This Week in Farm to School | |
Farm to school connects local agriculture, schools, and partners to benefit students, educators, farmers, families, and communities. | |
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Celebrate Juneteenth!
Juneteenth is an annual holiday, celebrated on June 19th, that commemorates the freedom of the enslaved in the United States. The name Juneteenth is a combination of the words "June" and "nineteenth". Also referred to as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day, Juneteenth is the oldest commemoration of its kind in the United States.
Learn more here.
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Pollinator Week!
Pollinator Week this year is June 19th - June 25th! This is an annual event celebrated internationally in support of pollinator health. It’s a time to celebrate pollinators and spread the word about what we can do to protect them. This Pollinator Week will focus on the connection between climate and pollinators.
You can view more pollinator resources in our Farm to School Resource Hub down below.
Learn more here.
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Centering Indigenous Worldview, Language, and Practices in Today’s Food Education Movement: Insight and Stories from Hawai’i
Today! June 15, 2023 // 3:30 pm ET
Join the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy for their free, three-part series on bringing indigenous foodways into the classroom. For their first workshop, Dr. Summer Maunakea (Native Hawaiian) will share stories, tools, and resources for respectfully incorporating indigenous worldview, language, and practices in K-12 educational settings. Language, food, land, and people are all interconnected. When we revitalize one, we have the opportunity to bring the revitalization of the others!
Register here.
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Featuring Asian and Asian American Culture in Youth Gardens
June 19, 2023 // 7 pm ET
Join KidsGardening for session six of the Culturally Inclusive Teaching in the Garden Series as educators Cat Ayala and Carla Manuel of Growing Gardens Portland explore ways to feature Asian American culture in youth gardens.
Register here.
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How to Structure Impactful School Garden Professional Development
June 21, 2023 // 2 pm ET
This webinar hosted by the School Garden Support Organization Network will dive into two professional development methods for school gardens. From full-day workshops to short mini-trainings, there are many ways to provide in-person professional development to teachers and educators so that they can confidently conduct garden-based education.
Register here.
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Centering Nourishment in Food Education
June 22, 2023 // 3:30 pm ET
Join the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy for part two of their free, three-part series on bringing indigenous foodways into the classroom. During this workshop, you’ll discuss some of the histories of nutrition and uplifting Afro-Indigenous ways of nourishing the body.
Register here.
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Uniting for a Just Local Food System Through Healthy School Meals for All Policies | Part 1
June 22, 2023 // 2:30 pm ET
Join the National Farm to School Network for the first of their two-part webinar series highlighting Colorado’s successful passage of the healthy school meals for all policy. In this first webinar, you will hear from Patience Kabwasas with Food to Power, and Tomas German-Palacious with The Good Food Collective, two members of Colorado’s Healthy School Meals for All Coalition. They will share insights on how their policy emerged, its role in strengthening the local food system, and how others can replicate their success by asking, “who’s at the table?”
Register here.
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How to Build a Bee Condo
The Pollinator Partnership has created a guide explaining how to build a bee condo. Many of the wild bees you encounter make their burrow homes in the soil. Some bees create hives in snags (a dead or dying standing tree), or holes in trees. You can also encourage bee-residents by providing homemade nesting blocks or "Bee Condos".
Learn more here.
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Planting for Beneficial Insects Lesson Plan
This lesson created by FoodCorps helps students understand how plants and animals rely on each other. Students consider the interdependence of plants and animals in the garden through learning about beneficial insects, going on an insect hunt, planting beneficial insectary plants, and collecting data on the amount of pollinators in the garden.
Learn more here.
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Pollinator Water Station
This activity created by KidsGardening shares how all insects need water to survive! While most herbivorous insects get enough hydration from nectar or plant parts they eat, during the heat of summer some may search for additional water sources. Students will create an insect-safe drinking station to help them examine bug biology and build empathy.
Learn more here.
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Race Equity and Inclusion Action Guide - Seven Steps to Advance and Embed Race Equity and Inclusion Within Your Organization
The purpose of this guide is to add to the resources already created by partners of the Annie E. Casey Foundation who have been working in this field. The Annie E. Casey Foundation shares how a race equity lens can be adopted by foundations or other organizations that work directly with systems, technical assistance providers, and communities. The aim is to provide key audiences with transferable insights and tools that can help them understand what steps to take to make sure they are creating equitable opportunities for the populations they serve.
Learn more here.
Ten Lessons for Talking About Race, Racism, and Racial Justice
The Opportunity Agenda shares advice on finding entry points to talk about race based on research, experience, and input of their partners from around the country. This is by no means a complete list, but it is a starting point for moving these discussions forward.
Learn more here.
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Bee Wild Contest
Deadline: June 30, 2023
KidsGardening and Wyman's are teaming up to celebrate National Pollinator Month with the Bee Wild Contest! Thirty-five youth garden programs will win $200 to plant a pollinator garden.
Learn more here.
National Garden Bureau: Therapeutic Garden Grant
Deadline: July 1, 2023
The National Garden Bureau promotes the health and healing powers of human interaction with plants through an annual grant program for therapeutic gardens. Three established therapeutic gardens will be selected to receive a grant to help expand or maintain the therapeutic garden. In addition to the grant funding, the selected gardens will also receive a set of Corona Gardening Tools. Schools, non-profits, hospitals, retirement centers, rehabilitation facilities, veteran’s facilities, community centers, day camps, treatment facilities, and inter-generational groups throughout the U.S. are eligible.
Learn more and apply here.
Green Our Planet Grant Programs
Deadline: July 21, 2023
School gardens are some of the best tools for hands-on learning and engagement, and Green Our Planet is here to help by offering two programs, GardenConnect and HydroConnect, to provide schools and students more access to gardens and garden-based learning. The GardenConnect program is valued at $3,500 and Green Our Planet will cover the full cost of the program for up to 100 schools. The HydroConnect program is valued at $10,000 and Green Our Planet will cover 80% of the costs of the program for up to 300 schools. Schools are responsible for $2,000 in total.
Learn more here.
Organic Market Development Grants
Deadline: August 8, 2023
The US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has approximately $75 million available for FY 2023 for the Organic Market Development Grants program. This grant aims to boost the consumption of domestic organic agricultural commodities by developing new and expanded organic markets. Eligible applicants, including business entities, non-profit organizations, and government entities, can receive funding running from $10,000 to $3 million for projects focused on production, processing, distribution, and consumer market development.
Learn more and apply here.
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School Meals for All One-Pagers
The School Meals for All NC Campaign is working for all students in NC public schools to have access to school meals at no cost to families. The SMFA NC Campaign has created several one-pagers that share more about the benefits of school meals for all. You can use share these one-pagers with your community members, local officials, and state legislators.
Download here.
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2023 Farm Bill Advocacy Toolkit
The National Farm to School Network has created this toolkit to empower you to voice your priorities and advocate for a more just food system. Together, NFSN hopes we can support greater food sovereignty, climate resilience, racial equity, and economic justice through farm to school in the upcoming Farm Bill.
Learn more here.
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