, and flavor – and a time when we come together with schools, farms, and communities from throughout the country to celebrate National Farm to School Month! The National Farm to School Network advocated for the creation of National Farm to School Month by Congress in 2010 (House Resolution 1655) and since then, the yearly October festivities have brought together thousands of students, teachers, parents, farmers, food advocates, school lunch professionals, and community members from a wide range of sectors to raise awareness of the important role of farm to school in improving child nutrition, supporting local economies, and building vibrant communities. This National Farm to School Month, join the celebration of food education, school gardens, and lunch trays filled with healthy, local ingredients. Anyone can get involved!

As National Farm to School Month has grown throughout the years, states have expanded their celebrations. Some states, such as New Jersey and Virginia, host their own statewide Farm to School Week to focus on the exciting farm to school efforts happening throughout their states. Others, such as Iowa, Massachusetts, and Minnesota, choose a specific day to raise awareness and highlight local food in their states with a “Local Food Day”. A number of states promote statewide apple crunches, including the Great Lakes region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin), Montana, North Carolina, and Alabama. From garden harvests to locally sourced lunches, states throughout the country have seized the opportunity to celebrate their local bounty and encourage those throughout their state to get involved wherever they are, all while educating their communities about the origins of their food.

No matter where you live, everyone can join in the National Farm to School Month celebration! Here are a few ways to get involved this month:

• Take the Pledge: Sign our Take Action Pledge and commit to taking action to advance farm to school in your community this October.
• Explore resources: Download our new Farm to School Month Celebration Toolkit and check out other free resources for planning and promoting celebrations in your community, including customizable posters and bookmarks, stickers, activity suggestions and communications tools.
• See what’s happening: Explore our national calendar of Farm to School Month events to see what celebrations are happening in your community.
• Donate to support our work: Invest in the future of farm to school. Donate to the National Farm to School Network and help us bring farm to school to communities across the country every month! Take one small step and make a charitable donation today.
• Share the celebration: We want to know how you’re celebrating! Share your Farm to School stories on social media with #F2SMonth and #farmtoschool.
• Wear your support: Check out our Farm to School Month store for t-shirts, stickers, buttons, and more to wear your Farm to School love all month long!
• Stay up to date: Make sure you’re signed up for our e-newsletter. We’ll be sending a few emails this month with more action ideas and ways to celebrate. Sign up here.

Farm to school is a grassroots movement powered by people like you taking small actions every day to grow healthier kids, support local agriculture and cultivate vibrant communities. These next 31 days are the perfect time to celebrate how far we've come, and dig in to keep growing the movement!

Special thanks to our 2018 National Farm to School Month Sponsors and Supporters - including CoBank, Newman's Own Foundation, U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, Captain Planet Foundation, Organic Valley, Farm Credit, FarmLogix, and High Mowing Organic Seeds - as well as the Featured Partner and Outreach Partner organizations that are helping us spread the word about farm to school throughout October. And, thanks to you for being a farm to school champion in your community.

Happy National Farm to School Month!

By Anupama Joshi, NFSN Co-Founder and Executive Director  

After 11 fulfilling years with the National Farm to School Network (NFSN), I will be transitioning out of my role in December 2018 to take on an exciting new challenge. I am grateful for the trust and encouragement that NFSN’s Partners, members and supporters have provided for establishing and leading this phenomenal network that has shaped the farm to school movement for more than a decade, and will undoubtedly continue to be a strong force in advocating for healthy children, farmers and communities.

Reflecting on my farm to school journey, which began in 2002, I could not have hoped for anything more rewarding than the people and partnerships that I have experienced through NFSN. I am honored to have played a small part in the larger impact we have made in the lives of children, farmers, and communities across the country.

At NFSN, I leave behind a legacy of incredibly strong partnerships that have framed farm to school as an unprecedented national success story in the good food movement - impacting 24 million children in more than 42,000 K-12 and early care and education settings, and moving $800 million in local products to fuel local economies. The commitment, innovation and vision of countless farm to school advocates and stakeholders have been critical in this success. Together, we successfully advocated for the recognition and institutionalization of farm to school at USDA through the first ever federal farm to school grant program in 2010, and development of the Farm to School Census; and for policies in more than 46 states that are paving the way forward. NFSN’s core values of collaboration, transparency and partnership have kept farm to school Growing Stronger Together!  

A Transition Committee has been convened by the NFSN Advisory Board to ensure a smooth transition in the coming months. Additional information about next steps will be shared with NFSN members in our monthly e-newsletter, as details become available.

A heartfelt thank you for being a part of my NFSN journey.

With gratitude,
Anupama

By Elizabeth Esparza, Communications Intern

The fall season is coming up quickly, and with it, our farms and gardens will soon be overflowing with autumnal bounty. Taste tests can be a great way to introduce students to seasonal flavors and encourage them to continue trying new foods. Research shows that children need to try new foods multiple times to know if they like them, and taste tests can be an accessible way to introduce or reintroduce foods to students who might be reluctant to eat a full serving of something new. We all have our tried and true favorites for taste tests, but once in a while, it can be fun to mix in something out of the ordinary or highlight those seasonal items that we don’t always get to work in. Read on for seven fall-inspired taste test suggestions to think about for the upcoming season.

Low Prep:

Crabapples: Apples are amongst the most common fruits served at lunch, so why not try their tiny, incredibly tart cousin? Crabapples are generally smaller than 2 inches in diameter, making them a fun and easy size to serve whole or to chop into just a few slices. Have students compare the flavor, size, and shape to the apples they’re used to.
Persimmons: Persimmons are always a sweet treat to try in the fall, and they can be simply sliced and served for a taste test. Fuyu persimmons are probably the better choice for a tasting, as they can be served while still slightly firm. Hachiya persimmons need to get very ripe and soft before you can enjoy their sweetness raw.
Rainbow Carrots: Same great taste, new and exciting colors! Purple, yellow, white - take your pick. Rainbow carrots can be a fun way to highlight a food that many students see all year. See if students can taste a difference between their familiar orange carrots and the rainbow carrots.
Radishes: Radishes can be another familiar vegetable for students, but try tasting different varieties, such as watermelon or daikon radishes. Include the radish greens for a taste test bonus!


Higher Prep: Time in the kitchen is a precious resource, but a little extra can go a long way toward helping get students excited about new foods they might not have tried before. Here are a few suggestions that take a little bit longer to prepare. These foods are also great for a classroom lesson or afterschool program when students can help prepare them!

Butternut squash: These delicious orange wonders can be time-consuming to dig into if you’re getting them whole and roasting them, but the sweet nutty taste can be such an interesting new flavor for students to sink their teeth into.
Pomegranates: These messy fruits and their tiny arils may not be ideal to chop up for lunchtime service from a time perspective, but if they can be worked in somewhere, you’re in for a treat. Not much compares to fresh pomegranate seeds in the fall!
Rutabagas: Rutabagas may need to be peeled or given a good scrub before you can dig into them, but once you do, they’re a great addition to any fall day. They can be eaten raw, but roasting brings out their richest flavor. For a twist, try slicing the rutabagas thinly and bake them for a fun take on a baked chip!


New to taste tests? Here are some resources to help you get started:

• Taste Testing Resource Guide - Action for Healthy Kids
• Taste Test Guide - Green Mountain Farm to School
• Taste Test Toolkit - Montana Harvest of the Month

Farm to ECE Supports Healthy Futures for All Children

By Lacy Stephens, Program Manager

The Results Are In
The National Farm to School Network (NFSN), in partnership with Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (MSU CRFS), launched the 2018 National Farm to Early Care and Education Survey in the spring of 2018. Early care and education (ECE) providers across the country were surveyed to learn about current farm to ECE initiatives, including motivations for participation and challenges to starting or expanding farm to ECE practices. The survey also gathered information from sites not yet participating in farm to ECE to better understand barriers and needs for support.

CLICK TO EXPLORE THE RESULTS

We heard from 2,030 respondents serving 255,257 children in 46 states. Of responding providers, 49% are already participating in farm to ECE and another 30% plan to start in the future. Farm to ECE participating providers see a wide range of farm to ECE benefits including increasing access to higher-quality foods, engaging parents and families, offering meaningful experiential learning, and at the same time, improving children’s health. Providers are not the only ones excited about farm to ECE. When asked about feedback that they receive about farm to ECE, 82% of respondents report positive or very positive feedback from children, 73% from parents, and 62% from staff. The benefits of and enthusiasm for farm to ECE are reaching diverse ECE settings and children of diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Despite potential barriers to farm to ECE, providers are successfully integrating all three core elements, including using local foods in meals and snacks (69%), gardening (75%), and educating children about where food comes from and how it grows (76%). Respondents are making great use of gardens, from taste testing (62%) and classroom lessons (61%) to producing food for program meals (38%). Local food use will likely continue to grow in ECE settings. Of all respondents (even those not participating in farm to ECE), 54% anticipate increasing their local purchases in the coming years, increasing markets for local farmers and further bolstering local food systems and economies.

Share the Results & Learn More
To lift up and celebrate these results and build awareness of farm to ECE, NFSN and MSU CRFS have developed an infographic and fact sheet that partners and supporters can use to start the conversation in their networks. These resources highlight the reach and scope of farm to ECE and the many reasons ECE providers choose to implement farm to ECE initiatives.  

To accompany these exciting new resources, NFSN and MSU CRFS also created this sharing toolkit to make it easy to share the survey results and the benefits of farm to ECE. In this toolkit, you’ll find suggested social media posts and graphics along with sample text for newsletters and blogs.  

NFSN and MSU CRFS will continue to offer ways to learn about and further explore this data. Join us for our upcoming October Trending Topics Webinar: Results of the 2018 National Farm to Early Care and Education Survey on Oct. 11 (register here). Also, look for the release of our full report and state level data from the survey in late fall. Learn more about NFSN’s farm to ECE work, find partners in your state, and learn how to get involved with farm to ECE at farmtoschool.org/earlychildhood. Visit foodsystems.msu.edu to find resources and research on regional food systems from Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems.

The National Farm to School Network (NFSN) is pleased to share a new equity assessment tool, the Programs and Policy Racial and Social Equity Assessment Tool, which aims to help NFSN staff and partner organizations assess the implications of specific programming and policy advocacy on advancing racial and social equity.

The National Farm to School Network is committed to advancing racial and social equity in all aspects of our work, and our strategic plan highlights this commitment. NFSN’s strategic plan states, “advancing racial and social equity is at the core of the farm to school movement, and serving as an equity promoting organization is a core value of NFSN.”  NFSN has taken steps to integrate racial and social equity analysis into our programs and policies, including efforts to formulate the Farm to School Act asks to include support for farm to school in Native communities, creating a farm to early care and education cultural relevancy subgroup in the summer of 2016, and translating key fact sheets and resources into Spanish. Building on these efforts, this new Racial and Social Equity Assessment Tool will allow the network to make significant strides in equitable policy advocacy and programming by assessing all policy and program developments through a racial and social equity lens. We aim to maximize our impact on breaking down inequities in the food system.  

The NFSN Policy and Programs Racial and Social Equity Assessment Tool has two principal goals. The first section of the tool is intended to help NFSN staff refine their racial and social equity priorities through a set of questions that assess NFSN staff and stakeholder priorities as well as stakeholder engagement in formulating policy and programmatic proposals. The second and third sections in the guide assess the implications of specific programming and policy advocacy on advancing racial and social equity, ensuring these opportunities are being maximized. Specifically, the tool contains questions that assure that policies and programs are aligned with the NFSN equity priorities, that identify and address common shortcomings in developing racially and socially equitable policies, and that assure proposals are creating meaningful long-term change and are accountable to racially and socially disadvantaged communities.  

The Assessment Tool was developed collaboratively with NFSN staff and NFSN partners.  NFSN staff led the research and analysis to produce this toolkit, with feedback from Tes Thraves (Center for Environmental Farming Systems, North Carolina Core Partner) and Wendy Peters Moschetti (LiveWell, Colorado Core Partner).  

The National Farm to School Network is confident that the comprehensive approach to policy and programmatic assessment present in its Policy and Programs Racial and Social Equity Assessment Tool will allow the organization and its partners to make meaningful strides to advance racial and social equity in farm to school work across the country. Though the tool was developed primarily for use by NFSN, NFSN Core and Supporting Partners and members are encouraged to adapt it to their own organizational needs, in a movement-wide effort to advance equity.

New to considering how your work advances equity? Check out the Racial Equity Tools Glossary, the dictionary of equity terms NFSN uses; understanding terms is essential and foundational to then considering what it looks like in your programming and policy advocacy efforts. Learn more about NFSN’s commitment to equity and find more resources for advancing racial and social equity in your farm to school work here.

By Elizabeth Esparza, Communications Intern

Back to school: a season of crisp new notebooks, freshly sharpened pencils, and often, overgrown, untended school gardens, wilting from the summer heat. Whether you’re trying to get your garden in shape before school starts or want to plan your first few class garden days to get ready for the year ahead, here are some simple reminders to get you growing in the right direction.

Make a plan. It’s hard to plan ahead, but it’s even harder to plan while juggling everything else that the school year brings. Try to put aside a little time to set some goals for your garden this year: What do you want to plant? When? Where? What can you improve upon from years past? What is a dream you have for your garden this year? Don’t feel pressured to stick rigidly to your plan, but put it somewhere you will see it often and use it as an inspiration and a guiding post when the year gets hectic.

Pull some weeds! I have a love/hate relationship with weeds. I have been known to say of my school gardens: “Who cares what the garden looks like, as long as we’re learning!” Having said this, I have to admit that pulling weeds does make a garden look nice and fresh, and there’s something about getting things in order that just feels right at the beginning of the school year. Start or end each time you’re in the garden with a few minutes of rigorous weed pulling and slowly chip away at any summer weeds that may have taken over your garden. Or better yet, if you don’t get to those weeds before the school year starts, implement some weed pulling contests in each garden class or at recess time until your problem is gone (or at least temporarily managed).

Plant something new. Once your weeds are pulled and your gardens are looking fresh, decide which of the remaining plants you want to keep and which are ready to go. Then, use your plan to get something new growing. Depending on where in the country you live, planting at the beginning of the school year may not yield your best harvests, but just like pulling those weeds, getting something planted sets a good intention for the year ahead.

Include your gardens in Back-to-School Night. Back-to-School Nights are a great time to show off your gardens and engage with families. If you work better with a deadline, the pressure of Back-to-School Night might be just the kick you need to get your garden looking spiffy in a timely manner! And if the garden isn’t looking its prettiest by then, that just might help your case in recruiting volunteers.

Relax! Most importantly, remember that your school garden does not have to look perfect when the school year starts (or ever)! Perfect is rarely fun or interesting. Gardens are living things, and as such, they are constantly growing and changing. Even though you may have a long list of garden tasks you want to complete before your garden is “ready” for students, take comfort in knowing that those tasks you feel piling up are fun and interesting learning opportunities.

Looking for more ideas to keep your school garden growing strong? Find garden lesson plans, garden to cafeteria guides, garden assessment tools and more by searching the “School Garden” topic in our Resource Library.