What is it?
The Farm to School initiative offers three programs throughout the Headwaters Region:
Education Workshops where local farmers visit classrooms from kindergarten to grade 6, discussing farming and facilitating hands-on activities with curriculum connections and extension activities.
Local Food Club makes the home connection by allowing parents (or school staff) to purchase memberships and receive monthly local food feature packs including a feature seasonal recipe, local ingredients and information about the food and providers.
Family Food Classes invites family members of all ages to explore, learn, cook and eat together in community through classes faciliatated by local food professionals – chefs, farmers, dietitians – and held at community kitchens, schools or other food-friendly locations.
How to Help?
Here are a few things we need for this project:
- Volunteers to help with classroom workshop activities
- Volunteers to help with packing and driving for local food club
- Warehouse and storage space for packing and storing kits and program supplies
- Refrigerated truck and driver to make food deliveries one day/month
- Fundraising help to ensure program sustainability
- School champions to help promote Farm to School at all 50 schools in Headwaters
Why do it?
These programs aim to help develop local food intelligence, skills and empathy among students and their parents and to make connections between local food producers and consumers. Ultimately, we hope that after learning where real food comes from and how important food production is, more children will enter farm careers to ensure a strong local food future in our region.
Project Contact:
food@headwaterscommunities.org
Allison Whitten 519-278-9736
Follow this project:
Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @headwatersfood #farmtoschool
Look for Farm to School news in HFFA newsletters
There’s so much happening in Farm to School that the programs have their own website!